BRAC Institute of Governance and Development - BIGD

12/05/2026

Redundant paperwork and severe delays shouldn't be the price citizens pay for basic services, especially when their information is already in government records. Yet this remains the reality for countless citizens navigating local government systems.

In a new paper published in the Bangladesh Journal of Rural Development titled "Data-Hub for Effective Local Government Service Delivery in Bangladesh: A Case Study of Union Parishads," Tanvir Shatil (Research Coordinator) and Mirza Mahmuda Ferdous (Research Associate) from BIGD, and Hashibul Hassan (Professor) and Lubna Jebin (Associate Professor) from Jagannath University, map out the hidden bottlenecks crippling local governance.

The authors observe that a centralized data hub, paired with real decentralization of authority, could transform service delivery at the Union Parishad level in Bangladesh.

📖 Link to the paper in the first comment.

10/05/2026

Persons with disabilities are significantly more likely to be excluded from employment, yet there remains limited global evidence on what works to bridge this gap.

A new journal article by BIGD researchers Riana Islam, Soujannita Chowdhury, Tanvir Shatil, and Dr Narayan Das, in collaboration with colleagues from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine—Dr Mark T. Carew, Dr Lena Morgon Banks, Dr Tom Shakespeare, and Dr Hannah Kuper—aim to bridge this knowledge gap. Titled “Process Evaluation of a Disability-Inclusive Employment Programme in Bangladesh: Examining Underlying Mechanisms and Contextual Influences on the Impact of STAR+,” and published in Oxford Development Studies, the article is based on a study evaluating BRAC's STAR+ Programme in Bangladesh.

The STAR+ Programme is an adaptation of a mainstream skill development program that targets out-of-school youth with disabilities aged 14–35. It combines a six-month apprenticeship with classroom-based training and workplace support.

📖 Check out the first comment below to read the fully accessible article.

08/05/2026

📢 New Op-ed Alert!

Are reserved seats in Bangladesh's parliament actually empowering women, or are they just an "ornamental arrangement"?

In a new Daily Star op-ed, BIGD's Rabeena Sultana Ananna and Md. Abrar Hasan argue that without direct elections, reserved-seat MPs lack the public accountability and legitimacy to drive real change. Rather than safeguarding rights, the system often rewards party loyalty—highlighting the urgent need for women MPs to have real, actionable agency to serve the public.

Link to their op-ed in the first comment 👇

07/05/2026

📈 Admissions Open for 2026 | Post Graduate Diploma in Knitwear Industry Management (PGD-KIM) at BIGD, BRAC University

The PGD-KIM is a 9-month, fully-funded program built for ambitious RMG professionals offered by the Executive Development Centre (EDC) at BIGD, with support from SICIP, Finance Division, Ministry of Finance.

📅 Application Deadline: 07 June 2026
📝 Admission Test: 12 June 2026

Application link in first comment 👇

06/05/2026

How is gender discourse shaped in madrasa spaces?

Mir Hojaifa Al Mamduh led the 26 April 2026 চা-চক্র with a reflective discussion on evolving perceptions of gender among Qawmi madrasa students in Bangladesh. Drawing on qualitative interviews and his own reflexive experiences, he challenged the assumption that understandings of gender in these spaces are rigid or uniform. He showed how students interpret religious ideas through family backgrounds, lived realities, and encounters with the broader social world, where women are more visible in education, work, and public life. These encounters, he noted, often create tensions, questions, and diverse new perspectives.

Mir Hojaifa Al Mamduh is a Researcher at Drik, working on public interest journalism and structural biases in news reporting. His research explores Islamic thought and practice in South Asia, identity politics, and religious cultural worlds. He is the author of Bharotborsher Madrasa.

04/05/2026

Transitioning Bangladesh’s RMG sector toward greener energy requires actionable, factory-specific data. To address this, BIGD and BGMEA hosted the "Factory-Level Energy Report Sharing Sessions" in Dhaka on 23 April, supported by the Embassy of Denmark in Bangladesh.

The workshop opened with remarks from Ali Asraf Khan (Sustainability and Value Chain Advisor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark), Sheikh Shuchita Jahan Sneha (Coordinator, Responsible Business Hub, BGMEA), and Tahmid Bin Mahmud (Senior Research Associate, BIGD). Syed Matiul Ahsan (Programme Adviser, Embassy of Denmark) was also in attendance.

Afterwards, nine BIGD Research Officers conducted 40-minute, one-on-one consultations with ~30 factory representatives. These customized sessions equipped factory leaders with specific energy consumption profiles, sector benchmarks, and recommendations for renewable energy adoption to drive sustainable policies into real-world practice.

03/05/2026

💼 Admissions Open for Summer 2026 (2nd Intake) | MPSM at BIGD, BRAC University

Hear from Ashef Ainan Baksh, Sub-Divisional Engineer at the Department of Public Works and MPSM alumnus, about how the MPSM program transformed his career.

Looking to advance in your career? Then this program might just be for you.

📅 Application Deadline: May 4, 2026
📝 Admission Exam: May 8, 2026; 03:30 PM

Application link in first comment 👇

01/05/2026

বিআইজিডি পরিবারের পক্ষ থেকে সকলকে জানাই পবিত্র বুদ্ধ পূর্ণিমার শুভেচ্ছা!

30/04/2026

📢 New Recruitment Announcement!

BIGD is hiring a Multimedia Content Creator to join our Communications and Knowledge Management team!

We're looking for a creative and technically skilled professional with a degree in Multimedia/Graphic Design or a related field and hands-on expertise in videography, photography, and motion graphics to produce compelling content that communicates BIGD's work and impact.

📍 Based in Dhaka
🗓️ Apply by 13 May 2026

Apply now 👇

BIGD is hiring a Multimedia Content Creator to join our Communications and Knowledge Management team! We're looking for a creative and technically skilled professional with a degree in Multimedia/Graphic Design or a related field and hands-on expertise in videography, photography, and motion graphic...

28/04/2026

From 22–24 March 2026, we participated in the CSAE Conference 2026: Economic Development in Africa, organized by the Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford, and held at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. The conference brought together researchers and practitioners in the development economics community for discussions on Africa across parallel sessions and panels.

At the conference, our BIGD colleagues presented their own work in sessions exploring women’s empowerment, poverty reduction, and disability-inclusive livelihoods.

👉 Dr Munshi Sulaiman (Research Director) spoke about “(Digital) Cash Transfer, Privacy, and Women’s Empowerment: Implications for Intimate Partner Violence,”

👉 Sheikh Arman Tamim (Senior Research Associate) presented on “Poverty Reduction and Survival: Long-Term Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh.”

👉 Dr Elijah Kipchumba (Research Fellow) spoke on “Disability-Inclusive Livelihoods and Household Economic Well-Being: Experimental Evidence from Northern Uganda.”

27/04/2026

📢 New Recruitment Announcement!

BIGD is hiring a Field Researcher (Agriculture) for our Sustainable Business Model for Agrivoltaics Pilot Project in Bangladesh!

We're seeking a dedicated field researcher with a BSc/Diploma in Agriculture and at least one year of hands-on field experience — including crop monitoring, data collection, and farmer coordination — to support evidence generation from the ground up.

📍 Based in Baniajuri, Ghior, Manikganj
🗓 Apply by 5 May 2026

Apply now 👇

BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University, seeks a dedicated and detail-oriented field research assistant who is enthusiastic about agricultural field activities. The person must have a degree or diploma in Agriculture from any university/institute. The person will be stat...