Home » Research Projects » Deepening Democracy (Citizenship) Program » Project Updates

CONNECT WITH US

Project Updates

Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF version

  • ‘Talking Citizenship: Knowledge, Communication and Influence in Bangladesh’, the Bangladesh Country Paper co-authored by Simeen Mahmud and Lopita Huq was presented at the final DRC meeting on Sept 1 – Sept 9, 2010, Rajasthan, India
  • ‘Microfinance and Social Mobilisation: Alternative Pathways to Grassroots Democracy?’ co-authored by Simeen Mahmud and Naila Kabeer will be published as a Zed Book chapter in 2010
  • ‘The Power of Relationships: Love and Solidarity in a Landless Women’s Organisation in Rural Bangladesh’ co-authored by Naila Kabeer and Lopita Huq has been published in IDS Bulletin, Vol. 41. No. 2 March 2010
  • A two day fair, ‘Nagorik Adhikar Mela’ was held in partnership with 57 rights-based grassroots development organizations from all over Bangladesh in Shilpakala Academy on January 22-23, 2010. The event was initiated from the Citizenship research and coordinated by BDI. The fair required intense planning over several months and involved active participation of each organization at every stage. Initial processes of networking started from June 2009.
  • A ‘Nagorik Adhikar Mela Dialogue’ was held on February 28, 2010 with all organizations which participated in the fair. The dialogue participants reflected on the experience of the fair and BDI committed to make the fair into an annual event to be held at divisional levels in the future.
  • The Bangladesh Communication Strategy paper, ‘Talking Citizenship in Bangladesh’ co-authored by Simeen Mahmud and Lopita Huq was presented at the CARG Review Meeting of the Citizenship DRC in Sussex on October 2009.
  • Simeen Mahmud and Lopita Huq attended the DRC Steering Committee, CARG, Review and Synthesis meetings held in Sussex in October 2009. Apart from communication strategies, country level papers were presented and discussed. Future outputs on research methodologies were planned. The Teaching and Learning group reflected on teaching experiences, participatory teaching methods and proposals for future teaching collaborations.
  • In July and August, 2009 dialogues were organized with Grameen Bank and BRAC Social Development Programme respectively, to discuss the research findings relevant for programme interventions.
  • The research report ‘Building Citizenship from Below’ based on the quantitative survey of 2400 members of 8 grassroots development organizations co-authored by Simeen Mahmud and Lopita Huq was presented at IDS, Sussex University in Oct 2008.
  • In October 2008, the research team conducted a qualitative research with staff and members of “Saptagram Nari Swanirvar Parishad” (SNSP), one of the earliest women's organizations of the 70s. Interviews were conducted with four SNSP staff members on their organizational goals, culture, programmes, etc and in particular how the organization sustained itself through a crisis in the mid 1990s. Additionally 12 qualitative case studies were done with old and new members of SNSP.
  • A brief study on the responsiveness of local government institutions towards NGOs and NGO-led citizens’ demands was initiated in August 2008. For this purpose the research team held three focus group discussions with Union Parishad chairmen and members in Khulna and Kushtia in August 2008 and conducted extensive interviews with various local government officials at the Upazila level of the same districts in November 2008.
  • A series of 8 field workshops to take back the research to the participants were held between Aug – Oct 2008 in the 7 research sites. The reports on the series of workshops held in the research sites to disseminate the research findings were finalized in Bengali during November 2008.

 

For more updates on the Citizenship project, please read the BRAC University Monthly e-Bulletins.