Research Projects

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One of the major goals of BDI is to promote research to findpractical solutions to the challenges of poverty, inequity and social injustice in the global South. As such, the organization hosts a number of national and international, multidisciplinary, multi partner research programs, organized around five closely linked themes. BDI’s inclusive and innovative research approach generally involve:

• Ethnographic study through ‘immersion’
• Action Research
• Digital storytelling
• Documentaries
• Participatory videos
   

Notable BDI research projects currently include:

• Freedom Movements and Economic Struggles of Bengal: The purpose of this research is to rediscover history of the nation and highlight those who have made enormous sacrifices for political and economic emancipation.
• CGAP-FORD Foundation Global Graduation Programme: Under the CGAP- Ford Foundation Global Graduation programme, BDI is implementing the Ford graduation model, which follows sequential steps over a period of 24 months to provide a ladder out of poverty for the poorest.
• Local Governance: In this area, BDI has embarked upon several research initiatives, such as Food Security for the Ultra Poor (FSUP), Election Research and Social Accountability at the Local Level, focusing on generating pressure on the government to reform policies at local, national, and judiciary levels to promote pro-poor action plans.
• Pathways of Women’s Empowerment: This is an international Research Programme Consortium (RPC) made up of activists and academics seeking to bring about positive changes in women's everyday lives.
• Social Protection: The social protection research team works to conceptualize and define graduation. They determine the categories of the poorest benefitting from the TUP (Targeting the Ultra Poor) model, track the process of change, identify factors that promote and inhibit graduation, and assesses how each element of the safety net package mesh with other elements to constitute the best support.
• Urban Poverty: The action research aspires to address the multi-faceted dimensions of urban poverty and find and implement innovative solutions to climate-proof each of these dimensions. 
• Food, Fuel and Financial Crisis: This research aims to communicate the urgency of the food, fuel and financial crises in Bangladesh to policymakers and to the global audience at the G20 meeting.
• Deepening Democracy (Citizenship) Program: The program is part of a larger research initiative undertakenby the Development Research Centre (DRC) on Citizenship, Participation and Accountabilityat the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, UK.