Women in Local Government in Bangladesh and Pakistan

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This project investigates the introduction of and enabling conditions for, women into local governance and its influence on women’s empowerment, including strengthening accountability of local governance institutions to women. The projects lasted from 2007 to 2010. Its outputs include newspaper articles, Research Reports, Policy Briefs, and appearance in television talk-shows.

Bangladesh

This research looked at whether and how the various initiatives to encourage women to take up leadership in local government have worked. It looks into the quota system, networking opportunities, mentorship, etc. to understand what enables women to take up positions of leadership.

The research was based on a survey of over 600 women councillors, in-depth interviews of women and male councillors including chairs of councils, focus group discussions of community people and councillors and case histories of 35 selected women councillors. The fieldwork covered a period of eight months in 2007-2008; and was carried out in thirteen districts of all six Divisions of the country. 

Pakistan

This research involved mapping out NGO initiatives, doing a literature review of existing research and other documentation tracing how women's voices have arisen and how demands have affected policy. The Pakistani researcher, Saba Gul Khatak, also carried out qualitative interviews at all three tiers of government.