Citizenship, a research wing of BDI is conducting a research on “The Social Impact of Microfinance on Gender Norms and Behavior,” in collaboration with Institute of Microfinance, the Population Council in New York. The research constituted of 300 rural and urban PSU’s (Primary Sampling Units) located all over Bangladesh. A community survey and mapping have been conducted in Phase I of this research.

BRAC Development Institute (BDI), BRAC University, organized a two day international conference in Dhaka, titled “Transcending Binaries: Islam and Politics in South Asia”, on the 18th and 19th of December, 2010. The BDI conference critically reflected on the institutional and non-institutional ways in which Islam increasingly presents itself in the public space in South Asia. It aimed to understand the ideas through which Islamic appeal is generated, and through which Islam stakes its claims on modern nation states and their citizens. The conference had two objectives. The first, to understand people’s engagement with Islam and second, to expand the concepts and analyses that can assist in developing a democratic and progressive strategy of engagement. Dr Mashiur Rahman, Adviser to the Honorable Prime Minister on Economic Affairs inaugurated the conference. Professor Saba Mahmood, University of California at Berkeley was the keynote speaker at the inaugural session. Tariq Ali gave a speech via videoconference live from London, on the Clash of Fundamentalisms. Professor Gowher Rizvi, Adviser to the Honorable Prime Minister on International Affairs gave the closing presentation.

The theme Empowering Work, takes the ‘work’ entry point into investigating the relationships between paid work and empowerment and exploring the implications of changing markets in the wake of globalization for women’s rights, security and wellbeing as workers as a pathway of empowerment. The researches in this theme utilized quantitative data to generating new findings about women’s labour market participation.

Changing Narratives of Sexuality