Eight Research Teams Win DEEP Grants to Study Poverty in Bangladesh
Eight research teams in Bangladesh have received grants under the DEEP Bangladesh Challenge Fund to conduct research aimed at tackling poverty and vulnerability across the country. The selected projects will generate data-driven evidence to support national strategies, policies and development programmes designed to reduce poverty.
Applications for the fund opened in December 2024. However, political instability in the country prolonged the application and approval process. After review, eight projects have now been selected for funding. The research will address key issues affecting Bangladesh, including internal migration, urban and rural poverty, climate change, education and economic resilience.
Among the recipients, the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) will study internal migration patterns using Small Area Estimation techniques. International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr, b) will validate the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) at the community level to better capture the realities of urban poverty. ChangeMaker Nexus Ltd. will survey smallholder farmers in Khulna to understand coping mechanisms and recovery barriers following the 2024 waterlogging crisis. At the University of Dhaka, researcher Md. Moniruzzaman will examine how non-farm employment can complement agricultural income and reduce rural poverty risks.
Another project led by Jyotirmoy Saha of the World Bank, in collaboration with researchers from BRAC, the University of Dhaka and Georgetown University, will assess how extreme heat affects non-communicable diseases, productivity and poverty risks in Bangladesh. The Youth Policy Forum (YPF) will test whether role-model videos highlighting the benefits of education can help reduce school dropout rates. Meanwhile, the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) will analyse the socioeconomic drivers of extreme poverty, including climate change and governance challenges.
Finally, Fahim Shahriar of the University of Chittagong, along with researchers from the University of Dhaka, will use machine learning to study the link between urban migration and urban poverty in real time to identify vulnerable populations and high-risk areas.
The DEEP initiative—Data and Evidence to End Extreme Poverty—is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and implemented by a consortium including Oxford Policy Management, Cornell University, the University of Copenhagen and the University of Southampton, in partnership with the World Bank’s Development Data Group.
