This dissertation examines two policies that affect women's education, bargaining power, son preference, and awareness of domestic violence in developing countries. The first chapter evaluates a conditional cash transfer program in Bangladesh to identify its impact on the education of multiple generations and explores the pathways behind the…

This article aims to extend the current understanding of social networking in small creative traditional sectors in developing countries. Most of the relevant studies have tended to focus on developed countries while neglecting the developing countries perspective. However, our study stresses that small craft firms--subsector of creative…

Social dynamics of a developing country undergo constant changes because of the demand of economic growth and people's cater for social mobility. English has become important in all economic activities globally. Bangladesh was a British colony for almost 200 years. The legacy of English education still continues and it has not formulated any…

Important steps have been taken at international summits to set up goals and targets to improve the wellbeing of children worldwide. Now the world also has more and better data to monitor progress. This paper presents a new approach to monitoring progress in child poverty reduction based on the Alkire and Foster adjusted headcount ratio and an…

Bangladesh has introduced neoliberal policies since the 1970s. Military regimes, since the dramatic political changes in 1975, accelerated the process. A succession of military rulers made rigorous changes in policy-making in various sectors. This article uses a critical approach to document analysis and examines the perceptions of key…

Since the 1990s, enormous changes have been made in the higher education sector in Bangladesh. The government promulgated the Private University Act in 1992, and formulated a 20-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education: 2006-2026 (SPHE). A critical review shows that the objective of the plan is to connect education with market-driven economic…

Using demographic and health surveys conducted between 1998 and 2001 from seven countries (Armenia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Kazakhstan, Nepal, and Turkey), the study found that acceptance of wife beating ranged from 29% in Nepal, to 57% in India (women only), and from 26% in Kazakhstan, to 56% in Turkey (men only). Increasing wealth predicted…

This report summarizes research on interventions intended to improve four key breastfeeding behaviors: early initiation of breastfeeding, feeding of colostrum to newborns, exclusive breastfeeding for the first 0-6 months, and continued breastfeeding through the second year and beyond. It clarifies what is known about improving these practices in…

Rural areas of the developing world are the last frontier of the information technology revolution. Telephone and internet penetration there remains a small fraction of what it is in the developed world. Limited means of electronic communication with the outside world are just one source of isolation of rural communities and economies from the…

These 15 papers share a common theme: seeking to promote literacy as a powerful tool for challenging existing inequalities and dependencies. "Powerful Literacies" (Jim Crowther et al.) is an introduction. Section 1 establishes the theoretical and policy frameworks that underpin the book and shows how literacy is situated in different…