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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

Ahmed Akhter

researcher spotlight

Akhter Ahmed

Akhter Ahmed is a Senior Research Fellow in the IFPRI’s Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit and Country Representative for IFPRI Bangladesh. He has worked on strategies for agricultural and rural development, social protection, and women’s empowerment to reduce poverty, food insecurity, and undernutrition in developing countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Malawi, the Philippines, and Turkey.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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Projects

Evidence on the number of people affected by forced labor and trafficking is scant and includes any of the following: 1) unfree recruitment, 2) work and life under duress, and 3) impossibility to leave employer. Trafficking also includes debt bondage and involuntary child labor. This study will assess the FCDO supported ILO led program Work in Freedom Phase 2 (WiF-2) which aims “to reduce vulnerability to trafficking and forced labor of women and girls across migration pathways leading to the care sector and textiles, clothing, leather and footwear industries (TCLFI) of South Asia and Arab States”. To assess the impact of WiF-2 we will apply a gendered Risk and Options Assessment for Decision-Making (ROAD) process as well as mixed quantitative and qualitative data collection and will measure a series of indicators, such as the modified women’s empowerment in agriculture index (WEAI) to understand how WiF-2 has contributed to reducing forced labor and trafficking. The project will also implement a social network experiment in the employment space.

Project duration: 2020 – 2023

Contact

Claudia Ringler

Funders

Oxford Policy Management

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)

CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)

Project partners

American University of Beirut

Australian National University

Lincoln University, New Zealand

University of Dhaka

 

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Donors

This project was funded by the Centre of Excellence for Development Impact and Learning, supported by UK aid from the UK Government.

Publications

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Working Paper

Social networks, collective organizing, and freedom of association: A qualitative participatory action research study with women migrant domestic workers in Lebanon

2023Abdulrahim, Sawsan; Adra, May
Details

Social networks, collective organizing, and freedom of association: A qualitative participatory action research study with women migrant domestic workers in Lebanon

Worldwide, women migrant domestic workers (WMDWs) occupy a weak position in the global economy due to intersections of gender, race, and global economic inequalities. Lebanon hosts more than 250,000 WMDWs who are recruited and employed through the infamous Kafala system that binds a worker to one employer. With Lebanon’s economic crisis, a large number of WMDWs are currently working as freelancers whereby giving and receiving support from other workers plays a crucial role in their adaptation and economic survival. This study is a component of an international evaluation of the Work in Freedom Project carried out by the International Labour Organization. It focuses on Lebanon and aims to assess the impact of the project on the ability of WMDWs in Lebanon to maintain viable social networks and organize collectively. Its main objective is to investigate the different ways in which WMDWs have maintained social networks and engaged in collective organizing efforts (at the individual, meso- and macro-levels), to improve their lives and to ensure non-exploitative work conditions.

Year published

2023

Authors

Abdulrahim, Sawsan; Adra, May

Citation

Abdulrahim, Sawsan; and Adra, May. 2023. Social networks, collective organizing, and freedom of association: A qualitative participatory action research study with women migrant domestic workers in Lebanon. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2187. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136716.

Country/Region

Lebanon

Keywords

Western Asia; Asia; Gender; Social Networks; Shock; Collective Action; Migrant Workers; Capacity Development; Economic Activities; Working Conditions; Domestic Work; Women

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136716 Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Working Paper

Bangladeshi women’s experiences and vulnerabilities in Jordan’s garment sector

2023Nassif, Gabriella; Bhuiyan, Muhammad Mahbubul; Zahir, Md; Abdulrahim, Sawsan; Ringler, Claudia
Details

Bangladeshi women’s experiences and vulnerabilities in Jordan’s garment sector

Jordan’s garment sector employs a large number of women migrants from South Asia who face various challenges and vulnerabilities in their work environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated some of these vulnerabilities, leading to income losses. However, little information is available about this migration corridor. This study implemented qualitative phone survey interviews with returnee women migrants in Bangladesh to identify interventions that the organizations, such as the International Labor Organization and other actors supporting women’s safe migration could undertake to reduce women’s vulnerabilities in migration. The study identified networks of discipline and power, the perception of appropriate behavior at work and beyond and racialization as key areas that mediate vulnerabilities of women. We recommend increasing awareness of conditions at Jordan’s garment sector as part of pre-departure training, which is supported by the main recruitment practice of garment workers through BOESL in the country. Awareness raising includes information on the role of the Al Hassan Workers’ Center as well as on the role of the embassy of Bangladesh in Jordan. A second recommendation is to translate contractual documents into Bengali so that women migrants can better understand work conditions, including salaries. The final recommendation focuses on the need to continue research on the uneven power dynamics in Jordan’s garment sector to support dismantling networks of discrimination and power and racialization of the work environment.

Year published

2023

Authors

Nassif, Gabriella; Bhuiyan, Muhammad Mahbubul; Zahir, Md; Abdulrahim, Sawsan; Ringler, Claudia

Citation

Nassif, Gabriella; Bhuiyan, Muhammad Mahbubul; Zahir, Md; Abdulrahim, Sawsan; and Ringler, Claudia. 2023. Bangladeshi women’s experiences and vulnerabilities in Jordan’s garment sector. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2186. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136715.

Country/Region

Bangladesh; Jordan

Keywords

Southern Asia; Western Asia; Asia; Income; Languages; Gender; Migrant Labour; Surveys; Vulnerability; Contracts; Capacity Development; Interviews; Institutions; Economic Sectors; Migrants; Clothing; Behaviour; Working Conditions; Women

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136715 Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Brief

Development and validation of a Women’s Empowerment in Migration Index (WEMI): A Pilot Application with Women Migrants in Bangladesh

2023Alvi, Muzna; Ratna, Muzna; Sufian, Farha; Khan, Mohidul Hoque; Ringler, Claudia
Details

Development and validation of a Women’s Empowerment in Migration Index (WEMI): A Pilot Application with Women Migrants in Bangladesh

There is ample data and literature that shows how women’s experiences in low-paid, short-term migration vary from those of men, and that experiences are linked to women’s empowerment – captured by the interrelated dimensions of resources, agency, and achievements. While considerable attention is paid to understanding the generalized notion of women’s empowerment, it is also key to distinguish empowerment in specific realms, including economic empowerment, agriculture, health and nutrition, and migration. To better understand the agency of female migrants, a Women’s Empowerment in Migration Index (WEMI) was developed. This brief discusses work to assess this index with data from women migrants in the Bangladesh to West Asia migration corridor.

Year published

2023

Authors

Alvi, Muzna; Ratna, Muzna; Sufian, Farha; Khan, Mohidul Hoque; Ringler, Claudia

Citation

Alvi, Muzna; Ratna, Nazmun; Sufian, Farha; Khan, Mohidul Hoque; and Ringler, Claudia. 2023. Development and validation of a Women’s Empowerment in Migration Index (WEMI). CEDIL Evidence Brief 8. LLondon, England; and Washington, DC. Centre of Excellence for Development Impact and Learning (CEDIL); and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.51744/CEB8.

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Agriculture; Data; Data Analysis; Health; Migration; Nutrition; Women’s Empowerment; Gender; Women

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.51744/ceb8 Source record

Record type

Brief

Article has an altmetric score of 2

Blogs

When ties that bind Increase migrants’ vulnerability: Insights from the south to west Asia migration corridor
IFPRI Blog
 | 
October 03, 2022

When ties that bind Increase migrants’ vulnerability: Insights from the south to west Asia migration corridor

By Zahid ul Arefin Choudhury

Workshops explore how to better support workers.

Funders

Oxford Policy Management
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)

Team members

Claudia Ringler

Claudia Ringler

Director, Natural Resources and Resilience (NRR), Natural
Resources and Resilience

Claudia Ringler

Claudia Ringler

Director, Natural Resources and Resilience (NRR), Natural
Resources and Resilience

Muzna Alvi

Muzna Alvi

Research Fellow, Natural
Resources and Resilience

Hagar ElDidi

Hagar ElDidi

Senior Research Analyst, Natural
Resources and Resilience

profile

Patrick Kilby

Senior Lecturer, Australian National University and Adjunct Associate Professor, Humanitarian and Development Research Institute at Western Sydney University

Link

profile

Joyce Wu

Lecturer, University of New South Wales and Visiting Fellow, Australian National University

Link

Other

Related Projects

Topics/Countries

External Resources

External blogs

456

Soumya Balasubramanya, David Stifel, Muzna Alvi and Claudia Ringler (July 2020)

 

External publications

457

Kilby, Patrick; and Wu, Joyce (2020)

 


Joyce Wu and Patrick Kilby

Various

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