Browsing by Author "Evans, Chris"

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Active citizen and accountable local governance: a baseline survey
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2011-11) Khan, Ashrafuzzaman; Rahman, Md. Mafizur; Evans, Chris
This baseline survey on the members of the Union Parishad (UP) and the BRAC Polli Shomaj (PS) aims to assess to what extents the UP members are pro-poor and gender sensitive, and the services that they provide to the poor. The study was conducted in two districts- Bogra and Jessore. The sample size of study was 610 UP members, 549 executive committee members of 50 PS and 199 PS general members. The study reveals that the people have very little access in decision-making process of standing committees of UP, mostly because of committees being non-functional. Few UP members were aware of the PS and its activities.
Alternative dispute resolution and women's empowerment within the household
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2010-08) Evans, Chris; Hasan, Sk. Kamran
This qualitative study examines the impact of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) on two aspects of women’s empowerment: the reduction of gender violence in family disputes, and the promotion of women in household decision-making. Data were collected through 18 case studies drawn from BRAC ADR cases for household disputes. Our findings suggest that ADR is effective in reducing domestic violence, but this generally does not transfer to increased power in household decision-making. ADR generally does not resolve disputes, which continue with the same intensity despite concessions made by defendants. Even when ADR has a positive impact, husbands and the in-laws act as “gatekeepers” to improvements; while household relations may be more functional, they do not become any less patriarchal. ADR empowers women by providing them with more options and resources although it compromises in promoting a massive structural change yet.
Civil society and local government in rural Bangladesh: the case of BRAC’s Polli Shomaj programme
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2010-04) Evans, Chris
BRAC’s Polli Shomaj (PS) programme aims to bring together a critical mass of poor rural women at the community level to participate in the local power structure, ensure proper use of local resources, and prevent and protest human rights violations. This report presents six case studies on the relationship between the PS and the Union Parishad (UP), the lowest level of government administration in rural Bangladesh. It focuses on the space that the PS occupies in rural power structures, and the ways that it colludes with and disrupts them. Semi-structured interviews were held with BRAC Programme Organizers (PO) for the PS programme, PS presidents, UP chairmen, and PS general members from six PSs in Bogra and Jessore districts. Stakeholders identified two main themes in the relationship between the PS and UP. Firstly, the PS lobbies the UP to grant social security resources to deserving candidates. Secondly, under certain circumstances the PS will approach the UP to protest human rights abuses and ensure that justice is served. The PS can improve resource allocation by 1) gathering information about incoming government resources, and 2) building rapport with the UP Chairman. For politically or socially uncontroversial legal issues, the PS is able to engage UP members’ help to see that justice is served. PSs relationship with the UP is supplicatory and non-confrontational, combining a good relationship and persistence and normative pressure. PSs do not broach contentious issues such as corruption or the influence of power interests in the justice system. The PS operates within existing power structures, aiming to maximize their benefits for poor women rather than promoting structural change. In three of the six PSs studied, presidents used PS to extend patron-client relationships, channelling information and opportunities preferentially. Although they appeared to be aware of such occurrences, POs did not intervene. The study’s key recommendations are first, to promote transparent, inclusive and participatory decision making in the PS, and implement accountability mechanisms for Presidents; second, to improve oversight by POs and ensure that they intervene in problems of corruption, nepotism and favouritism.
Human rights lawyering: expanding the role of BRAC panel lawyers in legal empowerment
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2010-04) Evans, Chris; Naomi, Sharin Shajahan; Ali, Rumana
Lawyering (lawyer conduct) is now considered essential to the legal empowerment of the poor and marginalized. This study established a set of Human Rights Lawyering indicators for BRAC’s Human Rights and Legal Services (HRLS) programme. It evaluated HRLS panel lawyers’ performance according to these indicators by comparing the experiences of three client groups: 1) BRAC legal aid clients, 2) BRAC panel lawyers’ non-BRAC clients, and 3) non-BRAC lawyers’ non-BRAC clients. The study identified opportunities to improve panel lawyers’ performance. For most indicators, BRAC panel lawyers performed comparably better between their BRAC and non-BRAC cases, and with non-BRAC lawyers. Panel lawyers largely did not appear to neglect or under-perform on their BRAC cases relative to private cases. Nevertheless, there is both need and opportunity for improvement. One cannot expect panel lawyers to practice human rights lawyering without training and monitoring regimes. This calls for the development of new training content and performance metrics. Moreover, as only a minority of panel lawyers reported attending a BRAC human rights training workshop, training programmes must be scaled up, possibly in partnership with stakeholders such as Bar Councils, Non Government Organizations and Government Organizations.