Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Dhaka (Bangladesh) Social conditions'

This thesis explores urban poverty and the adaptations of the urban poor in the slums of the megacity of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It seeks to make a contribution to understanding and analysis of the phenomenon of rapid mass urbanisation in the Third World and its social consequences, the formation of huge urban slums and new forms of urban poverty. Its focus is the analysis of poverty which has been overwhelmingly dominated by economic approaches to the neglect of the social questions arising from poverty. This thesis approaches these social questions through an ???urban livelihood framework???, arguing that this provides a more comprehensive framework to conceptualise poverty through its inclusion of both material and non-material dimensions. The study is based on primary data collected from slums in Dhaka City. Five hundred poor households were surveyed using a structured questionnaire to investigate the economic activities, expenditure and consumption, access to housing and land, family and social networking and cultural and political integration. The survey data was supplemented by qualitative data collected through fifteen in-depth interviews with poor households. The thesis found that poverty in the slums of Dhaka City was most strongly influenced by recent migration from rural areas, household organisation, participation in the ???informal??? sector of the economy and access to housing and land. Almost half of the poor households in the study locations were identified as ???hardcore poor???, that is having insufficient income for their physical needs. The remainder were found to be ???absolute poor???, those who experienced poverty and vulnerability but varied in their levels of income and consumption. This level of poverty was also characterised by their social, cultural and political marginalisation. In summary, the urban poor remain very much dependent on their household and social networking, the main social capital they use to adapt to life in Dhaka City. Overall, the urban poor in this study experience the highest level of poverty and vulnerability in their everyday life. The thesis argues that the experience of poverty in the megacity of Dhaka for these households follows the pattern of urbanisation without development, the very opposite to their expectations and aspirations.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 331-404) Attempts to contribute toward greater understanding of the urbanization process in Bangladesh. Focuses particularly on the rural-urban migration process, explaining the causes of mobility and stability and the consequences flowing from that movement for the wellbeing of migrants and their families.

It is claimed that low-income people in Dhaka city do not have the financial ability to enjoy adecent housing environment. There is a clear lack of knowledge on how low-income people,drawing upon both their available income together and support from formal financial institutions,would be able to afford housing. It is commonly considered a fact that their access to formalfinancial means is largely hindered by their poor financial status, along with the absence of anyform of land tenure security. The case of this study demonstrates, on the contrary, the adequatefinancial ability of the urban poor when it comes to meeting rent and payments for other necessaryservices. This study therefore primarily responds to the critical issue of whether the government isunaware of informal housing practices, or is simply ignorant of low-income housing provision.In this study, perspectives on change are analyzed in order to comprehend the obstacles andchallenges embedded within the housing organizations of Dhaka city. Within the local governanceparadigm, the concepts of deliberative dialogue and partnership are explored with the aim toreveal both the resources rooted in ‘informal’ low-income housing practices, and the resources atstake for the ‘formal’ housing gatekeepers. Different land tenure security options are explored inorder to understand their compatibility with the informal nature of low-income housing. Thetheory of social business is critically reviewed, and used to examine whether low-incomeaffordable housing could be seen as a product resulting from partnerships between vested actors,for whom the low-income community could be considered to be both a beneficiary and a partner.This study suggests that outside the boundary of ‘formal’ housing, there is an unexplored andfunctional ‘informal’ housing market where de facto owners purchase ‘business tenure security’from the slum lords, while de facto tenants buy ‘house rental tenure security’ in exchange forregular rental payments. Within this informality, an innovative financial organization (the JhilparCooperative) has emerged as a creative platform for business investment. This study reveals thatJhilpar’s inhabitants pay more than 30 percent of their monthly income for housing. As anabsolute value, this is more than what is being paid by middle-class – and even many high-income– people. The slum inhabitants also pay more for a limited supply of basic services, such aselectricity.This study concludes that the formal housing gatekeepers lack a complete knowledge of‘informality’ – a notion reflected in, for example, the actual financial ability of the urban poor; thestrength and potentials of systematic community-based cooperative business; and housing relocationdecisions (employment-housing nexus). This fundamental lack of knowledge precludesthe housing gatekeepers from taking the right decisions to achieve affordable low-incomehousing. These deficiencies have led to low-income housing projects that have barely benefitedthe urban poor, benefiting other income groups instead. Low-income housing projects utilizingland title provision, sites and services schemes, and relocation to other places (amongst otherstrategies) disregard the nature, strength, and potentials of housing ‘informality’ in the slums inthe most pronounced manner. This identified knowledge gap also rules out private and publichousing gatekeepers employing their resources as enablers or providers. To improve this impassewith regard to affordable low-income housing, this study advocates a ‘social business model forlow-income housing’ as the most effective option for the Jhilpar community, wherebypartnerships would be built on an ‘investment’ mindset, through a shift away from conventional‘give away’ practices.
QC 20120221

Dhaka city and Bangladesh is unique in many ways. The country profile is most definitely an interesting case to study through the lenses of disaster management. In this thesis a framework or theories encompassing collaborative governance and coordination crisis- management networks is applied to the challenging context of Bangladesh. The study looks at themes such as ‘history of conflicts’, ‘trust building’, ‘power imbalances’, ‘comprehensive overview’ and crisis network variables like ‘complexity’ and ‘familiarity‘. The theory block is foremost gathered from Michael Hillyard, Naim Kapucu and Alison Gash and Chris Ansell. The study is based on interviews from individuals representing different types of organizations that have connections to coordination avenues. A thematic analysis approach is used to apply the theories on the empirics. Three research questions encapsulates the core of the study; what components stimulate collaborative governance theoretically and how does part- takers of disaster management in Dhaka perceive collaborative governance and coordination under disaster preparedness? Finally, how does the presented theories conform to the practises focused on coordination and collaborative governance when preparing for disasters in Dhaka, Bangladesh?    The study finds that the establishment of coordination avenues are evident in Dhaka and that the development of various parts of coordination activities is moving rather strong. The study show that many organizations are project- based in Dhaka and that competition over intellectual property and funding can work in both directions for coordination and collaborative governance. Either lowering the ambition for collaborations or increasing it. The study also confirms findings of previous coordination studies in Bangladesh that suggest that the institutional approach is very much individualistic which can, to some degree, hamper coordination activities. The study suggest that the system for coordination and its reach appears to be more established horizontally on a strategic level than on the vertical level. Coordination activities and collaborative governance also operates simultaneously in Dhaka, both vertically and horizontally. In closure the experiences of DM- employees in Dhaka suggest that earthquakes and droughts, or combinations of quakes and flooding may pose a serious challenge to the disaster management relief resources of Dhaka city.

This study evaluated the outcome and process of a peer education program for sex workers, with social support proposed as an organizing framework. Program outcomes were assessed through a pre-post design without comparison group. Sex workers naïve to peer education (N=273) were assessed on socio-cognitive and behavioral variables. At post-test 5.1 months later, a subsample (N=82) was reassessed; significant increases were found in perceived susceptibility, condom use skills, knowledge, self-reported sexually transmitted infection (STI) symptoms, and treatment seeking which doubled, but not in prescriptive and descriptive norms, self-efficacy, or condom use. Knowledge and condom use increased with number of peer educators seen. Process was assessed in terms of peer educator characteristics and content of peer education sessions. The same socio-cognitive and behavioral variables were assessed for peer educators (N=29) as for sex workers, with peer educators scoring higher on most. Peer educators resembled sex workers in educational level and work background but were older and more experienced, and 55% no longer engaged in sex work. Sex workers attending sessions (N=173) rated peer educators positively on credibility and closeness, more highly on the former than the latter. Closeness ratings were related to sex workers' condom use skills, treatment seeking, and condom use at post-test. Research assistants observed peer education sessions (N=173); older, more experienced peer educators no longer engaged in sex work were observed as better able to obtain audience's participation. Peer education sessions (N=171) were recorded and coded into percentages of social support types provided by the peer educator: informational (M=26%), instrumental (M=8%), appraisal (M=2%), emotional (M=12%), companionship (M=6%), non-support (M=45%). Peer educators were classified into three "social support profiles" based on average proportions of emotional and informational support they provided. Seeing more peer educators with a high informational support profile was related to higher sex worker self-efficacy, STI symptoms, and condom use at post-test; the same was true for the high emotional support profile and treatment seeking. Though overall program effects seemed limited, certain process measures were meaningfully associated to outcomes. Increased treatment seeking was a notable success of the program. Social support provided a useful framework, but needs further exploration.
Cette étude a évalué l'impact et les processus d'un programme d'éducation par les pairs auprès de travailleuses du sexe. Le cadre théorique proposé est le soutien social. Les travailleuses du sexe (N=273) ont été évaluées selon des variables socio-cognitives et comportementales. Un sous-groupe (N=82) a été réévalué 5,1 mois après l'intervention; l'étude ne comportait pas de groupe témoin. Parmi les facteurs mesurés il y a eu augmentation de la susceptibilité perçue au virus de l'immunodéficience humaine (VIH) et aux infections sexuellement transmissibles (IST), la compétence technique dans l'utilisation du condom, la connaissance du VIH et des IST, des symptômes rapportés d'IST et du recours aux soins pour ces derniers symptômes, qui a doublé. Aucun changement n'a été noté dans les normes prescriptives et descriptives, l'auto-efficacité ou l'utilisation du condom. La connaissance du VIH et des IST et l'utilisation du condom ont augmenté avec le nombre de pairs-éducatrices rencontrées. Les processus du programme ont été évalués en termes des caractéristiques des pairs-éducatrices et du contenu des séances d'éducation. Les mêmes variables socio-cognitives et comportementales ont été mesurées chez les travailleuses du sexe que chez les pairs-éducatrices, ces dernières présentant des scores supérieurs dans la plupart des cas. Les pairs-éducatrices étaient comparables aux travailleuses du sexe en termes de profession et de niveau de scolarité mais elles étaient plus âgées, plus expérimentées et 55% d'entre elles ne travaillaient plus dans le commerce du sexe. Des travailleuses du sexe présentes aux séances d'éducation (N=173) ont évalué les pairs-éducatrices quant à leur crédibilité et leur proximité affective et sociale (closeness). Ces évaluations étaient positives, avec des scores plus élevés pour la crédibilité que pour la proximité. Ce dernier facteur était relié à la compétence technique dans l'utilisation du condom, au recours aux soins et à l'utilisation du condom par les travailleuses du sexe après intervention. Des assistantes de recherche ont aussi observé des séances d'éducation (N=173). Les pairs-éducatrices plus âgées et plus expérimentées ne travaillant plus dans le commerce du sexe ont été perçues comme plus en mesure d'obtenir la participation de leur auditoire. Les séances d'éducation ont été enregistrées et analysées quant aux différents types de soutien social fournis par les pairs-éducatrices: informatif ( M=26%), instrumental ( M=8%), évaluatif (M=2%), émotif (M=12%), de camaraderie (companionship) (M=6%), non-soutien (M=45%). Les pairs-éducatrices ont été classées en trois « profils de soutien social » selon la proportion moyenne de soutien informatif et émotif apporté durant les séances d'éducation. Les travailleuses du sexe ayant vu un plus grand nombre de pairs-éducatrices au profil élevé en soutien informatif ont augmenté leurs scores à l'auto-efficacité, au rapport de symptômes d'IST et à l'utilisation du condom après intervention. Un lien similaire a été trouvé entre les pairs-éducatrices au profil haut en soutien émotif et le recours aux soins. Bien que les effets du programme aient été limités dans l'ensemble, un lien significatif a été trouvé entre certains aspects du processus et l'impact du programme. L'augmentation du recours aux soins représente un succès important de l'intervention. Le soutien social offre un cadre théorique utile, mais qui demande plus d'exploration.

Rural development is a serious problem in Bangladesh, and so is the situation of women. This thesis assesses the programmes offered by a particular non-governmental organization, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), which simultaneously promote rural development and improve the status of women. This assessment is achieved by examining the functioning and impact of these programmes in a single village. The study is exploratory and uses qualitative methods, employing principally unstructured but in-depth interviews. Results indicate that most village women were aware of the need for improvement in the position of women, but interest, and thus active participation, was greater among those who were widowed or divorced. For these women, the programmes did succeed in raising their income through better technical knowledge, and in some ways improved their position in the family and society. They did not, however, succeed in raising their administrative knowledge, confining them to "women's only" projects, and did little to increase political empowerment.

In May 2008, at the High Court of Bangladesh, a ‘community’ that has been ‘stateless’ for over thirty five years were finally granted citizenship. Empirical research with this ‘community’ as it negotiates the lines drawn between legal status and statelessness captures an important historical moment. It represents a critical evaluation of the way ‘political space’ is contested at the local level and what this reveals about the nature and boundaries of citizenship. The thesis argues that in certain transition states the construction and contestation of citizenship is more complicated than often discussed. The ‘crafting’ of citizenship since the colonial period has left an indelible mark, and in the specificity of Bangladesh’s historical imagination, access to, and understandings of, citizenship are socially and spatially produced. While much has changed since Partition, particular discursive registers have lost little of their value. Today, religious discourses of ‘pollution’ and ‘purity’ fold into colonial and post-colonial narratives of ‘primitivity’ and ‘progress’ and the camp draws a line in contemporary nationalist space. Unpicking Agamben’s (1998; 2005) binary between ‘political beings’ and ‘bare life’, the thesis considers ‘the camp’ as a social form. The camps of Bangladesh do not function as bounded physical or conceptual spaces in which denationalized groups are altogether divorced from ‘the polity’. Instead ‘acts of citizenship’ (Isin and Nielsen, 2008) occur at the level of everyday life, as the moments in which formal status is transgressed. Until now the space of citizenship has failed to recognise the ‘non-citizens’ who can, through complicated accommodations and creative alliances, occupy or negotiate that space. Using these insights, the thesis develops the concept of ‘political space’, an analysis of the way in which history has shaped spatial arrangements and political subjectivity. In doing so, it provides an analytic approach of relevance to wider problems of displacement, citizenship and ethnic relations.

The total fertility rate in Bangladesh declined from 6.3 children per women in 1975 to 3.3 in 1997-1999. This decline of 48 per cent over a 25-year period occurred without a substantial improvement in socio-economic status, health conditions and other factors thought to be essential for fertility decline. In this thesis it is postulated that current fertility behaviour is a manifestation of ideational change, which has occurred through mass media and interpersonal communication channels. To investigate the influence of communication on fertility behaviour and to control for demographic and socioeconomic and cultural variables, 724 married women of reptoductive age were interviewed from six rural villages of the six administrative divisions of Bangladesh. Another village was surveyed to compare the influence of religion. Data were collected in a full network basis in that one currently married woman with at least one child from each household of the entire village was interviewed. Sociometric data along with socio-economic-cultural and family planning practice data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The data have been analysed using statistical methods to construct models of factors, which influence the total number of children a woman has and those that determine the likelihood that a woman practices family planning. The main influencing variables to explain the total number of children were found to be wife's age, age at first child bom, number of family members, demand for male children, demand for female children, death of male children, place of giving birth, housing score, religion, equipment score, land property, FWA and information score. Whereas the influencing variables to explain the family planning practice were demand for male children, death of male children and variables connected with communication such as degree of interpersonal communication, mass media exposure, husband, Family Welfare Assistants (FWAs) and frequency of discussion with FWAs. Communication variables, especially interpersonal communication, were found to be most important in explaining family planning practice. More particularly, the dominant source of general information is relatives and friends. FWAs followed by friends and relatives are the main source of family planning information that along with husband influence fertility decisions. Hence, there was a need to ftu-ther understand the web of interactions among individuals, peer groups and opinion leaders using social network analysis. The web of communication links in which an individual exists and takes fertility decision was then modeled with the collected sociometric data. To do this, three matrices were constructed to reflect any communication link, the strength of these links and approval of family planning. Various centrality measures (in-degree, out-degree, betweenness and power), clique patterns and actors positions in the network were produced and analysed using Ucinet-6. This revealed that the actors who were not strongly connected or exist in the periphery of this web tended not to practice family planning. Also it was found that actors who overlap more than one clique are more likely to practice family planning. Variables created from the centrality measures were then added to the regression models for the total number of children and the use of family planning. In both the cases sociometric variables were found significant which ftirther enhanced the explanation of fertility behaviour of the women in rural Bangladesh. Using Structural Equation Models the direct and indirect effects of these variables were determined. Demographic, socio-economic-cultural variables were more directly associated in explaining total number of children while communication variables were directly associated in explaining family planning use, and family planning practice has a direct influence on the number of children born. Thus, as communication directly influences family planning practice it has an indirect influence on the Total Fertility Rate. From this work it is recommended that the service that was provided by the FWAs be reestablished and strengthened, husbands should be targeted in family planning motivation programmes and male contraceptive methods should be promoted. Also more motivational programmes should be incorporated in family planning programmes to create a positive image of female children and the extent of the social interaction among village women should be increased.

This thesis provides an original contribution to understanding of stakeholder capitalism and applications of stakeholder capitalism to labour governance in globalised clothing production networks. Specifically, this thesis draws on primary qualitative and ethnographic field-data collected in Dhaka, Bangladesh to provide new insight to the challenge of poor working conditions and workers’ rights in the global garment industry. The research presented here questions the potential of retail-led stakeholder capitalism to contribute positive development outcomes to the lives of workers employed in cut and stitch garment manufacture. Adopting the Global Production Network’s (GPN) framework, the thesis argues that the ability of stakeholder capitalism to engage and advance the voice of workers in clothing and retail GPNs is influenced by the nature of the relationship and strategic coupling between transnational retailers and their localised factory suppliers. It argues that civil society demands for labour standards have generated a compliance-based response to stakeholder capitalism whereby expectations and acceptance of labour standards are negotiated between retailers and their suppliers. While these negotiations appear discursive, the voices of workers in these negotiations appear largely absent. Thus, it makes an original contribution to understanding relational processes in clothing production systems, moving away from top-down, buyer-driven linear approaches,to conceive power relations in retail production networks as dynamic, subjective and negotiated. This thesis argues that how these power relationships are negotiated and the impacts and interactions of these relations needs to be understood and accounted for if stakeholder capitalism is going to have a serious impact on improving the lives of workers in globalised production systems.

With the world's fourth-largest Muslim population, Bangladesh is an important case study in the exploration of what it means to be a 'secular' country with Islam as a state religion. One important mechanism through which to analyse the relationship between religion and the state is through the country's laws, and family laws are especially significant in that they represent the state's determination of which long-standing social and religious practices find their way into legislation as a representation of societal values. As with many other countries with significant Muslim populations, personal status legislation has remained relatively static in the years following independence, despite attempts at change. Inspired by studies of negotiations between state and civil society actors in bringing about changes in law, this study analyses the evolution of family laws for Muslims in Bangladesh, revealing a range of voices using such laws in their negotiations between competing notions of 'Islam' and 'secularism' and their role in governance. Using parliamentary and Supreme Court records, newspaper archives, expert interviews, and secondary literature, I show that there has been little change in personal status legislation beyond procedural simplification, and that the judiciary and policymakers have had a tendency to support freedom of religious practice except in family laws. This study explores why this is the case, and focuses on the discourse around the National Women Development Policy and its clause on property and inheritance as the greatest point of contention in enhancing women's rights in family laws.

There is a growing consensus that the currently dominant economic practices, which excessively rely on incessant profitability‘, fails appropriately to value ethical components of environmental problems: valuation of bearers of intrinsic value (e.g. all creatures), or again bearers of inherent and instrumental value (e.g. species and ecosystems). This has led to a systematic defect in relevant decision-making with diverse associated economic, social and environmental disbenefits. Although the UN formulation of sustainable development (as opposed to the currently dominant development paradigm) provides us with guidance on formulating an alternative framework for sustainable development, it involves some serious problems. Some of these problems suggest the need for revisions, while others seem fatal to the definitions as they stand. This study argues that a different revision, suggested by the basic needs approach, can surmount the various problems, and present and defend a revised definition accordingly. The revised account recognises economic inequality and social injustice as the underlying causes for environmental injustice and thus appropriately focuses on the principles of environmental justice. This conveys a framework for corresponding systemically the interconnectedness between the seemingly competing aspects of sustainable development, the dynamic flux between development needs and environmental limits. I defend Attfield‘s version of biocentric consequentialism, which supplies a strong theoretical basis for such an ethically informed and comprehensive policy framework for sustainable development. Furthermore, I tackle different approaches to security and argue that it is hardly possible to attain a sustainable future,while disregarding the human security view in its wider sense. The study examines in close detail the applicability of the proposed policy framework for sustainable development to developing countries, with special reference to Bangladesh. It offers a list of recommendations for Bangladesh and concludes that a sustainable future for Bangladesh (and developing countries at large) is for the most part reliant on the successful implementation of recommendations of the broad general kind made in this study.

The intent of this study is to explore why and in what ways rural, poor women in Bangladesh adhere to indigenous birth practices and resist cosmopolitan obstetric care. To understand the complexities of childbirth, a multidimensional framework encompassing culture, gender, socio-economic, political economy and historical perspectives is used. I used ethnographic methods to have deeper understanding of childbirth practices predominantly from women's voices, but strengthened by multiple other voices and my observational experiences. I gathered information in Apurbabari village, the adjacent Thana Health Complex and the Medical College Hospital using in-depth interviews and participant observation, in particular.

The objective of this thesis is to study the phenomenon of postwar migration both theoretically and empirically with a view to establishing relationships between social relations and migration. Migration is studied here within a conceptual framework of mode of production, relations of production, hegemony, and cash nexus. The historical aspects of migration are acknowledged throughout. The thesis then studies the theories of migration that are available and traces their developments. In this process, the thesis discovers ideology in many migration theories and literature. It selects three specific problematics of the postwar migration, named as 'zonal imbalance', 'mother country' migration, heavy representation of people who form lower SEGs. By examining these three closely, the thesis reveals many erroneous conception and notions about the postwar migration. In this process, the thesis rejects 'individualistic' and 'voluntary' actions in postwar migration. For the empirical part, Bangalee migration from Bangladesh to Britain has been chosen for its typicality and other reasons. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods have been used. Two control groups, one in Britain, (migrants) and another in Bangladesh (non-migrants, who had had the opportunity to migrate at some point in time, but did not) have been studied in as much depth as possible. The findings of the experience of the respondents are offered in relation to the historical evidence, particularly the relations of production in Bangladesh, and migration history of Bangladesh. Despite the basis of a small universe used in this research, international and historical persepectives have always been borne in mind. The objective remained the study of the totality of migration. Having taken the views of those who did not migrate (non-migrants) at a time when 'everyone was going', this research can claim to be a unique way of exploring a sociological phenomenon by negative investigation. The concluding part is in two chapters. In the first, the thesis has attempted to develop four new categories of migration to end the debate who can or cannot be called a migrant. It then exposes the myths of migration. Having established that socio-cultural transition migration, which is one of the four categories developed in this chapter, is the major concern of most migration studies, the thesis argues that a subtle process of 'branding' exists in the matters of encouraging migration to a country, whether the country is situated in the 'First World' or in the NICs. In fact, since '90s, the trends in the global population movements have changed so rapidly and radically that all older theories fail to explain the new phenomenon. The thesis argues that in order to understand 'migration', one has to study the changes that have occured in the social relations, emanating from changes in their relations of production. Finally, the thesis asserts that the phenomenon of human migration can possibly be explained within the conceptual framework chosen. It concludes that social relations play a major role in migration and offers a definition towards developing a sociological theory of migration.

In Islamic societies, religion plays a significant role in shaping the home and the environment. An important feature of the Islamic culture is the segregation of women from males other than next of kin. This aspect has given rise to the separation of domains for men and women, both in the home and the neighbourhood. And this duality of space in turn reinforces the seclusion and segregation of women.
This thesis studies this phenomenon in rural settlements in South Asia in regions where Muslims predominate and also in non-Muslim areas influenced by centuries of Muslim rule. The living patterns of rural women and how they use and perceive their local space formed the focus of the study.
A field study was undertaken in a rural community in Bangladesh. Gender segregation norms and the resulting spatial organization of dwellings of different socio-economic groups were studied and compared. An important premise of the study is how the poor manage to integrate their faith and Islamic customs in their living environment.

The subject of this study is the allocation of time by individuals to different activities. The objective is to help explain stabilisation and destabilisation in human fertility in terms of inter-generational and sex differentials in allocation of time. The production utility of children is measured by children's work contribution compared to that of adults. Time allocation issues are examined basically within two modes of production - familial and non-familial. It is found that with a transition in the mode of production from familial to non-familial the amount of children's time spent on work decreases. It is also found that education has an impact on reducing children's contributions, especially in the non-familial mode of production. The allocation of time for work among males, both children and adults, of rural landowning and urban traditional business families is similar. In families headed by day labourers male children contribute considerable amounts of time for work although less than in landowning and traditional business families, but the resources of most such families do not provide opportunities for more work. Children contributed least work in service workers' families. Sex segregation in activity is very great for all families except those of service workers. Parental time costs for child care are low for all the families, again excepting service workers' families. The study concludes that a transition in the mode of production initiates a change in the time allocation of household members. Education, as a concomitant of the transition in the mode of production, reduces the production utility of children, increases the parental time cost of child care and m.i n.i m.i ses sex segregation in the household division of labour. The findings suggest directions for further research on intra-familial goods distribution, especially food distribution, as a parallel allocation study. analysis to the intra-familial time.

Text in English
Sustainable development empowers poverty-affected people and communities by strengthening their capabilities. HRDP, a Bangladeshi development agency aims to achieve this goal by offering literacy classes and primary school edu-cation. In recent years, they have encountered obstacles to their empowerment strategy. Socio-cultural mediated expectations and moral obligations impeded the capability approach. This case study seeks to research the effects of entitlement and patronage on the empowerment of people in one of their projects. To be able to understand these structures and to determine possible implications for the asset-based ap-proach, 14 interviews and two focus-group discussions with local stakeholders have been conducted in the village of Gabtali, Bangladesh. Findings revealed that people desire to invest their own assets to increase their well-being, but expect assistance for this to happen. The study suggests align-ing expectations and obligations with the capability approach and also suggests a few ideas how this could be accomplished.
Development Studies
M.A. (Development studies)