Voices From The Margins Building Evidence For Inclusive Policy Responses To Covid-19 In Bangladesh

Abstract

Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) conducted a three round panel survey in order to draw empirical evidence from the marginalised community on their experiences with the Covid-19 pandemic. The household panel surveys focused on three pre-identified disadvantaged groups namely (i) ethnic and religious minority community, (ii) rural communities, (iii) and urban slum dwellers. Two groups, namely female headed households and persons with disability were considered as cross cutting groups. The sample size for each of these three groups were statistically representative. Data analysis was done for each of the three groups and then for the two sub-groups separately. An aggregate analysis for all the three groups was carried out to present overarching trends and findings. A comparative analysis of the ethnic minority communities were explored separately to nuance out the variations and convergences between those residing in plain land and hill tracts. The first round of survey was conducted in June 2021 (baseline survey) and the second round in September 2021. A core set of questions was fixed across the different rounds of surveys to ensure comparison and tracking of the movement of key indicators. A separate set of questions was included in the second round, which was analysed as a stand-alone narrative.