Project Description:

DM WATCH has been commissioned by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO, UK), Bangladesh to conduct the study titled ‘Pathways to Women’s Empowerment through Midwifery Education’ to understand how midwifery education has contributed to empowering midwives at the individual, family and community levels by following the Ipsos framework.  

The study followed a qualitative approach where In-depth Interviews (IDIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), and case studies were conducted and relevant literature was consulted. These methods were taken to get a closer look at the social and communication skills, confidence level, attitudinal changes, decision-making ability and acceptance of the midwives as well as some guiding questions regarding— midwives’ leadership and empowering others, the role of the Bangladesh Midwifery Society (BMS), the potentiality of community midwives, role of private sectors, and comparison between midwifery and nursing to understand the changes towards women empowerment at individual, family and community level.  

The goal of this study was to examine women’s empowerment through the eyes of the respondents. The study conducted IDIs with current midwifery and licensed midwives from a list provided by FCDO partners (BRAC and UNFPA), FGDs with parents of the midwives and with the service recipients and neighbour/community members of the midwives. Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with different Government bodies who have been related to midwifery education and service; faculty members from midwifery education institutes (both government and BRAC University), FCDO and UNFPA representatives. In addition, case studies were also conducted in line with the objectives of the study.