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Dr. Munshi Sulaiman is currently serving as the Director of Research at BIGD, Brac University. He started his research career in 2004 at BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division (RED). He holds a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University. He has also worked as a Research Director at Save the Children and Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA). Dr. Sulaiman’s research interests include extreme poverty, cash transfers, social protection and social safety nets, youth development, and gender norms, and he has published extensively on these topics. Notably, Dr. Sulaiman served as one of the Co-Principal Investigators of the RCT implemented in 2007 for evaluating the UPG program.
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Dr. Shaila Ahmed is an Assistant Professor and Associate Research Fellow at BIGD, Brac University. She received her PhD in Economics and her Master of Public Health from Northern Illinois University, USA, where she was given the Best Dissertation Award from the Economics Department in 2022. While pursuing her doctorate, she worked as an Adjunct Faculty of Economics at a US college. Prior to her doctoral degree, she served in the BRAC Ultra Poor Program as Regional Manager. She also served a year as Aarong's Department Head of Social Compliance and Public Relations. In addition to labour economics, health economics, and applied microeconomics, Dr. Ahmed has a special interest in health and education. The impact of various cash transfer programs on poor segments of society is also of interest to her.
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Sakila Yesmin is the research lead and a full-time faculty member at BRAC Institute of Educational Development (BRAC IED), BRAC University. She has more than 20 years of research experience in the field of child and adolescent development and mental health in Bangladesh, Uganda, and Tanzania. Along with 14 years of teaching and thesis mentoring experience in BRAC IED’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) program, she also has expertise in developing courses for Masters Programs in ECD and Mental Health Support. She has led several researchers as Principal investigator and worked for multiple research in the Rohingya camps of Bangladesh. Previously, she worked as a psychologist in Dhaka Shishu Hospital and has experience working with international organizations such as icddr,b and Save the Children.
Study title:
Neuroimaging for Care Evaluation
Group Affiliations:
BRAC Care
Project abstract:
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) in collaboration with BRAC IED and BRAC Urban Development Programme (BRAC UDP) is currently working on a project titled ‘Deepening evidence to action on childcare and capital levers’, funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). This project is an evaluation of testing approaches to expand the provision of childcare services, through skilling and attracting new entrepreneurs to provide childcare. The objectives are to understand the impact on women's work, and child development outcomes while gaining a better understanding of the level of demand and willingness to pay and levels of subsidy needed, to inform BRAC's programming and broader policy engagement with the government on childcare. Considered as an interdisciplinary model, the ‘CARE model’ connects gender and livelihood with mental health, ECD, and child protection.
The ‘BRAC Care’ study explores the impact of quality childcare on children's neurodevelopment by using portable MRI scanners (Hyperfine Swoop) to assess brain structure, neurocognition, and school readiness in children aged 2-5. In collaboration with ICDDR,B and the MNCH team, the study includes a neuroimaging sub-sample of 100-300 children from control and treatment groups. It aims to measure the second-stage effects on children’s development and uses qualitative research to examine how at-home childcare practices affect neurodevelopment across all groups. The findings will help demonstrate the importance of quality childcare.
Overview
The main goal of this study is to measure a hidden benefit for children (besides their development). and might choose children from the group that gets the full childcare program to see a bigger difference between the treatment and control groups. They'll also use existing resources to understand how different childcare practices at home affect brain development in all the groups. The study is taking place in four peri-urban zones of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The zones are Dhaka Central, Tongi, Savar and Gazipur.
Aims
The aims of this study are:
1. During the baseline, a smaller group of 100-300 children from both the control and treatment groups will be selected based on age (rather than random selection). This will allow for a more precise observation of changes in brain structure and function using specific outcome variables.
2. At the endline, a group of 300 children from both control and treatment groups will be assessed against the same outcome variables measured during the baseline to evaluate neurodevelopment.
3. Additional developmental aspects such as cognitive and language development will be measured using tools like the GSED and IDELA in conjunction with the MRI study.
4. The findings will be analysed in relation to factors influencing child development, including but not limited to nutrition and health. These results will also be contextualized within the country-specific cultural framework to inform policy and target interventions to maximize impact.
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