Project Description

The “Pathways to Women’s Empowerment through Midwifery Education” study was commissioned by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to explore how midwifery education contributes to the empowerment of women, particularly focusing on midwives in Bangladesh. The study was part of the broader Better Health in Bangladesh (BHB) programme and its Strengthening Midwifery in Bangladesh (SMiB) initiative. The core objective of the study was to determine the extent to which the midwifery education programme has contributed to social empowerment, confidence building, and economic independence of midwives at individual, family, and community levels. Bangladesh has made significant progress in developing a cadre of professional midwives through the SMiB programme. However, the impacts of this education on gender equality, social mobility, and economic empowerment had not been formally studied. This study sought to fill this gap by assessing how the educational programme shapes midwives’ professional and personal lives, including their ability to make decisions, their acceptance in communities, and the extent to which they influence family and community dynamics. The study also aimed to assess the role of midwifery education in improving maternal health outcomes, empowering young women from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and fostering a professional identity for midwives in Bangladesh. The study utilized the Ipsos 2019 Women Empowerment Framework, which focuses on individual, household, and community empowerment dimensions. The overall objective was to determine if the midwifery education programme contributed towards empowering the midwives and if so, how and in which ways.

Specific guiding questions for the study included

• What are the aspects of professional empowerment in midwifery profession? To what extent do trained midwives feel empowered to demonstrate their leadership skills at work? Compare their perception of empowerment before and after the training.
• To what extent were they able to effectively motivate and mobilise self and others to accomplish positive outcomes in midwifery practice and work environment?
• To what extent were these girls able to emphasise the importance or influence the mind-set of continuing education for women in their community or family?
• In project locations, is there any change with regards to acceptability of a midwife in the community?
• To what extent did families of midwifery students realise the importance of this profession and demonstrate their support for the trained midwives to continue their profession?
• To what extent did financial contribution of trained midwives improve their status in their respective families and allow them to influence any of their household decision makings?
• To what extent did the trained midwifery students and faculty demonstrate their improved institutional performance and maternal and new-born health related competencies?
• To what extent has the programme improved the status of women in society and the lives of the midwife students, and whether there has been any significant change to the attitudes of the midwives? Following the award of this assignment to Disaster Management Watch, Communication and Development Limited was engaged as a sub-consultant to provide specialized support in communication, analysis, and dissemination.

Services Provided by Communication and Development Limited

• Supported qualitative data analysis and ensured empowerment dimensions were systematically integrated into reporting.
• Assisted in refining the dissemination strategy and developed visually engaging materials for the national seminar.
• Provided technical editing, communication framing, and layout support for the final study report and policy briefs.

Key Deliverables

• Inception note with finalized study design and tools
• Data collection (12 IDIs, 2 FGDs, 9 KIIs) completed and analyzed
• Draft and final evaluation report with recommendations
• Bilingual study brief (Bangla and English)
• Presentation materials, including infographics and slide decks
• National dissemination seminar (June 2022, Dhaka).