Collaboration: Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF)
Starting date:  July 7, 2026
Completion date: July 07, 2027

Project description: This project estimates how much employment is generated by the loan programmes and enterprise development activities of PKSF, Bangladesh’s apex development organisation. Although PKSF has long aimed to reduce poverty through employment generation, it does not yet have a rigorous, causally grounded measure of its employment impact. This study fills that gap.

The study covers PKSF’s three core credit programmes: Buniad for the ultra poor, Jagoron for the moderate poor, and Agroshor for progressive microentrepreneurs. It draws on a nationwide household survey and key informant interviews. Borrower households are compared with similar non-borrower households using quasi-experimental methods. The analysis looks at the type and quality of employment created, including self-employment, wage employment, and family work, across sectors, regions, gender, and age groups. It also estimates the investment needed to generate one unit of employment and compares wages across sectors and regions.

Theme: Employment and Inclusive Finance

Team leader:
Dr Bazlul Haque Khondker, Principal Investigator and Team Leader

Team members:
Zubayer Hossen, Project Manager
Dr Syed Shahadat Hossain, Statistician
Md. Tuhin Ahmed, Research Analyst
Fariha Khan, Research Associate
Dipa Das, Research Associate