Impact & evidence · Publications

Policy Briefings

Two-page executive analytical briefs translating CHRSD field evidence into actionable policy for government ministries, development agencies, and international programme officers.

About this series

Evidence for decision-makers

Each CHRSD Policy Brief is a structured two-page document presenting pilot findings, statistical evidence, and concrete recommendations for senior decision-makers. Briefs are issued following programme milestones and are available in full without gated access.

Format 2-page executive brief
Audience Ministries, multilateral agencies, civil servants
Access Open access · no registration required
Language English · Bangla on request

Archive

Published briefings

PB-2026-04 Primary Education

Biometric Attendance Optimisation Frameworks for National Educational Networks: Evidence from the SDAMSMP Pilot, Bangladesh

Target audience
MoPME officials, education development partners, multilateral agency programme officers

Executive summary

The Smart Digital Attendance Management System & Monitoring Programme (SDAMSMP) pilot in Dhaka District demonstrated a 76.6% reduction in daily administrative time for headmasters (47 min to 11 min). The system enrolled 7,740 teachers across 951 schools, transmitted attendance data in under 4 hours (vs. 3–5 days paper baseline), and identified a 2.3% attendance anomaly rate requiring HR review. National scale-up to 379,624 teachers across 65,566 schools has an estimated budget of BDT 41.98 Crore.

Policy recommendations

  1. Mandate biometric attendance integration into MoPME's Digital Primary Education Strategy 2026–2031.
  2. Allocate dedicated IT maintenance budget per upazila.
  3. Establish a National Attendance Data Repository linked to Teacher Service Commission records.
  4. Commission independent 12-month impact evaluation.
Download PDF Executive Summary (1-pager)
PB-2026-05 Worker Health & ESG

AI-Assisted Vision Screening as a Scalable ESG Intervention in the Global Ready-Made Garment (RMG) Value Chain

Target audience
BGMEA leadership, international buyer CSR teams, ILO/IFC social compliance officers

Executive summary

Uncorrected refractive errors affect an estimated 61.3% of screened sewing operators in Bangladesh's RMG sector (CHRSD pilot, n=847). Corrected workers in the 8-week follow-up cohort demonstrated an 8.2% increase in units-per-hour and a 14.6% reduction in QC-line error rejection rates. At a cost of approximately $10–12 per worker including screening and eyewear, the employer payback period is under 5 months. Scaling to 1.2 million workers represents a transformative ESG investment with measurable productivity returns exceeding 3× ROI, consistent with PROSPER II, VisionSpring, and THRIVE evidence base.

Policy recommendations

  1. Include vision screening in mandatory annual factory health checks under BGMEA compliance framework.
  2. Enable international buyers to count corrective eyewear provision as qualifying ESG expenditure.
  3. Integrate AI vision diagnostics into ILO Better Work programme factory assessments.
  4. Establish a national refractive error registry for the RMG workforce.
Download PDF Executive Summary (1-pager)
PB-2026-03 Climate & Afforestation

Technology-Verified Afforestation as a Nationally Determined Contribution Implementation Mechanism: The NSADMP Model from Bangladesh

Target audience
MoEFCC officials, UNFCCC national focal points, climate finance programme officers

Executive summary

Bangladesh's NDC commits to nature-based solutions as a core climate strategy. The NSADMP operationalises this commitment through GIS-tagged planting, NDVI satellite monitoring, and mobile field verification — achieving a 94.2% 30-day survival rate in the Sonaimuri pilot (vs. 40–55% national unverified baseline). The programme's data architecture creates the first nationally verifiable, tree-level plantation registry in Bangladesh, enabling MRV (Measurement, Reporting, Verification) compliance for carbon credit eligibility.

Policy recommendations

  1. Adopt NSADMP as the standard MRV framework for NDC afforestation targets under MoEFCC.
  2. Allocate climate finance budget for GIS-verified plantation programmes in Coastal Belt and Hill Tracts zones.
  3. Link NSADMP tree-level registry to UNFCCC national communications and biennial transparency reports.
  4. Commission third-party verification of NDVI survival data for carbon credit market certification.
Download PDF Technical Annexe