Building Capacity

The BRAC-CEGA Collaborative seeks to build the capacity of the “next generation” of BRAC researchers in experimental design, econometrics, and field-based data collection. The Collaborative supports visiting fellowships for BRAC researchers, fosters collaboration between CEGA faculty and BRAC researchers, and funds research on the cost-effective delivery of anti-poverty programs. 

Visiting Fellowship
The Visiting Fellowship program is a cornerstone of the BRAC-CEGA collaboration, key to developing expertise in the design and implementation of rigorous program evaluations and to promoting the retention of talented researchers within BRAC. Select research staff are invited to spend a semester in fellowship in the U.S. Each fellow is paired with a CEGA faculty mentor and local PhD student who provide support in research design, quantitative data analysis, proposal writing, and presentation. Fellows spend the semester auditing courses, attending seminars, designing joint research projects, analyzing existing BRAC data, and presenting results for feedback. The fellowship program has resulted in several successful research collaborations between BRAC and CEGA researchers, with many of the Fellows developing and submitting competitive proposals to the annual research grant competition.

Current Visiting Fellows

Danish Us Salam
Spring, 2018
BRAC, Uganda
​danish.salam@brac.net 
Danish Us Salam is working as a Senior Research Associate at BRAC Uganda. Prior to that, he worked as a Research Associate at BRAC Sierra Leone. He obtained his Master of Science in Economics from Institute of Business Administration, Karachi. His research interests include livelihood and mental health with a particular interest in the advanced study of evidence based strengthening of educational systems, challenges in applying and disseminating educational research into practice and achieving universal primary education by eliminating gender disparity and improving demand-supply modalities that impede access to education. While at Berkeley, and under the faculty and peer-mentor supervision of Noam Yuchtman and Laura Boudreau, he aspires to design a research on the public-private partnership for education that aims to tackle dismal educational outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Patrick Okello
Spring, 2018
BRAC, Uganda
olobopster@gmail.com 
Patrick Okello is a Research Fellow at BRAC Uganda's Independent Evaluation and Research Cell and has previously also worked in Tanzania and South Sudan with different research projects. He obtained his BSc in Agricultural Economics from Makerere University and MA in Development Economics from Brandeis University. He is interested in sustainable development economics, policy analysis & applied economics and his broad research interests are in the areas of livelihoods, employment  & incomes; vis a vis the behavior of individuals and markets. At Berkeley, his faculty mentor is Supreet Kaur and his peer mentor is Sam Leone.

Visiting Fellow Alumni

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     Mahbubur Rahman
      Fall, 2014
      IDB-IBF Fhair Program
      mahbub.rahman8@gmail.com 
​      Mahbubur Rahman is Research and Training Officer at the IDB-IBF Fael Khair Agro Inputs Program.              Prior, he was a Senior Research Associate in BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division. He received his                                              MSS in Economics from the University of Dhaka. While at Berkeley, he looked to evaluate the Char                                                      Development and Settlement Project Phase IV, a multi-sector rural development project that aims to                                                    support the livelihoods of settlers in recently emerged chars (newly accreted land). His faculty mentors                                              were Alain de Janvry and Elisabeth Sadoulet, and his peer mentor was Gregory Lane in the                                                                    Agricultural and Resource Economics department.
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   Jinnat Ara
    Fall, 2014
    BRAC R.E.D., Bangladesh
    jinnat.mkt@gmail.com 
    Jinnat Ara is a Research Fellow at BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division. She obtained a Master’s             degree in Business Administration from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. While at Berkeley,
                                         she sought to study how BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor program improves the well-being of women                                                 and households. Her faculty mentor was Erin Murphy-Graham at Berkeley's Graduate School of                                                           Education, and her peer mentor was Ceren Baysan in the Agricultural and Resource Economics                                                           department.
Reajul Chowdhury
Fall, 2013
BRAC R.E.D., Bangladesh
reajul.alamchy@gmail.com 
​Reajul Chowdhury is PhD student in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Previously, he was a Senior Research Associate in BRAC South Sudan. He obtained a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Dhaka. While at Berkeley, he conducted research related to an impact evaluation of the Targeting the Ultra Poor program, a study that is funded through a BRAC-CEGA research grant. His faculty mentor was Ethan Ligon, and peer mentor was Elliott Collins of the Agricultural and Resource Economics department.
Marziana Mahfuz
Fall, 2013
BRAC R.E.D., Bangladesh
mmnandita@gmail.com ​
Marziana Mahfuz Nandita is working as an Economist at DFID Bangladesh. Previously she was a Senior Research Associate in BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division during July 2012-January 2017. She obtained her Master of Science in Economics from the University of Bath. While at Berkeley, she studied the livelihood differences of tenant farmers in Bangladesh based on the differences in their tenancy contracts, access to credit and adoption of modern crop varieties based on the baseline information from the Barga Chashi Unnoyan Prokolpo (BCUP). BCUP, or the Tenant Farmer Development Programme, is a micro-finance programme specially tailored for tenant farmers and is run by BRAC with the funding from the Bangladesh Bank. Her faculty mentor was Alain de Janvry, and peer mentor was Sikandra Christian in the Agricultural and Resource Economics department.
Aisha Nansamba
Spring, 2013
BRAC R.E.U., Uganda
nansamba.aisha@gmail.com 
​Aisha Nansamba is the Country Research Coordinator of IERC, BRAC Liberia. At the same time, Aisha is working as a Short Term Temporary Consultant with the World Bank Group, Liberia.Prior to that, Aisha worked with BRAC Uganda, Research and Evaluation Unit (REU) for six years. My research experiences includes; health economics, labour economics, skills development and public policy. She obtained her Masters in Population and Reproductive Health from Makerere University. While at Berkeley she studied the impact of Community Health Promoter (CHP) interventions on maternal and child health outcomes; as well as designed a research study to promote a health savings culture among the poor. Her faculty mentors were Jack Colford and Ben Arnold and her peer mentor was Jade Benjamin-Chung in the School of Public Health.
Sakiba Tasneem
Spring, 2013
BRAC R.E.D., Bangladesh
sakibatasneem@yahoo.com 
​Sakiba Tasneem is currently pursuing her PhD in Economics in Monash University, Australia. She has been a Senior Research Associate in BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division. She obtained her Masters in Economics from the University of Dhaka. While at Berkeley she began a study on a community-based health worker program that was funded through a BRAC-CEGA research grant. Her faculty mentors were Ernesto Dal Bó and Fred Finan. Her research interest include poverty, health service, women’s empowerment, labour market, human resource and agricultural development. ​
Proloy Barua
Fall, 2012
BRAC R.E.U., Uganda
proloy.b@brac.net 
Proloy Barua is a Thematic Research Head (Agriculture and Food Security) at IERC, Stichting BRAC International. He originally joined BRAC Bangladesh in 2003 and since 2008, he has been working at BRAC’s offices in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Sudan. He acquired his second Master's degree in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University. He did his first Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from Bangladesh Agricultural University. While at Berkeley, his faculty mentor was Ethan Ligon, and peer mentor was Elliott Collins of the Agricultural and Resource Economics department. His research interests include food security, malnutrition, and health provertye. He designed a research study that looked at the impact of BRAC’s Microfinance Multiplied approach – a combination of agriculture and microfinance during his fellowship at Berkeley.​ ​
Narayan Das
Fall, 2012
BRAC R.E.D., Bangladesh
narayancd@berkeley.edu 
​Narayan Das is a Research Fellow at BRAC and originally joined the research division in 2007. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Agriculture and Resource Economics at UC Berkeley, and obtained his Master of Economics from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. His research interests include extreme poverty, microfinance, international trade, and agriculture. His faculty mentors were Alain de Janvry and Betty Sadoulet, and his peer mentor was Daley Kutzman in the department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.