Article

There is widespread acceptance that the social and economic disengagement of women from Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities remains a challenge, and the government has recognised the need to tackle disengagement as a key priority.

Yet recent years have not seen significant improvements, with some indicators suggesting that disengagement could be intensifying.

The community-based interventions profiled as part of this research demonstrate that these approaches can be highly effective, but they are struggling, and remain dependent on a shrinking pool of local authority grants.

Ensuring that community-based support remains viable will be critical to tackling disengagement among Pakistani and Bangladeshi women. In this report, we set out an initial road map for how to increase levels of cooperation between public sector agencies and community groups on the ground.