Mobility of the people of the chars and river banks of Bangladesh: a study of Gaibandha District

This Mobility study was carried out in Bangladesh with a view to understanding Char dwellers' socially differentiated perceptions of mobility and the relationship between mobility and vulnerability. The study had two elements: mobility ranking and mobility mapping, and gathered information from NGO field staff and extensive field visits. Both tools were found to be effective in quickly understanding the issues related to mobility and vulnerability, though mobility ranking was found to be more powerful in involving members of all households present in active discussion and analysis. The usefulness of mobility mapping was the in-depth studies of each household's inside stories like shift of place, distance covered, length of stay, major event in the family, etc. In cases of larger group participation many crosscutting issues were brought out relating to mobility, such as livelihoods, land ownership, migration, exploitation, power equations, drudgery of men, women and children and many other topics of interest.
In combination these two methods generated rich discussion with the community, which contributed substantially in learning the mobility-vulnerability links of the char people, and could be useful in targeting environmentally vulnerable households or social groups.