Condolence Message

Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM) family expresses deep grief at the demise of Ms. Simeen Mahmud (Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un). She was the wife of Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud, former Chairman of InM. She breathed her last today at about 12:10 pm at the Mt. Auburn Hospital of Harvard in USA . Her sudden demise is a great loss to all of us and to the nation.

Ms. Simeen Mahmud was the Head (a.i.) of the Gender Studies Cluster and the Coordinator of the Centre for Gender and Social Transformation (CGST) at BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University. Ms. Simeen Mahmud studied Statistics at Dhaka University and Medical Demography at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She joined the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) in 1974 as Staff Demographer and retired in 2008 as Research Director of the Population Studies Division. She was a MacArthur Fellow at the Harvard Centre for Population and Development in 1993.

As a demographer her research focus was on women’s status, work and fertility, on conceptualising the processes of women’s empowerment and on women’s employment. She has also researched extensively on women’s access to NGO membership and micro finance and the impact on their lives and gender outcomes.

She worked in partnership with several national and international research organisations and agencies, universities and donors, including InM. She was the lead researcher of InM’s research project on ‘Social Impact of Microfinance on Gender Norms and Behaviour’.

 
May Almighty Allah grant her family the strength to bear this irreparable loss and put her into Jannatul Ferdous.
 
On behalf of InM Family