Bangladesh – Mobility Tracking Observation Report (30 March-15 April 2020)

In Bangladesh many individuals migrate from their home villages for work. When the public holiday and mobility restrictions went into effect on 26 March 2020, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, many of these individuals returned to their districts of origin.

Under the European Union funded Regional Evidence for Migration Analysis and Policy (REMAP) project, IOM activated mobility tracking in Bangladesh in 2019 to increase understanding of mobile population categories and types of mobility at the union level and mobility patterns at the village level. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, based on the IOM global mobility tracking methodology, IOM launched a mobility tracking observation exercise with key informants (MTO-KI) in 29 districts across the country. The exercise is usually done in the communities but considering the current operating climate, a phone-based data collection method was adopted instead.