UNCDF Bangladesh in the spotlight as World Bank, Australia, United Kingdom and Others Analyze Best Practices
World Bank and other Major Development Partners to Provide Support for Expansion of Experience
Khaliduz Zaman (left), chairman of Saidabad Union Parishad (local council), discussing construction plans with Abul Hossain, the assistant engineer of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). Photo by Adam Rogers/ UNCDF.
14 November 2005 - As part of current discussions on support to Bangladesh’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), a high-level delegation from the World Bank, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the UN Development Programme is visiting the UNCDF/UNDP project in the country’s central district of Sirajganj. This project has been piloting an innovative approach to decentralizing the planning and financing of local infrastructure and public services through local government in rural areas.
The programme has already achieved widespread recognition and positive independent review. The different development partners are now interested in learning from and supporting wider replication of the programme, which puts decision-making and spending authority into the hands of locally-accountable and democratically-elected representatives who are best able to make the kinds of decisions that have the deepest impact on reducing poverty in the region.
“The World Bank and others are in a position to dramatically upscale our pilot experiences to the entire country, thereby ensuring that their investments are channeled efficiently into demand-driven projects that have a real impact on improving people’s lives,” said UNCDF Executive Secretary Richard Weingarten.
The visit follows a donor roundtable meeting in September where Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan , the Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, announced a commitment to reforming the regulatory framework for local government and to replicating the local government block grant mechanism, and other innovations piloted in Sirajganj.
At this meeting a representative from the World Bank made a formal commitment to supporting the implementation of this policy through a major new programme that it would prepare and implement in collaboration with UNCDF. Preparation work is scheduled to begin in January 2006 . A key element of this programme will be the further field testing of the Sirajganj innovations in five other Districts, through a follow-up phase of the current Sirajganj project, to be supported by UNCDF, UNDP and the European Union. Once proven to be viable they will then be rolled out nationally with support from the Bank and other partners.
UNCDF invests in Least Developed Countries through a variety of innovative approaches in both local development and microfinance. For more information on UNCDF programmes in Bangladesh, please visit the UNCDF Bangladesh home page.
