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Introduction: Joint Results Stories The joint results stories presented in this publication have been compiled to showcase results from the first year of UNDAF implementation. Each story from each Pillar forms the basis of the overall story of the UNDAF as it unfolds in Bangladesh. They illustrate the human development aspect of UN work in the country, and gives faces to the figures.
Pillar 1: Democratic Governance and Human Rights Pillar 1 recognizes that a robust participatory democracy is one of the drivers of overcoming development barriers, and focuses on two main outcomes: • Building the capacity of public and Government institutions to more effectively carry out their mandates and deliver improved services in an accountable, transpar ent and inclusive manner; and, • Increased access to, and more efficiency of, justice systems and strengthened human rights institutions better able to promote and protect human rights, particlarly for women and vulnerable groups. Under Pillar 1, the United Nations System continues to ensure representation and participation through democratic processes, complementing this with efforts to deepen democracy through strengthened partnerships with civil society to create democratic space for larger civic engagement. A focus on institutional reform, decentralization and local governance are also key areas for effective service delivery, thereby contributing to local development based on community needs.
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Pillar 2: Pro-Poor Growth with Equity Pro-poor growth is also defined both by its level and distribution between groups and localities. Pillar 2 uses a definition of poverty that includes both income and human development dimensions such as the impact of economic growth on poverty and other welfare conditions. Given this, the management and reduction of inequality is an implicit policy target, alongside broad growth acceleration. Special attention is given to the geographical pattern of growth and the impact on key vulnerable groups, particularly women.
Pillar 3: Social Services for Human Development Pillar 3 aims to contribute to poverty reduction by creating and facilitating linkages and synergies between key sectors. The aim is for deprived populations (particularly women, children and youth) to benefit from increased and more equitable use of quality health and population, education, water, sanitation, social protection and HIV services. Part of this includes behavioral change and intense policy advocacy efforts, which have led to the development or updating of legal instruments and policies to reach international human rights standards (see also Pillar 1).
Pillar 4: Food Security and Nutrition Food security and nutrition lie at the heart to overcoming development challenges of the country. Although significant efforts and important decisions have been made by the Government to mainstream food security and nutrition into the national development agenda, a need exists to strengthen institutional linkages across core sectors directly engaged in nutrition interventions, including food, agriculture and health. Improvement of food safety especially requires the establishment of cross-sectoral cooperation mechanisms and implementation of core capacity development activities, which recent Government initiatives have recognized. As a cross-cutting Pillar, it requires complementary results from other Pillars. However, addressing this issue contributes to national priorities on reducing poverty, boosting economic production, and securing human resource development.
Pillar 5: Climate Change, Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction and Response With Bangladesh's large numbers of vulnerable people and a highly degrading natural resources base, the impact of climate change has the potential to create devastating consequences during disaster. Pillar 5 focuses on establishing relevant systems that can respond to the needs of people and ensure protection and resilience. The approach used contributes to poverty reduction and sustainable development, reduces vulnerability to hazards, and recognizes that food insecurity, social inequality and ecological degradation are important elements of overall vulnerability.
budget allocations that promote the rights of the urban poor and vulnerable populations, particularly with regard to land tenure security and access to affordable housing. Secondly, the Pillar focuses on promotion of democratic and pro-poor urban governance, along with developing stakeholder capacities to plan and manage sustainable urban development. Critically, it emphasizes empowerment and capacity development of the urban poor to improve their socioeconomic conditions, along with increasing their access to basic services and social protection programmes.
Pillar 7: Gender Equality and Women’s Advancement Pillar 7 recognises that gender equality and women's empowerment are at the core of Bangladesh's development. Its two outcomes are interrelated: marginalized and disadvantaged women increase their participation in wage employment and other income-generating activities, while their social and institutional vulnerabilities simultaneously are intended to be reduced. This two-track, complementary approach promotes overall gender equality and equity by focusing on critical gender-related issues, and creating an enabling environment for women's participation in the labour market, their communities and national development.
Pillar 6: Pro-Poor Urban Development Pillar 6 focuses on secure and equitable pro-poor urban development and mitigation of the worst effects of rapid urbanization. It contributes to the national priorities on securing human resource development and promoting environmental sustainability in low-income urban settlements. At policy level, the Pillar supports development of national and municipal plans and
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PRO-POOR GROWTH WITH EQUITY SOCIAL SERVICES FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
and Expanding Social Protection for the Most Vulnerable
As Bangladesh progresses to Middle Income Country (MIC) status, a reformed and improved social protection system will become essential in achieving equitable human development. By protecting people against a series of contingencies and risks over the lifecycle, social protection programmes can help to ensure that economic growth remains inclusive, that poverty reduction is sustained, and improvements in nutrition are secured.
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In spite of many positive features, the Bangladesh social protection system is fragmented and up to 20 Ministries are involved in its delivery. Insufficient attention has been given to sustained poverty reduction and social cohesion, and the system is inefficient and ineffective. Both coverage and targeting are weak, and errors of inclusion and exclusion are high. There is an urgent need to consolidate good practice and to provide a framework through which the extreme poor, and those otherwise disadvantaged and marginalized, can be protected from risks, and offered opportunities. It is also important the system further evolves to offer basic social security throughout the life-cycle.
The United Nations System continues to support and facilitate reform rooted in the Government of Bangladesh’s (GoB) development of a National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS). This has involved both policy level and delivery interventions. UN agencies have supported a number of major research inputs in recent years, including: the two volume-PPRC studies, Social Safety Nets in Bangladesh, published in 2011 and 2012; and the high-level Dhaka Social Protection Conference held in late 2011. The latter drew commentators and thinkers from around the world, and provided the impetus for the NSPS (announced in the conference communiquÊ). The NSPS development process began in earnest in Autumn 2012 and has continued throughout 2013. Led by the General Economics Division and the Cabinet Office, and overseen by a ten member inter-ministerial committee, this process is designing a comprehensive social protection model that brings together social services and protective systems that is backed by a budget framework that is adequately funded and child-sensitive, and includes dimensions of poverty reduction, nutritional sufficiency and risk reduction.
UN-sponsored technical assistance is on-going; a major recent input is the drafting of a framework paper to guide the strategy and the development process. Moreover, a lead contractor will shortly be appointed and resourced by the UN agencies, to further support the Government to complete the strategy by the end of 2013. Alongside this workstream, two major allied policy level inputs have been provided by United Nations agencies. The first of these assistances was with the drafting of the National Labour Policy, which emphasizes the social protection for workers, most of who are outside the scope of social security and was adopted in late 2012. Second, an equally positive development is the new Children Act, which secures the rights of children and adolescents and will be enacted in the near future. Improving coordination and delivery to improve coverage (and by extension inclusion), alongside reducing duplication and substantial leakages from the social protection system, are key priorities. In concert with United Nations agencies, mid-level GoB policymakers and technical staff have benefited from tailored training courses. In addition, a substantive research programme by the International Food Policy Research Institute to determine the household income, food security and nutrition impact of different safety net transfer schemes has been supported. In turn, a new multi-donor funding arrangement for future social protection policy and systems improvements has been developed with strong UN participation. On-going initiatives supported by United Nations Agencies also aim to address gaps in the delivery of social safety nets. Food security support for the extreme poor has been complemented by assistance to 30,000 extreme poor women and their households, resulting in impressive growth in incomes and by more than 200 per cent in assets and food security alike. Most of these households are now considered to be on the path to a sustainable exit from poverty. Additionally, direct targeted delivery of social protection, to achieve permanent graduation from poverty, also continues via the UN interventions in urban slums and within the post-conflict Chittagong Hill Tracts districts. These efforts include the provision of block grants, educational stipends, training allowances and community level support for the extreme poor and vulnerable.
With regard to concomitant social service provision, a draft alternative care policy has been developed with the support of United Nations agencies, introducing alternative care options for children without parental care and vulnerable children, and facilitating the reduction of unnecessary institutionalization. The United Nations System is also supporting increased efficiency in birth registration, with more than 55 million of 150 million manually registered birth records now computerized. The United Nations system’s advocacy work on human rights and equity, specifically relating to sexual minorities and marginalized groups, has been successful in ensuring budget allocations for the transgender population; work to include people living with HIV in national social protection schemes is well-advanced. Similarly, an approach based on continuum of care is strengthening child protection, encompassing identification of children at risk or victims of abuse, neglect or exploitation, as well as assessment, referral, and provision of services. Based on an equity-focused situation analysis, this has been replicated in selected areas, providing child-sensitive social protection services among vulnerable communities such as urban slums, tea gardens and Internally Displaced Persons affected by natural disasters. A database under development will become a hub allowing tracking of children benefiting from all child protection services. Recognising that social protection demands a holistic approach, and that the use of services can be limited by factors outside of the lack of provision of these services, 31,450 adolescent girls and boys began civic engagement in their communities on issues of child marriage and child labour to stimulate debate on harmful social norms and practices. Other relevant United Nations-supported activities related to the prevention of violence, abuse and exploitation include partnerships with national institutions that led to provision of child protection services to vulnerable and/or affected populations. A total of 3,000 adolescents, including more than 2,000 girls, have been provided with support in the form of conditional stipends for income generation, civic action or personal development. Lastly, more than 31,450 adolescent girls and boys began civic engagement in their communities through adolescent clubs on issues of child marriage and child labour to stimulate debate on these harmful social norms and practices.
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DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS Promoting Justice and Good Governance for Women The United Nations Agencies in Bangladesh work to strengthen justice and governance institutions to better serve and protect the rights of all citizens, particularly women and vulnerable groups. This encompasses not only policy-level advocacy, but also support to changes in institutions and operations as well. To help ensure justice at the grassroots level, the United Nations System is particularly strengthening village courts to increase their capacities to become more functional and to rapidly reach out to rural communities. These courts have been administered for nearly 100 years through Union Parishads but have been largely inactive, with their jurisdiction virtually unaltered for the past century. Even among those courts that were active, perceptions were widespread of bias and poor administration impeding fair and transparent justice, especially for poor women. Most rural people continued to depend on informal shalish procedures to settle disputes.
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With the formal justice system in Bangladesh overburdened with nearly 2 million pending cases, however, it was imperative that village courts be used effectively. Thus, the Government’s decision to activate village courts in 500 Union Parishads of 77 upazilas represented a landmark decision. In partnership with the European Union, the United Nations System supports the Ministry of Local
Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives to empower citizens to resolve common disputes such as family conflicts, thefts and quarrels over land at local level in a timely, transparent and affordable manner. In turn, this is expected to strengthen local governance as a whole, as well as to enhance the realization of human rights for all in the country in alignment with the Government of Bangladesh‘s ‘Vision 2021’. A baseline survey in late 2009 found that only 23 percent of people even knew about village courts, with an even lower proportion aware of the courts’ jurisdiction. Yet recent United Nations-supported public campaigns and capacity development of court officials are paying off, as are tailored workshops to particularly promote awareness of village courts among women. Rising demand for village court adjudication resulted in 10,553 cases being resolved in 2012, a 30 percent increase over 2011. Development of gender responsiveness among officials has been among the key priorities. In 2012 nearly 1 in 3 cases included women petitioners, a sharp rise from only 2 percent the year before and a testament to concrete results inspired by work among the United Nations Agencies. At the same time, 46 percent of legal aid recipients in the affected unions are women, further ensuring equality in access to justice. An independent evaluation survey of the performance of village courts in 2012
concluded that 69 percent of petitioners and respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the manner in which their case was handled. Of these, 64 percent believed that social problems and petty crimes were occurring less in their locality due to the village courts’ presence. Ensuring gender equality is likewise critical as a part of overall good governance and support to the concept of people-centred governance. As an indispensable public service, the police particularly require the creation of a woman-friendly environment. Support from United Nations Agencies in Bangladesh has helped
to ensure this not only for women on the force, but also for women who require police services. During 2012 alone, the ratio of women police increased significantly; a total of 1,524 women were recruited (12 percent of recruits), 525 more than in 2011. Recruitment is being complemented with workplace reform to encourage greater diversity, including the establishment of six model police sub-districts with specific accommodations for women. Police also have been able to use increased knowledge on human trafficking to open 148 investigations and recover 184 women and children in 2012.
A Poor Woman Triumphs in Court Chobi Rani Ray and her husband, Felu, have only 1.5 decimals of land-barely enough to cover their family’s food requirements-near their house in Orakandi union of Kahianiupazila,Gopalganj District. Chobi works with her husband in the field, sowing paddy seeds and cultivating seasonal vegetables to try and earn extra income. However, often Chobi’s crops and seeds were being damaged by a wandering cow belonging to her distant relative Topon Ray. When she complained, Topon Ray reportedly retaliated by damaging Chobi’s house with an axe. Soon afterward, Chobi approached the Union Parishad on the advice of a member of a community-based organization. She subsequently lodged a case in the village court against Topon Ray for his cow’s destruction of her crops. Topon Ray did not contest the charges, and within a week, the village court had found Chobi’s complaint justified. Members of the court panel unanimously fined Topon Ray 300 Taka (about US$4) as compensation, which he paid. Although the amount involved appears small, it had a big effect on Chobi: She expressed her deep satisfaction in securing justice-and within a very short time. With the village court delivering justice, she says, poor women will no longer be at the mercy of others.
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PRO-POOR GROWTH WITH EQUITY Deepening Area-Based Development in the Chittagong Hill Tracts Employing a holistic, area-based development approach is an integral part of the United Nations System’s strategy to promote human security and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the most disadvantaged regions of Bangladesh. This approach is being successfully used to mobilize a large number of local stakeholders in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), the most ethnically diverse region and one of the poorest areas in the country, which has suffered from prolonged unrest. The Chittagong Hill Tract Development Facility (CHTDF) serves as the centre for a wide array of integrated United Nations System support to the area. This includes building the capacities of CHT institutions; economic development and delivery of basic services; and community empowerment, with a particular focus on women. Confidence building is equally critical to bring about a durable solution for peace and development; implementation of a peace accord signed in late 1997 has remained a matter of dispute, and communal flare-ups continue to be frequent. In turn, since this initiative began in 2005, micro-studies and qualitative evidence have shown greater levels of employment, higher incomes and declining rates of poverty in the region.
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Currently, some 3,257 communities representing around 63,000 poor and vulnerable households (350,000 people) are supported by Para Development
Committees (PDCs) set up as the key institutional vehicle for outreach and delivery of services to the grassroots. CHTDF support constitutes the largest cash transfer programme ever to communities in the region, with an average of 550,000 taka (about US$6,875) disbursed to each PDC. This has made a significant contribution to the local economy; PDCs now have 47 million taka as outstanding savings, with an additional 606 million taka awaiting further investment. Intangible benefits of the PDCs have been significant too: increased awareness, greater exposure to the outside world, confidence about the future, and linkages and networks with external stakeholders. Notably, CHTDF has forged extensive partnerships with local institutions, including the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs (MoCHTA), the Regional Council, Hill Development Councils (HDCs), and Circle Chiefs Offices. These partnerships comprise capacity building support in areas such as formulating multi-year development plans and mobilizing resources to ensure financial sustainability. Most important, such support gives officials an opportunity to directly implement activities in areas such as health, education and agricultural extension-a significant way of “learning by doing.� Community-based organizations are also being supported to develop their own plans, rules and guidelines for effective operation and, in turn, support to development priorities.
CHTDF’s support has also taken the shape of creating market linkages between local producers and outside buyers for achieving more sustainable and viable economic development. An impressive 94 percent of weaver groups assisted to produce traditional products have successfully established business linkages with buyers. Such linkages have helped producers to get fair prices for their products and determine ways to sustain their production and income, thereby enabling them to make their sources of income more sustainable. In terms of health and education, CHTDF support represents the only source for obtaining these basic services, since comparable services from the Government remain limited. Local education and health indicators have seen good progress, with the student attendance rate standing at 81.9 percent, some 11.7 percentage points above the national rate. Where previously very few education facilities existed, a total of 96 percent of students – 52 percent of them girls – now pass the primary school certificate examination. Immunization coverage of women and children, including in hard-to-reach areas, has increased to 75 percent from 67 percent previously. Moreover, food insecurity has been alleviated through the establishment of 1,650 rice banks, making nearly 2 million kg of rice available for consumption. In all, HDCs are managing the operation of 300 primary schools, along with a network of 886 Community Health Service Workers, 16 mobile medical teams and 78 satellite clinics. These provided more than 19,000 children with access to quality education in 2012 – a 10 percent increase from just two years earlier – and 500,000 people in the CHT with access to basic health services. Meanwhile, nearly 3 in 4 households have access to agricultural extension, livestock and fisheries services.
peace accord has also culminated in meetings among 19 relevant Ministries on transferring implementation of activities in agreed sectors to local control. Special attention to the advancement of women is mainstreamed effectively in all CHTDF programmes. More than 1,650 Para Nari Development Groups (PNDGs) are being supported to promote women’s issues and channel resources specifically to women, complementing the community development work of the PDCs. This is being achieved through income-generating activities, targeted capacity development, advocacy and leadership initiatives; engagement of women in project planning, formulation and management; greater women’s access to Government and non-Government information and services related to the project; increased leadership in financial control and management; enhanced skills development; and opportunities for regular savings. More than 22,100 women are members of PNDG/PDC executive committees, demonstrating an increased role of women with a voice in decision making in planning, monitoring and implementing programme activities. The CHT Women’s Organizations Network (CHTWON), established with United Nations System support, is one of the most visible organizations articulating the rights and concerns of CHT women, particularly in terms of advocating for the elimination of discriminatory laws and for policy dialogue on inheritance rights. Women peacemakers also are being specifically trained to raise awareness on issues of peace in the CHT.
One of the most ambitious undertakings of CHTDF is confidence building through policy-level advocacy and community interventions to address some of the most daunting issues that have kept the region mired in chronic instability. This has opened new horizons for the CHT. For example, several high-level policy dialogues organized by the CHTDF with MoCHTA, Ministry of Home Affairs and others has resulted in building consensus on police reform in the area; about 150 ethnic police of CHT origin have been transferred to the region from other areas of Bangladesh, further contributing to confidence building among local communities. High-level advocacy for fast-tracking of implementation of the
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SOCIAL SERVICES FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Ensuring Better Survival Rates for Mothers and Newborns Despite much progress in recent years, high death rates among mothers and newborns in Bangladesh persist. If the country is to meet its commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), considerable acceleration in the decline of these rates is still required, In response, the first United Nations Joint Programme in Bangladesh is undertaking innovative initiatives with the Government to address this priority. Neonatal mortality now accounts for more than two-thirds of overall infant deaths, while poor women and women in remote or hard-to-reach areas particularly lack access to skilled care. More than 7,000 women in Bangladesh die every year while giving birth. At least 3 in 4 deliveries take place at home, and skilled health personnel attend only about 1 in 4 deliveries, with vast disparities in access between the rich (53 percent) and the poor (7.5 percent). The Joint Programme focuses on improving community maternal and neonatal health (MNH) practices and use of quality MNH services, especially among the poor and marginalized, in 22 upazilas of four districts. Interventions involve support to the provision of a range of evidence-based services through the strengthening of health service systems, mobilizing of communities, and engaging of local government and mass media, among others. Special focus is given to
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overcoming bottlenecks on both the supply and demand sides, with the aim of increasing equity, participation and accountability in MNH interventions. The enhancement of equitable local-level planning is highlighted by development of MNH plans at district and upazila levels by special Health and Family Planning Management Teams, with community participation. Facility-based interventions include technical support to the delivery of integrated management of childhood illnesses and emergency obstetric care and neonatal health care services, along with establishment of special-care newborn units at referral hospitals. Renovation of a number of facilities has been undertaken. A pay-for-performance initiative with health personnel has led to increased coverage of institutional deliveries at district- and upazila-level health facilities and, in turn, to quality improvements. At the same time, family planning services are being strengthened in four districts. State-of-the-art training in essential life-saving skills for maternal and newborn health is being offered through a partnership with the UK-based Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, as well as with the UK Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society of Bangladesh.
At community level, meanwhile, the United Nations System has introduced initiatives to increase awareness and demand for MNH care and services in nine districts covering more than 17 million people. It is building capacity among non-Government organizations (NGOs) for the development of community support groups that can facilitate the intervention of Community Health Volunteers, particularly among the poor and marginalized. NGOs and the private sector also are being supported to fill the gap in emergency obstetric care and neonatal health care provision. Data from districts where the programme is being implemented show impressive trends in maternal and neonatal health outcomes: For example, between 2008 and 2010 alone, the neonatal death rate declined by 51.1 percent, while the stillbirth rate fell by 33.1 percent. At the same time, the met need for emergency obstetric care rose from 51.7 percent to 66.6 percent. Data also show an increase in the volume of service users, whose views are being incorporated in planning processes. A key innovation is the local contracting of doctors, nurses and support staff to fill staffing gaps.
Kashipur: A Success Story When the Maternal and Perinatal Death Review began in 2010 under the Maternal and Neonatal Health Initiative, it found that Kashipur, a small union in northeast Bangladesh, had the highest rate in thecountry of mother and newborn deaths and stillbirths. In this union of only 22,000 people, 40 such deaths were recorded, of which 4 were women, 21 newborns and 15 stillbirths. Through these results, a critically vulnerable geographic area was identified: It was found that the people of Kashipur, located in Ranishoinkoilupazila, Thakugaon district, were mostly poor and illiterate, with minimal access to MNH services. Available health facilities were very far, and the local Community Clinic was not functional. Under the MNHI, the Government and United Nations System moved swiftly to renovate the Community Clinic, thereby ensuring antenatal and newborn care, and to deploy a community-based skilled birth attendant for safe delivery. Important equipment such as a labour table, weight scale and blood pressure machine were supplied. In addition, appropriate essential drugs such as antibiotics, painkillers, multivitamins and calcium and iron tablets are now available. The skilled
Remarkable progress has particularly been made in the area of midwifery, including the launching of the nation’s first midwifery diploma programme.This is expected to result in long-term improvements in thematernal health situation, given that fully certified midwives, trained in accordance with international standards, are an essential workforce in an effective health care system and an important way forward to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths and illnesses. A further positive development is the systematic implementation of a maternal and perinatal death review, which allows the generation and analysis of data on mothers, neonates and stillborn infants, as well as translation of this analysis into more targeted and strategic programmatic action. To increase impact, an intensive safe motherhood campaign was launched in 2012 and reached an estimated 128 million people. Outcomes of the campaign are being assessed to help draw lessons learned that can be scaled up to include other key behaviours being promoted by the United Nations System.
birth attendant is always available on call, and a doctor visits the clinic weekly to provide services to pregnant women and identify complex cases for referral. In addition, community events have raised awareness of maternal and newborn health issues among all the people, and one villager donated a piece of land to expand the clinic, which opened in January 2011. As a result of the MNHI efforts, visible positive changes in health care were recorded within a very short period: In its first 18 months of operation, for example, the clinic provided antenatal care for 134 mothers and postnatal care for 75 women, including 76 safe deliveries. Maternal deaths declined to 1 in 2011 and 1 in 2012, while deaths among newborns decreased by more than 50 percent. Moreover, the community support system and awareness programme has enhanced care-seeking behaviour. With the tremendous improvement in health care that the Community Clinic provided, the community turned its thoughts to establishing a 10-bed hospital that could save hundreds of mothers’ and children’s lives over the years. On the basis of this local demand, the Government constructed the hospital, which was opened in May 2012 for services. Starting with MNHI-supported efforts, the people of Kashipur have gone from being one of the most disadvantaged areas in Bangladesh to being well-connected to the health system.
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FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION Tackling Child Malnutrition Levels of acute malnutrition and underweight in young children and in pregnant and lactating women in Bangladesh remain persistently high. In turn, a groundbreaking Joint Programme of the United Nations System, with the support of the MDG Achievement Fund (MDG-F), is effectively seeking to reduce the proportion of the vulnerable population with inadequate calorie and nutrient intake. Overall, numerous positive changes that have improved the nutritional status and food security of households have occurred as a result of the Joint Programme, which is being implemented among 7,000 severe and moderately acute malnourished children and women in three upazilas of Barisal Division. More than half of the population in this Division is considered poor and prone to natural and human-induced disasters. Monitoring reports show that the incidence of both severe acute malnutrition and moderate acute malnutrition among children aged 6-59 months has declined quickly. For example, severe acute malnutrition ranged from 0.89 to 2.12 percent of children in the covered upazilasin April 2011; by September 2012, following treatment, the rates overall were near 0. Over the same period, moderate acute malnutrition, which originally afflicted 8 to 11 percent of children, has been reduced to less than 2 percent. Early detection of malnutrition and provision of the necessary therapeutic
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interventions are also part of the Joint Programme’s efforts to advance women and address their overall low status, recognizing that such empowerment is vital to sustainable development. Moving from a baseline of highly unequal power relationships with men and other family members, women report they now have a stronger belief in their own knowledge and capabilities to care for themselves and their families. Through sharing of their new knowledge with their neighbours as well, they also are being viewed as resource persons and change agents by their communities. Research has found specific changes in the women themselves, resulting in more self-esteem, as well as changes in attitudes of family members, including husbands and mothers-in-law, resulting in more respect. Women have reported increased decision-making power in areas such as child feeding, and expanded mobility. They also have more power over family finances. These changes together illustrate a shift in women’s ability to assert themselves and in their families’ perceptions of them. This is especially important for pregnant and lactating women, who are learning to prioritize their own needs and the needs of their children for adequate food and nutrition. In all, this represents a significant achievement within the highly stratified social context of Bangladesh, showing how activities that empower women through training in nutrition education, for example, can have far-reaching effects on improving broader nutrition and food security in their families and their communities.
Rescuing a Child from Undernutrition Abdullah was diagnosed with moderate acute malnutrition when he was just 5 months old. His mother, Salma, had been affected by acute dysentery. She lost her appetite and became very weak, so that Abdullah did not get enough breastmilk. Abdullah’s father, Dulal, is the lone income-earner in the family, bringing in about 6,500 Taka (around US$80) each month as a day labourer near their home in Barguna. Although Abdullah’s family members, including his 7-year-old sister, Amena, eat three meals a day, these are not elaborate. Meat is on the table no more often than once a month or once every two months. At this juncture Community Nutrition Worker Halima Begum, supported by the United Nations Joint Programme on Nutrition, began to visit the house. After measuring Abdullah’s thin upper-arm circumference, Halima immediately advised treatment and directed Salma to attend an Outreach Therapeutic Centre. Further, she provided a nutritious wheat-soya blend to support Abdullah’s nutrition. Diligently, Salma also began attending courtyard meetings and counseling sessions where she was taught about food and nutrition, breastfeeding, prevention of anaemia and personal hygiene. “From the very beginning, I never forgot to cook the wheat-soya blend and feed my son on time,” Salma recalls. Gradually, Abdullah began recovering, and at age 2 he is growing day by day, playing, sleeping and eating adequately. Observing the happy face of their child, his parents are overjoyed as well. Neighbours also have been impressed with the programme’s effect on the little boy, and Abdullah’s grandmother herself says, “I was surprised that such a small intake of food (wheat-soya blend) could bring such positive changes to a child’s life. My grandson is healthy now.” As a result of the programme’s provision of seeds, fertilizer and agricultural instruments, Salma also now has a vegetable garden in front of her house. She produces vegetables to further ensure her family’s food security and adequate nutrition, and to generate income through sales to her neighbours. Previously, this part of the land lay uncultivated. Now, says Salma, “we eat a lot of vegetables. We realize the nutritional needs of the family.”
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Building National Resilience to Complex Disasters Bangladesh is a country at high risk of natural disasters, but with a firmly established and successful culture within Government, the United Nations System and other development partners to strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). As a result, many concrete achievements have occurred in terms of early warning, flooding and cyclone preparedness, and the subsequent reduction in loss of life during disasters.
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that map out key structures, roles and linkages between major stakeholders. The use of standards and standardized approaches in relief items likewise was lacking, as were efforts to avoid duplication and reduce gaps.
Even so, the need for large- or small-scale humanitarian support in the future is not a question of if, but of when. At any given time, people in Bangladesh, from Satkhira to Cox’s Bazaar, from Kurigram to Chandpur, struggle in various stages of recovery and require support. In particular, the critical element of response preparedness requires further strengthening-and within that, effective coordination of humanitarian actors to ensure the best use of resources to meet the short-term relief needs and longer-term recovery needs of people affected by a crisis.
Recently, however, national capacity for emergency response and early recovery has been significantly enhanced through stronger partnerships fostered by the United Nations System with Government, development partners and non-Government agencies alike. A key achievement has been the building of a new humanitarian coordination “architecture,� aligned with global best practices and linked to the national development framework. This is expected to strengthen humanitarian coordination under overall Government leadership as well as through sector-specific humanitarian clusters- essentially, ready-made response hubs-led by relevant United Nations Agencies. For example, a post-flooding Joint Needs Assessment carried out in Satkhira in 2012 marked the first cooperative study by the clusters and initiated a new era in joint response.
In the past, coordination efforts were generally limited to the sharing of information on who was doing what and where, which did not promote an overall shared understanding of situations or development of joint response strategies. A lack of clarity on how humanitarian coordination is intended to function in Bangladesh also has been manifest in the absence of clear, simple guidelines
These initiatives are intended to address the complexities of coordination in the Bangladesh context, which encompasses a large number of both stakeholders and forums at different levels coordinating different aspects of development. This has been exacerbated by the wide differences in scope, scale and onset of disasters that affect the country. Under the new plan, the Disaster Emergency
Response Working Group of the Local Consultative Group mechanism now will serve as the single key body that brings the Government and the international community together on disaster-related issues, so that opportunities are not missed in terms of joint planning and policy discussions and that responses are not ad hoc. As a result, greater clarity and predictability is expected even during large-scale
crises-but at the same time, medium-scale and slow-onset “undeclared disasters” that nonetheless affect significant numbers of people at more frequent intervals also can be accommodated. Some observers rate these as almost “normal” occurrences in Bangladesh, but Cyclone Aila in 2009, flash flooding in the haorareas in 2010 and waterlogging in the southwest of the country in 2011 show the continuing severity of such events-and the imperative for a well-coordinated response.
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Enhancing Empowerment, Livelihoods and Services for the Urban Poor Bangladesh has one of the fastest urbanization rates in the world and suffers from a suite of interlocking urban problems. Moreover, the centrality of urbanization to the core model of national economic growth ensures that urban policymaking and service delivery are pivotal to the country’s development success. Living conditions and livelihoods of 3 million urban poor in 23 towns, particularly women and the socially disadvantaged, are strengthening as a result of a wide array of United Nations-supported interventions. These include community-driven mobilization, improved access to socioeconomic benefits, and enhanced living conditions and infrastructure such as water supply, improved sanitation, elevated footpaths and storm drainage.
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In a major empowerment initiative under the Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction (UPPR) project, United Nations Agencies have assisted poor urban women and girls in particular to improve their livelihoods and living conditions. This has been achieved in large part through support to the establishment of Community Development Committees (CDCs) and town-level Federations to address specific community needs. Many CDCs have reached a sustainable level of maturity, with urban poor community leaders now being included in municipal decision-making processes.
As a result, more than 8,000 women have gained leadership experience in a community governance entity; 28 women have run for the key office of ward councillor in municipal elections, and eight were elected. A total of 90 percent of elected community leaders are women. More than 160,000 poor and extreme-poor women CDC members also have actively participated and received daily wage employment in implementing, managing and monitoring the construction of infrastructure in low-income settlements. More than 55,000 women, meanwhile, received conditional cash transfers of 5,000 Taka (about US$62) as a block grant to start their own businesses, while 36,000 women received 1,500 Taka per month as income during six-month apprenticeships. Over 44,000 girls from extreme-poor and poor households received grants to continue their education, significant in that few poor girls have traditionally been educated. In addition, 48,000 women improved urban and peri-urban food production, income and nutrition, while more than 49,500 women received training on savings and credit management. Overall, political will to address pro-poor urbanization has gained momentum, resulting in the finalizing of an urban sector policy document with substantive inputs from the United Nations System. A high-level inter-Ministerial steering committee to institutionalize the Bangladesh Urban Forum (BUF) also has been formed.
This United Nations-supported Forum has laid the foundation to bring all key relevant stakeholders together – including the urban poor themselves – for the first time to discuss, advocate and address emerging urban challenges that directly impede on increased economic opportunities for the urban poor and vulnerable groups. Recent endorsement by the Government of the National Skills Development Policy, formulated with United Nations technical assistance, also set the ground to increase the access of disadvantaged groups, including the urban poor, to skills and to recognize their prior learning as a way to facilitate their inclusion as informal apprentices. Similar advocacy and assistance through the United Nations System has fostered a process of concrete steps by Government authorities to address the land tenure security status of poor urban dwellers. In turn, the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2010 showed that the incidence of urban poverty had fallen to 21.3 percent, compared to 28.4 percent in 2005. Moreover, the Labour Force Survey 2010, published in 2012, demonstrated that urban women’s participation in the labour market had increased to 34.5 percent from 27.4 percent over the same period.
Meanwhile, around 2.5 million children in poverty-prone urban areas are directly benefiting from the distribution of micronutrient-fortified biscuits in 34 upazilasin 16 districts. School feeding assistance to 88,000 primary schoolchildren in urban slum areas has contributing to reducing the dropout rate and raising school attendance; since 2009, the attendance rate in targeted urban primary schools has increased by 16 percentage points, reaching 73 percent in 2012. Now, the successful community governance approach used thus far by the UPPR initiative is being expanded to link service delivery with policy research, advocacy and communications, and institutional strengthening at both national and municipal levels. Critically, the new goal will be to cover 5 million people in 50 towns-and to fully integrate the work of even more United Nations Agencies for overall urban development. This will serve as a vehicle to deliver quality basic services and better governance to urban communities through 2019, but also will operate as a catalyst to other urban interventions to maximize development payoffs. Through outsourcing of work and use of collaborative methods of working, efforts will be made to forge new partnerships with other development partners and civil society or non-Government organizations in the urban sector.
Access to savings and credit schemes among urban poor households likewise increased, by 18 percent against a 2011 baseline, and reached more than 37,500 new households. Access to loan facilities for promoting small-scale enterprises soared by 42 percent among urban poor households and reached more than 67,800 households in 2012. As a result of greater transparency and increased confidence in savings and credit systems, savings increased by 39 percent in 2012, reaching US$5.1 million, and loans by 50 percent, totalling US$3.7 million. In urban poor settlements targeted by the United Nations System, water-borne diseases also have fallen from 36 to 18 percent, and the proportion of people not washing their hands at appropriate times decreased from 56 to 11 percent. Poor urban households with rain-caused waterlogging fell from 87 to 11 percent as a result of drainage and footpath construction. Similarly, access to improved primary health care services increased for more than 850,000 urban poor people through a network of 12 satellite clinics, 205 health clinics and 660 trained health volunteers supplied by partners of the United Nations System.
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Preventing Child Marriage Bangladesh banned child marriage more than eight decades ago, in 1929. Yet although the legal age for marriage in the country is 18 for girls and 21 for boys, child marriage remains common, particularly among the poor. About half of all Bangladeshi girls are married by age 15 – two-thirds before they are 18 – and 60 percent become mothers by age 19, according to UNICEF data. They are among the 14.2 million girls annually worldwide, or 39,000 daily, who marry too young. The United Nations System is working to change the future for these girls, in concert with many parents and communities in the country who also want the very best for their daughters. Supported by the Millennium Development Goal Fund (MDG-F), the development organization BRAC, local governments and non-Government organizations, it has trained more than 25,000 men, women and adolescents to prevent child marriage and stop dowry practices. So far, these efforts have prevented nearly three dozen child marriages and stopped dowry practices in a number of communities, where the price prospective husbands will pay for young brides represents a major incentive to impoverished families. Now, the United Nations System is planning a major advocacy effort to expand the impact further.
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In all, child marriage robs girls of their education, health and long-term prospects, and can be dangerous. Early pregnancy and childbirth limit a girl’s opportunities and often lead to profound health risks. About half of teenage girls in Bangladesh suffer from malnutrition and anaemia, and in many developing countries, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death for girls aged 15-19. Around the world, stillbirths and newborn deaths are 50 percent higher among mothers younger than age 20 than in women who become pregnant in their 20s. In addition, young girls who marry also have a greater chance of becoming victims of violence by their husbands, especially when the age gap between the child bride and the spouse is large. They lack the resources or social and legal support to leave an abusive marriage. Girls who marry young usually drop out of school and are more likely to remain poor. All this has constrained achievement around the world of the MDGs related to reducing maternal deaths and deaths among children younger than age 5, as well as goals of eradicating poverty, achieving universal education and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases. But on a more personal level, what it means is this: that a girl who is married as a child is one whose potential will not be fulfilled.
Refusing Marriage, Choosing Education Around 20 young girls clap and sing in harmony under a large tin shed as neighbours cast curious looks. The chorus becomes louder as the girls sing a clear message: “Girls, don’t get married before you are 18.” These girls in Biprohalsha village in Natore District, some 200km northwest of Dhaka, are hosting one of their twice-monthly gatherings, part of a United Nations-supported adolescent empowerment project funded by the European Union and run by BRAC. One of their main subjects of discussion is child marriage. The song has a particular resonance for Afroza Khatun, a 17-year-old college student who leads the group. Going against custom and community pressure, Afroza recently refused her marriage proposal, setting an example in her village by convincing her parents, neighbours and village leaders that she wanted to complete her studies before getting married. “Six months ago, a relative from an adjacent village came to see my father to propose my marriage with the owner of a small shop. A day later, I told my parents that I wanted to complete my studies in college,” said Afroza. She and her friends from the adolescent group asked senior members of their community to help her convince her parents to oppose the marriage. The first person they went to was Sharathi Biswas, programme organiser of BRAC, who recalls: “I reminded Afroza’s parents about our previous meetings in which they had agreed to respect teenage girls’ rights and avoid early marriage.” A local union council member, Md Hazrat Ali Mandol, also intervened on Afroza’s behalf. As a council member, Mandol has considerable influence in the society, and he strongly supports girls waiting until they are at least 18 to get married. “I mediated when I heard that Afroza was getting married. It’s a shame that people still consider young girls a burden on their families,” said Mandol. Afroza also had help from a local religious leader, Abdur Razzak, who said: “I had organized a meeting of senior members of the community to condemn those who agree to get their daughters married before the age of 18. In this case, I thought we could easily convince Afroza’s father.” Afroza’s father, Md Akram Hossain, recalls differently how he eventually agreed to his daughter’s request: “Refusing the proposal was a big challenge for me. Traditionally, a marriage proposal for a growing girl is welcomed, because it is not easy to find well-off grooms. Early marriage has been a practice in our family from generation to generation.” He continued:“I decided to turn down the proposal, keeping in mind my daughter’s desire for higher education. But I knew I would face criticism and, even worse, this would break relations with my in-laws who had arranged the match with a good deal of hope.” Afroza’s marriage could be prevented only because her community was well aware of the laws and rights of adolescent girls. As Afroza walks along the bank of a small pond next to her mud house amid a thick bamboo forest, she talks about her own future plans: “I wish to do well in my studies and perhaps go on to higher education. One day I see myself as a teacher, maybe in a leading school in the capital. I know in the meantime many proposals will come along, but as long as I have the support of the community and my parents, I’m not thinking about marriage for the time being.”
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Saying No to Violence Against Women Violence against women (VAW) is a fundamental violation of human rights that has devastating consequences for the health, well-being and futures of women and girls in Bangladesh, as elsewhere in the world. Although Bangladesh has made significant policy-level achievements in addressing VAW, dowry-related violence, early marriage, rape and sexual harassment, trafficking, acid attacks and fatwa all remain common. Thus, VAW remains a particularly prevalent and socially sensitive issue in the country, but one that the United Nations System is committed to address. A United Nations-supported Joint Programme on VAW in Bangladesh works to reduce women’s social and institutional vulnerabilities, among others, through focusing on the policies and legal frameworks aimed at preventing VAW while protecting and supporting survivors. More than 4,250 female survivors of violence received treatment and counselling through linkages with 12 legal aid agencies in 2012, and women-friendly hospitals provided legal aid assistance to another 580 victims. In addition, victim support centres are increasingly providing specific, sustainable support services and becoming a national model for assisting victims of VAW, with more than 400 women served in 2012. Overall, some 23,000 participants from 388 unions in six districts received information on how to access security and legal, medical and rehabilitation
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support services through various service providers. Meanwhile, Union Parishad standing committees on family conflict resolution and women’s and children’s welfare meet regularly, with most elected leaders capable of conducting local arbitration according to established guidelines. To support these on-the-ground efforts, Bangladesh also observed the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign to end VAW in 2012, which was for the first time coordinated in the country among 11 United Nations Agencies, 11 Ministries and more than 550 civil society organizations. This high-level joint advocacy effort had a wide geographical scope and reached diverse population groups, including from remote areas. The campaign was spearheaded by the Government, with 30 parliamentarians pledging “no” to all types of VAW. Awards were given for nine well-documented good practices on ending VAW. The campaign received wide media coverage, and involved not only a multitude of diversified actions and effects, but also distribution of information, education and communication materials. A Media Forum was established at divisional level to review the status of VAW and support the role of the media in combating the issue. As a result, court records show that more family conflicts are being resolved through local arbitration and counselling. In addition, anecdotal evidence indicates that more Hindu women are becoming aware of the importance of
marriage registration to minimize discrimination and that more dowry cases are being solved, while more family conflicts are being resolved through local arbitration and counselling. The country also is beginning to witness community dialogues on understanding masculinity and how it relates to gender discrimination and VAW, which is expected to lead to changes that encourage the engagement of men and youth.
With Assistance, a Dramatic Turnaround in Life At age 16, Prarthana, from a remote village in Chittagong, was forced by her impoverished parents to marry Biplob, a returnee overseas migrant. What she did not know was that he had acquired HIV during his stay abroad, although his parents and friends were aware. They had suggested that Biplob marry an underage girl to “get rid of” the HIV. Within a year, Prarthana and Biplob (all names changed to protect privacy) had a child. A few months thereafter, Biplob died of AIDS. Subsequently, both Prarthana and the baby were found to be HIV-positive. After Biplob’s death and this diagnosis, both Prarthana’s own parents and in-laws began to stigmatize and discriminate against Prarthana. From sheer lack of food, medicine or extended family support, the baby soon died as well. Prarthana herself was near death before the AsharAlo Society (AAS), a key partner of the United Nations System, found her and offered food and shelter at its Dhaka-based centre supported by the Joint Programme on VAW. Through the centre, Prarthana received income-generation training co-sponsored by AAS and the United Nations. Later, she received 10,000 Taka (about US$125) as a one-time grant to start her own business in home-based poultry and goat rearing. A total of 145 other HIV-positive women have received similar grants. Today, at age 20, Prarthana now enjoys an inspirational life story: She has recently found a life partner of her choice, and she and her husband are happily married and living in the Sylhet region. To help support the couple, she is making a living through poultry farming as a result of the Joint Programme.
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ADDRESS:
UNDP IDB BHABAN, E/8-A, BEGUM ROKEYA SHARANI, SHER-E-BANGLA NAGAR, DHAKA-1207, BANGLADESH. TEL.: 880-2-811-8600, 880-2-811-8601