Bangladesh

Rapid human development progress in Bangladesh, India and other South Asian nations is helping drive a historic shift in global dynamics. Hundreds of millions of people are rising out of poverty and billions more are poised to join the South’s fast-growing middle class, says the 2013 Human Development Report, launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Friday.

2011 marks the 40th anniversary of Bangladesh's independence, providing an historic moment for reflection on the enormous distance that the nation has travelled since 1971. Emerging from a devastating conflict and facing innumerable challenges from the outset of selfdetermination, Bangladesh has followed a remarkable path of achievement.

This is encouraging to note that Bangladesh is well on track on achieving the MDG targets in the area of poverty, net enrolment in primary education, gender parity in primary and secondary education, reducing child mortality & maternity mortality and improving immunization coverage, rolling back malaria and tuberculosis, and improved drinking water supply and sanitation.

Recent years have seen a perceptible increase in interest in social safety nets within developing countries. Although many critics have questioned social safety-nets as something politically expedient, stigmatizing and highly inadequate to prime concerns of the poor, the necessity of such nets was never really discarded in practice.

Recent years have seen a perceptible increase in interest on social safety nets in developing countries. The emergence of such a policy focus has been underscored by the growing realization of the significance of risk and vulnerability in defining the poverty condition 1 and the concomitant need to protect the poor from such risks and vulnerability.

This publication is a knowledge product which will be used as a benchmark to assess the overall objectives and outputs of "Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh" project. The Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh Project seeks to provide support to the local justice system throughout Bangladesh, by reinvigorating and activating village courts in 500 selected Union Parishads (UP).

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) with its diversity in geography, multi-ethnic population composition (including 11 Indigenous communities and Bangalees), displacement issues, deprivation in terms of socio-economic parameters, armed conflict, signing of CHT Accord and post-conflict development, etc. still remains as a region of crucial political and development discourse.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to assist people build a better life. Working in 166 countries, UNDP is working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.

Published by:
Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change through Coastal Afforestation
UNDP Bangladesh
IDB Bhaban, Agargaon, Dhaka, Bangaldesh

This manual is the product of a lot of comparative and analytic research, intensive consultations with colleagues, experts, civil servants and citizens and richly satisfying participatory and inclusive workshops conducted on the Citizen's Charter, organised in numerous districts and divisions in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh National Adaptation Programme of Action has been updated in 2009 by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, GOB, with the support of UNDP Bangladesh. The objectives of the plan are to incorporate potential adaptation measure into overall development planning process, make development resilient to climate change, and promote sustainable development of Bangladesh.

The St. Martin’s Island is a natural treasure, the only place in Bangladesh where coral colonies are found. Unfortunately, unregulated tourism and unplanned infrastructural development has become detrimental for the health of this unique ecosystem. This document provides key information on this island, its biodiversity, and conservation challenges. It also portrays the necessity of enabling policies and programming actions.

Global Assessment Report 2009 (GAR 09) identified five categories of countries (very low, low, medium, high & very high) that share common characteristics in terms of their economic vulnerability and resilience to natural disaster loss and their development limitations, particularly their capacity to benefit from international trade. Bangladesh is in the 'high' category. GAR 09 observes that risk cannot be modeled deterministically due to the scarce nature of data on exposure of economic assets.

‘Millennium Development Goals: Bangladesh Progress Report 2009’ is the fourth Bangladesh MDGs Progress Report prepared by the General Economics Division (GED), Planning Commission, Government of Bangladesh (GoB), the UN system in Bangladesh and the five Thematic Working Groups (TWG) viz; poverty and hunger, education, gender, health, and environment assisted the GED for preparation of the document. UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP, IOM, ILO, and WHO imparted technical assistance in preparing thematic papers.

This study entitled, ‘Elections in Bangladesh 2006-2009: Transforming Failure into Success’ chronicles Bangladesh’s 9th parliamentary elections, from the first election campaign period in 2006, through the installation of a new government in 2009. The study will be integral in documenting this critical period in the political history of Bangladesh. The lessons highlighted by the study will provide a key element of the evidence base upon which future electoral reform activities may be developed in Bangladesh.

‘A snapshot of Results: 2009’ focuses on the results achieved in 2009 by UNDP-supported initiatives in partnership with the Government and donors. In the framework of the Country Programme 2006-2011 UNDP’s projects, which are anchored in various Governmental and independent institutions, are the means through which this Country Office achieved the results presented in this report. As a ‘snapshot’ this document seeks to be concise in bringing together both ends of UNDP’s work, from its support at the policy level to grass roots impact on the ground.

This publication is the country report of the regional series titled: HIV vulnerabilities faced by women migrants: from Asia to the Arab states. The regional report was undertaken by the UNDP Regional HIV and Development Programme in Asia and the Pacific produced in close collaboration with Coordination of Action Research for AIDS and Mobility in Asia (CARAM Asia) and Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center (CLMC), and support from UNAIDS, IOM and UNIFEM.

The latest MDGs Progress Report, developed by the Government of Bangladesh with support from UNDP, presents an in-depth assessment of the status and trends of MDGs attainment throughout the country. This is the third report and the first since the evaluation at the mid-way point of the MDGs 2015 deadline. The report outlines progress towards each of the MDGs, focusing on the specific indicators using the latest data and statistics.

The report explores the interventions needed to achieve the MDGs in Bangladesh by 2015. The report finally presents the estimated resources needs based on costs for implementing the identified interventions in each of the thematic areas of poverty and hunger, education, gender, health and environment.