Bangladesh Gets $300m WB Financing for Covid Resilience

The Bangladesh government and the World Bank on Sunday signed a $300 million financing agreement to help about 750,000 poor and extreme poor rural people across 20 districts come out of poverty and build resilience to the Covid-19 pandemic and any future shocks.

Through income-generating activities, livelihood and entrepreneurial support, as well as skills development for the poor and extreme poor people, the Resilience, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Improvement (RELI) Project will help boost the rural economy in about 3,200 villages, reads a press release issued Tuesday.

The credit from the World Bank’s International Development Association, has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period.

Built on the success of the first and second Social Investment Program Projects and on the Nuton Jibon Livelihood Improvement Project, the RELI project would mobilise, develop, and strengthen community organisations, and finance their community plans provide cash transfers and loans for income-generating activities, said the release.

 “The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the poor in rural areas particularly women, by limiting their income and economic opportunities,” said Mercy Tembon, World Bank (WB) country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.

“This project will help to boost the rural economy and 90 per cent of the beneficiaries will be women. The project will also help with health and nutritional awareness. When a woman earns more, her family and the community are better off,” she added.

According to the press release, the project will support rural entrepreneurs and producer groups with market linkages including e-commerce platforms, partnerships with local governments, and promotional activities.

It will also provide skills development training to the unemployed or under-employed youth and returnee migrants to increase their employability.

“The project is aligned with the 8th Five Year Plan and the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100,” said Fatima Yasmin, secretary of the Bangladesh government’s Economic Relations Division.

“Through community mobilisation and climate-smart agriculture practices, the project will help rural women withstand any future shocks like the pandemic without falling back to poverty,” she said.

The project will provide training to almost 490,000 people on climate risk, adaptation, and resilience building. It will also build 5,120 climate-resilient small-scale infrastructures.

The agreement was signed by Fatima Yasmin and Mercy Tembon on behalf of the government and the World Bank, respectively.