Bangladesh
Relief Support for Flood and Cyclone Affected Population in Need in South-East Bangladesh (RESPONSE) Project
Heavy rainfall befell Bangladesh in the last week of June 2015, causing landslides and flash flooding. 29 Upazilas (sub-districts) of the South-Eastern districts of Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban and Chittagong were the worst affected areas as identified by the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) - a Joint Needs Assessment revealed that a total of over 1.8 million people were adversely impacted.
Incessant rainfalls in turn resulted in a depression in the North Bay of Bengal and transformed in to a Cyclonic Storm ‘Komen’ on 30 July 2015, affecting 15 districts situated in the low-lying areas of the coastal belt, offshore islands, and chars. ‘Komen’ led to further heavy to very heavy rainfall across the entire country, and caused inundation in many areas of Southeast Bangladesh, including those which were affected by the initial phase of heavy rainfall. Consequently the lives and livelihoods of a large cross section of people from these areas were severely impacted – JNA and a post-cyclone rapid impact assessment conducted in the most affected districts revealed that the total number of people affected by flash floods and ‘Komen’ stood at 2.6 million in Southern Bangladesh!
The assessments identified Food Security/Supply, Livelihoods, WASH, and Shelter as the immediate needs of the affected people. Humanitarian actors came together to incorporate these needs in to a Joint Response Plan (JRP) aimed at addressing the immediate and emerging adversities facing the most vulnerable and affected communities. The response plan was also endorsed by the key stakeholders including government and donor organizations.
Based on the JRP the National Alliance for Risk Reduction and Response Initiatives (NARRI) consortium undertook a response project in the most affected areas. NARRI responded to the immediate needs of affected communities by providing unconditional cash grants as assistance. CARE Bangladesh led the consortium with Oxfam, Concern Worldwide (CWW), Concern Universal (CU) and Plan International as consortium members, while Handicap International served as technical partner. [4 pages] Read More...
Incessant rainfalls in turn resulted in a depression in the North Bay of Bengal and transformed in to a Cyclonic Storm ‘Komen’ on 30 July 2015, affecting 15 districts situated in the low-lying areas of the coastal belt, offshore islands, and chars. ‘Komen’ led to further heavy to very heavy rainfall across the entire country, and caused inundation in many areas of Southeast Bangladesh, including those which were affected by the initial phase of heavy rainfall. Consequently the lives and livelihoods of a large cross section of people from these areas were severely impacted – JNA and a post-cyclone rapid impact assessment conducted in the most affected districts revealed that the total number of people affected by flash floods and ‘Komen’ stood at 2.6 million in Southern Bangladesh!
The assessments identified Food Security/Supply, Livelihoods, WASH, and Shelter as the immediate needs of the affected people. Humanitarian actors came together to incorporate these needs in to a Joint Response Plan (JRP) aimed at addressing the immediate and emerging adversities facing the most vulnerable and affected communities. The response plan was also endorsed by the key stakeholders including government and donor organizations.
Based on the JRP the National Alliance for Risk Reduction and Response Initiatives (NARRI) consortium undertook a response project in the most affected areas. NARRI responded to the immediate needs of affected communities by providing unconditional cash grants as assistance. CARE Bangladesh led the consortium with Oxfam, Concern Worldwide (CWW), Concern Universal (CU) and Plan International as consortium members, while Handicap International served as technical partner. [4 pages] Read More...
Journey for the Advancement of Transparency, Representation, and Accountability (JATRA)
This 39 page report highlights the final evaluation findings from the Journey for Advancement for Transparency, Representation and Accountability (JATRA) project, which aimed to strengthen participatory governance processes in the public finance management systems of 15 Union Parishads in Nilphamari and Gaibandha districts of Northwest Bangladesh so that they are more transparent and accountable. This project was funded through the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA), established by the World Bank. Read More...
Community Support System (CmSS) Evaluation Report
Reduction of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality is a priority area in the Health Nutrition and Population Section Program (HNSP) of the Government of Bangladesh. To address huge unmet needs for maternal and neonatal health (MNH) services, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) with support from JICA launched the Safe Motherhood Promotion Project (SMPP) in Narsingdi district in 2006. The purposed of the SMPP project is to improve health status of pregnant and postpartum women and neonates in the project area. [78 pages] Read More...
An impact evaluation of the Safe Motherhood Promotion Project in Bangladesh: Evidence from Japanese aid-funded technical cooperation
This paper reports the findings from a quasi-experimental impact evaluation of the Safe Motherhood Promotion Project (SMPP) conducted in the Narsingdi district of Bangladesh. SMPP is a Japanese aid- funded technical cooperation project aimed at developing local capacities to tackle maternal and new- born health problems in rural areas. We assessed whether the project interventions, in particular, community-based activities under the Model Union approach, had a favorable impact on women’s access to and knowledge of maternal health care during pregnancy and childbirth. The project comprises a package of interlinked interventions to facilitate safe motherhood practices at primary and secondary care levels. [8 pages] Read More...
The Effect of Addressing Demand for as well as Supply of Emergency Obstetric Care in Dinajpur, Bangladesh
The Dinajpur SafeMother initiative (DSI) was designed to test the impact of several interventions on use of obstetric services in government health facilities in Northwester Bangladesh during 1998-2001. Intervention: Facility-based interventions included upgrading health facilities. The sub-district hospitals or Upazila Health Centers (UHCs) had earlier been upgraded to provide basic emergency obstetric care. The project undertook activities designed to improve the quality of care in the facilities which included team-building among providers, case reviews, and a stakeholders' committee. [10 pages] Read More...
Where the Rain Falls (WtRF) Pilot Phase Impact Report
CARE Bangladesh has designed a project titled “Where the Rain Falls (WtRF)”, based on a research, which has been implemented in two sub-districts of Kurigram district in the northwestern Bangladesh with financial support from Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. This study provides an account of the effectiveness of a few measures considered under the project, in order to meet the above-mentioned needs of the smallholder farmers of the two target sub-districts. [63 pages] Read More...
A-Card Progress and Prospects
A-card (A stands for Agriculture) is a brand new micro-credit mechanism, the only example in Bangladesh aimed at providing smallholder farmers financing to a digital purchase of farm inputs at a low cost (10%) through the formal financial system linked to a debit card and ICT-enabled platforms.
Addressing the problem of smallholder farmers' lack of access to finance required a consultation among different stakeholders particularly in finding an effective solution. It eventually led to the idea and design of the A-card model. In this regard, the USAID Agricultural Extension Support Activity (AESA) project's interventions effectively engaged with different stakeholders, including small-holder farmers, microfinance institutions (MFIs), formal lenders (i.e. banks) and rural agricultural inputs retailers. The aim of this collaboration was to work for a common goal with differentiated responsibilities. [14 pages] Read More...
Addressing the problem of smallholder farmers' lack of access to finance required a consultation among different stakeholders particularly in finding an effective solution. It eventually led to the idea and design of the A-card model. In this regard, the USAID Agricultural Extension Support Activity (AESA) project's interventions effectively engaged with different stakeholders, including small-holder farmers, microfinance institutions (MFIs), formal lenders (i.e. banks) and rural agricultural inputs retailers. The aim of this collaboration was to work for a common goal with differentiated responsibilities. [14 pages] Read More...
A-Card Pilot Initiative Impact Assessment
mSTAR/Bangladesh, working with the Agriculture Extension Support Activity (AESA) led by Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM), conducted pre- and postassessments in Faridpur district to understand the impact that a micro-credit product (called A-Card) delivered to smallholder farmers through Bank Asia’s agent banking had on participating farmers, associated ag-input retailers, and other relevant stakeholders, as well as to understand what further action can be taken to improve uptake of these services.
This report includes findings from the pre- and post-assessment surveys, beginning with farmers and retailers’ demographic information, including age, sex and education; as well as their mobile phone ownership, access and usage patterns. It also examines the knowledge and perceptions that stakeholders have of digital financial services (DFS), in addition to their perceived benefits from A-Card, associated challenges, and opportunities to scale up. In addition, this report includes some findings from a separate survey conducted solely by AESA. It concludes with recommendations based on the findings and feedback from stakeholders. [28 pages] Read More...
This report includes findings from the pre- and post-assessment surveys, beginning with farmers and retailers’ demographic information, including age, sex and education; as well as their mobile phone ownership, access and usage patterns. It also examines the knowledge and perceptions that stakeholders have of digital financial services (DFS), in addition to their perceived benefits from A-Card, associated challenges, and opportunities to scale up. In addition, this report includes some findings from a separate survey conducted solely by AESA. It concludes with recommendations based on the findings and feedback from stakeholders. [28 pages] Read More...
Krishi Utsho 2017 Annual Report
Krishi Utsho has emerged as a transformative social enterprise over the past several years as a way to identify and bring about progressive advancement in the lives of small holder farmers. As a social enterprise Krishi Utsho (KU) is equivalent to a hybrid of social sector intervention and pure business entrepreneurship, a social venture that can address problems of self-sustainability in a social intervention initiative. To succeed, these ventures must adhere to both social goals and financial viability. Typically, this project’s aim is to benefit small holder farmers, in particular women. It aims to permanently transform their lives by altering a prevailing socioeconomic equilibrium that works to their disadvantage. More importantly, the beneficiary group is an economically disadvantaged or marginalized segment of society that doesn’t have the means to transform its social or economic prospects without assistance. To that end, project focuses on the most important yet often neglected, agricultural sector. [47 pages] Read More...
Midterm Performance Evaluation of the Bangladesh NGO Health Service Delivery Project (NHSDP)
This 159-page midterm performance evaluation of the Bangladesh Non-governmental Organizations (NGO) Health Service Delivery Project (NHSDP) examines the project’s progress toward meeting its goal and objectives. NHSDP is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Bangladesh’s largest health initiative; this flagship project is the latest in a series of programs going back to at least 1998 that have sought to improve the ability of local NGOs to provide basic health services to the poor. NHSDP was designed in 2012, when USAID was implementing significant procurement reforms and emphasizing the need to work more directly with local organizations. In 2013, USAID received gift funds from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) to co-fund NHSDP, which expanded the scope considerably. The DFID supplementary fund has supported the current NHSDP activities and strengthened its focus on family planning (FP) and maternal health outcomes, with a specific focus on improved service delivery for the urban poor. Read More...