$300mn deal signed with WB for BD’s ‘Poorest Project’

The government has signed a $300 million financing agreement with the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) for the Income Support Programme for the Poorest Project, reports United News of Bangladesh. ERD Senior Secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin and World Bank Country Director Johannes Zutt signed the deal at the Economic Relations Division here on behalf of the Bangladesh government and the World Bank respectively on Monday. The project will provide cash transfers to the poorest mothers to reduce their poverty with the objective of improving their children’s nutrition and cognitive development. Some 600,000 poor mothers and pregnant women will receive monthly payments through biometric-enabled Bangladesh Post Office cash cards for participating in activities aimed at the growth and development of their children.

The project will also focus on strengthening local governments’ delivery of safety net programmes by setting up administrative platforms at Union Parishads to identify and enroll beneficiaries and ensure timely payments. The credit from IDA, the World Bank’s concessional arm that helps the world’s poorest countries, has a 38-year term, including a six-year grace period, and a service charge of 0.75 percent. Despite Bangladesh’s record of reducing child mortality, the country is among the 10 countries with the highest prevalence of malnutrition. About 41 percent of children below the age of 5 are stunted, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The project will cover 42 of the poorest upazilas in northern Bangladesh that lag behind in nutrition indicators and is expected to benefit 2.7 million poor people. Pregnant women and mothers of children below 5 years from extremely poor households will receive payments for regular visits for antenatal care services, child nutrition and development awareness sessions and monitoring of the child’s weight and height.

World Bank Country Director Johannes Zutt said, ‘Ensuring adequate nutrition prenatally and in the first two years of life helps to maximise a child’s intelligence and brain development and enables higher level of learning through childhood and into adulthood.’ ‘The project will help poor mothers to learn how to improve the nutrition of their young children and also provide an income supplement to enable them better to act on that learning,’ he added. ERD senior Secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin said, ‘Well Design Safety nets can improve child health and nutrition outcomes, while contributing to reduction of poverty and inequality. The project is a good example of involving local government bodies as well as using technological innovation to improve service delivery in Bangladesh.’ ‘The Project will break the cycle that binds poor children to poor nutrition and cognitive deficiencies,’ he added.

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