Bangladesh and the World Bank on Thursday signed five financing agreements to help the country achieve resilient and inclusive growth, said a press release.
The deals involve projects on early childhood development, secondary education, riverbank protection and navigability, urban primary health, and gas distribution efficiency.
The five projects are $210-million Bangladesh Enhancing Investments and Benefits for Early Years Project, $300-million Learning Acceleration in Secondary Education Operation Project, $102- million Jamuna River Sustainable Management Project 1, $200-million Urban Health, Nutrition and Population Project and $300 million Gas Sector Efficiency Improvement and Carbon Abatement Project.
The agreements were signed by Sharifa Khan, Senior Secretary of Economic Relations Division of Government of Bangladesh and Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, on behalf of their respective parts, according to press release of the World Bank.
The Bangladesh Enhancing Investments and Benefits for Early Years Project will help improve early childhood development by providing cash transfers and counseling services to about 1.7 million pregnant women and mothers of children under 4 years of age in vulnerable households.
The Learning Acceleration in Secondary Education Operation Project will help strengthen secondary education by improving learning outcome and teaching quality. To help recover from learning losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and to improve preparedness to future shocks, the project will introduce complementary online learning blended with in-class education. To reduce dropout rates, the program will provide stipends to 8 million vulnerable students and ensure 5,000 schools have active sexual harassment and prevention committees in place.
The Jamuna River Sustainable Management Project-1 will help improve riverbank protection and navigability in the Jamuna River, protecting about 2,500 hectares of land from riverbank erosion and flooding, saving thousands of people from displacement and safeguarding their livelihoods and assets. It will improve navigation channels with adequate depth that can accommodate large cargo vessels year-round and revive inland water transport and trade.
The Urban Health, Nutrition and Population Project will improve primary healthcare services for treatment, prevention and referral for common illnesses including mosquito-borne diseases like dengue in Dhaka North and South City Corporations, Chattogram City Corporation, and Savar and Tarabo municipalities. It will also support mosquito control, medical waste management, and behavior change communication. It will help improve antenatal services for women, with a target of over 250,000 women receiving at least four checkups during pregnancy. It will support hypertension screening and follow-up of about 1.3 million adults.
The Gas Sector Efficiency Improvement and Carbon Abatement Project will help improve the efficiency of gas distribution and end-use through pre-paid metering systems and reduce methane emissions along the natural gas value chain. It will install more than 1.2 million prepaid gas meters in Dhaka and Rajshahi Division. Prepaid gas meters and advanced monitoring systems will help optimize natural gas end-use, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and lower gas bills for households and industrial users.
“These projects will help preparing our children for a brighter future while improving resiliency to climate change,” said Abdoulaye Seck.
He said Bangladesh is an important partner for the World Bank toward its vision of a world free of poverty on a livable planet. Since the country’s independence, the World Bank and Bangladesh have had an impactful partnership that lifted millions of Bangladeshi people out of poverty, he added.