World Bank (WB), under the Nuton Jibon Livelihood Improvement Project, will provide $200 million to improve the livelihoods of about five million rural poor of Bangladesh.
The government signed the financing agreement in this regard with WB on Tuesday, reports BSS.
The agreement was signed by Kazi Shofiqul Azam and Christine Kimes on behalf of the government and the World Bank respectively at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) in Dhaka.
The project will provide livelihood support and enable access to markets through business partnerships to empower the rural communities.
It will also mobilise the extreme poor, who often remain left out of microcredit schemes, by building and strengthening community institutions, including Nuton Jibon community societies.
In addition, the project will raise nutrition awareness, share agricultural knowledge and focus on enhancing youths' skills so that they can take advantage of employment opportunities. The project will also fund small-scale rural infrastructures.
"While Bangladesh has made tremendous progress in reducing poverty over the past four decades, poverty remains more pervasive in rural areas than in urban areas in Bangladesh," said Christine Kimes, Acting Country Head of World Bank Bangladesh,
The project builds on earlier projects – Social Investment Program Project (I & II) – which started as a pilot scheme in Jamalpur and Gaibandha districts and has now expanded to 16 of the poorest districts.
The monitoring and evaluation data showed a significant improvement in the incomes and living standards of project beneficiaries.
The Nuton Jibon Livelihood Improvement Project will cover around 2,500 new villages in 12 districts in addition to the 3,200 villages supported under the earlier projects.
"The project is a testament to the government's continued commitment to accelerate pro-poor growth," said Kazi Shofiqul Azam, additional secretary, Economic Relations Division.
