Bangladesh is actively working with other countries to secure money from a global fund to combat violent extremism at the community level.
Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque is scheduled to go to Washington next week to attend a preliminary meeting of Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, an initiative to counter violent extremism.
“It is a good initiative and Bangladesh is smart to take advantage of it. Now other countries are coming too,” US Ambassador to Dhaka Dan Mozena told the Dhaka Tribune.
Mozena said the initiative was a public-private partnership for helping communities become resilient to the threats of violent extremism.
The global fund, initiated by the US and Turkey last September, was supported by over 20 countries and a group of famous brands. Initially it has plans to raise $200m to support pilot projects.
Bangladesh has met all the criteria to get money from the global fund, which is expected to be floated in June, said a foreign ministry official who has knowledge on the issue.
The fund would go to non-government organisations of any developing country that faces the threat of extremism, and Bangladesh fulfilled all the requirements, he said.
“Two meetings of the fund had already been held in Switzerland, where Bangladesh actively took part and helped others to give it a concrete shape,” the diplomat said. At the initial level, five to seven countries would get fund for different pilot projects and Bangladesh would be one of them, he added.
Several big companies have already showed interest in contributing to the fund as the private sector was the worst sufferer of extremism, the diplomat said.
“Business incurs loss because of extremism, and the big brands think that if it can be contained at the community level by engaging people, it is worth contributing for the cause,” the foreign ministry official added.
