The World Bank is going to forge a new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) with Bangladesh for the period of FY16-FY20 as part of its new country engagement process to address Bangladesh’s development needs and support efforts to end its extreme poverty.
To replace the current Country Assistance Strategy expiring in June next, the World Bank Group as of July 2014 has adopted a new approach to country engagement, reports UNB.
Talking to UNB, an official at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) said the new approach consists of a two-step process.
The first step will involve the preparation of a Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD), which will identify the most important challenges and opportunities at the country level for reaching the twin goals of reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity.
The official said the second step entails developing a Country Partnership Framework (CPF), which is underpinned by the SCD and identifies the key objectives and development results, as the WBG intends to support efforts to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity in a sustainable manner.
The CPF is the central tool guiding the WBG’s support for the country’s development programme. The document will also help determine and prioritise the financing, advisory, and other support from the World Bank (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
Talking to UNB, World Bank Acting Country Head Christine Kimes said the World Bank is now working on finalising the SCD. Once the SCD is completed which will identify the key priorities and challenges for Bangladesh becoming a middle-income country, the CPF preparation will start around July.
She said the SCD would provide inputs in the preparation of the Country Partnership Framework outlining how the Bank Group’s engagement in Bangladesh can best contribute towards achieving the twin goals of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity.
She said the World Bank team in its ongoing SCD have identified some key areas like urbanisation, access to electricity, inland connectivity, regional integration and skill and human development.
The World Bank Acting Country Head also said through the SCD the World Bank tries to identify the key issues and development challenges which will make a difference in moving forward for determining where the World Bank support would be most beneficial.
Contacted, ERD Additional Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam said the World Bank has already sit with the government in this regard and would sit again before finalisation of the CPF.
The World Bank’s current Country Assistance Strategy for Bangladesh covers the period FY11- FY15. To guide the Bank Group’s support in Bangladesh beyond that period, the World Bank Group has launched the new country engagement process.
Another official at the World Bank’s Dhaka office said the process has begun with the formulation of the SCD, followed by the preparation of the new CPF, aligned with the Bangladesh Government’s seventh Five-year plan.
Drawing on the analysis of the SCD, the lending agency official said CPF will reflect the WBG’s comparative advantage and dialogue with Bangladesh, and identifies the objectives and development results that the WBG will seek to support, based on the government’s development goals.
As part of the first phase of preparation of the Systematic Country Diagnostic and Country Partnership Framework (FY16 – FY20) for Bangladesh, the World Bank had undertaken a series of consultations with a broad range of stakeholders to seek their input and feedback into the development the framework for the World Bank’s engagement in Bangladesh to support the Government’s vision of development.
The consultations were held all over the country and namely, in Dhaka, Chittagong, Jessore and Sylhet in late 2014. Drawing upon the consultations, the Bank is now drafting the SCD.
According to the ERD and the World Bank, Bangladesh is currently the largest recipient under the 17th replenishment of IDA. The World Bank’s current portfolio stands at 33 projects with nearly $8 billion commitment. In FY 15, the bank has already approved $1.4 billion new commitments in FY 15.
The projects approved so far by the World Bank Board in FY 15 are: Primary Education Development Programme III with $ 400 million, Income support for the poorest program with $ 300 million, multipurpose disaster shelters with $ 375 million, Nuton Jibon Livelihood Improvement Project with $ 200 million and Bangladesh Urban Resilience Project with $ 173 million.
In FY 2014, Bangladesh received new commitments of $1.9 billion IDA financing which is 8.5 percent of the total IDA commitment in FY 2014 globally.
The World Bank has been supporting Bangladesh right after its independence. The first World Bank project for Bangladesh was approved in November, 1972. Since then, IDA has provided more than $18 billion in support for policy reforms and investment projects in human development, infrastructure, private sector, governance, and rural development.
