Report on the Bangladesh Study Tour

by the Joint Team of Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission

(DPPC) and

Food Security Coordination Bureau

June 6-16, 2004

Table of Contents

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................... 1

II. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 6 Why a Study Tour? and Why Bangladesh? ...........................................................................................6

III. DELEGATION AND ITINERARY................................................................ 7

IV. MAJOR FINDINGS ..................................................................................... 8

4.1 Disaster Risk Management.................................................................................................................8 4.1.1 Evolution of Disaster Management in Bangladesh.......................................................................8 4.1.2 Disaster Management Mainstreaming...........................................................................................9 4.1.3 Community Disaster Preparedness................................................................................................9 4.1.4 Disaster classification into different phases ................................................................................10 4.1.5 Organizational Structure and Institutional Arrangement............................................................11 4.1.6 Decentralization ...........................................................................................................................13 4.1.7 Information Management ............................................................................................................13 4.1.8 Resource Mobilization.................................................................................................................13 4.1.9 Awareness Creation .....................................................................................................................13 4.1.10 Emergency Contingency Planning ............................................................................................14 4.1.11 Early Warning............................................................................................................................15 4.1.12 Adaptation to climate change ....................................................................................................16

4.2 Food Security......................................................................................................................................16 4.2.1 Targeting and Selection Criteria..................................................................................................17 4.2.2 Market Improvement ...................................................................................................................18 4.2.3 Community participation.............................................................................................................18 4.2.4 Public-Private infrastructure as the Safety Net program ............................................................19 4.2.5 GoB/USAID Integrated Food Security Program ........................................................................20 4.2.6 Working with the Ultra Poor .......................................................................................................20 4.2.7 Saving and credit .........................................................................................................................21 4.2.8 Graduation....................................................................................................................................22 4.2.9 Nutrition .......................................................................................................................................22

4.3 General or Joint Observations .........................................................................................................23 4.3.1 Capacity building.........................................................................................................................23 4.3.2 Roles of different actors...............................................................................................................24 4.3.3 Group formation ..........................................................................................................................24 4.3.4 Monitoring and Evaluation..........................................................................................................24

V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................... 25

5.1 Concluding Observations: Disaster Management .........................................................................25 5.1.1 Institutional Arrangements for Proactive Disaster Management................................................25 5.1.2 Community Disaster Preparedness..............................................................................................26 5.1.3 Separating Humanitarian Relief from Development ..................................................................26

5.2 Concluding Observations: Food Security .......................................................................................27 5.2.1 Targeting ......................................................................................................................................27 5.2.2 Human Asset Creation.................................................................................................................27 5.2.3 Forced Savings.............................................................................................................................28 5.2.4 Necessary and Sufficient Components of Safety Nets ...............................................................28 5.2.5 “Graduating” the chronically food insecure................................................................................29

5.2.6 Capacity Building to Support Decentralization ..........................................................................30 5.2.7 Public and Private Asset Creation ...............................................................................................30

5.3 Recommendations..............................................................................................................................31

VI. ANNEXES ................................................................................................. 33

6.1 Persons Contacted .............................................................................................................................33

6.2 Detailed Itinerary...............................................................................................................................36

6.3 Comparative Administrative Structure ..........................................................................................40

6.4 Comparative Statistics ......................................................................................................................41 6.4.1 Basic Facts ...................................................................................................................................41 6.4.2 Greatest Similarities.....................................................................................................................41 6.4.3 Biggest Differences......................................................................................................................42 6.4.4 Natural Resources ........................................................................................................................43 6.4.5 Disasters .......................................................................................................................................43 6.4.6 Population Growth.......................................................................................................................43 6.4.7 Economic Structure .....................................................................................................................43 6.4.8 Infrastructure................................................................................................................................44 6.4.9 Measures of Poverty ....................................................................................................................44 6.4.10 Gender........................................................................................................................................45 6.4.11 Social Welfare............................................................................................................................45 6.4.12 Development Assistance............................................................................................................45

6.5 Answers to Specific Questions..........................................................................................................46 6.5.1 Early Warning..............................................................................................................................46 6.5.2 Resource Mobilization.................................................................................................................48 6.5.3 Implementation ............................................................................................................................49 6.5.4 Targeting ......................................................................................................................................51 6.5.5 Food Security Definitions............................................................................................................52 6.5.6 Monitoring and Evaluation..........................................................................................................55 6.5.7 Safety Nets ...................................................................................................................................56

Acronyms and Key Definitions 1800 kcal kilo-calories per day per person; the poverty line defining the “Ultra Poor” in

Bangladesh; the equivalent of the “chronically food insecure” in Ethiopia 2100 kcal Kilo-calories per day per person; the general pverty line in Bangladesh ADB Annual Development Budget

ALT Assets and Livelihoods Transition

BRAC A Bangladeshi local NGO

BUILD Building Union Infrastructure for Local Development, one component of the CARE/USAID/GoB Integrated Food Security Program

CARE An international NGO

CFPR-TUP Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction: Targeting the Ultra Poor

CIDA Canadian International Development Agency

DAE Department of Agriculture Extension, Ministry of Agriculture

DAP Development Assistance Program (USAID, Title II) Deputy Commissioner Senior civil servant at the district level DER Disasters and Emergency Response group, part of the local coordination

group of donors DG Director General District Equivalent to a zone in Ethiopia DMB Disaster Management Bureau

DMP Disaster Management Project, a component of the USAID/CARE/GoB Integrated Food Security Programme

DPPC Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission

EPSP Emergency Preparedness Strengthening Program (USAID/DPPC)

ERD External Resources Division of the Ministry of Finance

EU European Union

FFW Food for work

FSCB Food Security Coordination Bureau (Ethiopia)

GO Government organizaion

GoB Government of Bangladesh Grameen Bank A private bank (10% owned by the GoB) which provides affordable credit to

the “poorest of the poor” IFSP Integrated Food Security Program (CARE/USAID/GoB)

IGVGD Income-generating VGD

IMDMCC Inter-Ministerial Disaster Management Coordination Committee

IMED Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (Bangladesh)

LCG Local Coordination Group

LGED Local Government Engineering Department

LPS Local Project Society

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MFDMR Ministry of Food, Disaster Management and Relief

MLGR&C Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives

MoARD Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Ethiopia)

NDMC National Disaster Management Council

NGO Non-governmental organization

NPDPM National Policy on Disaster Prevention and Management PA Peasants’ Association Parishad Council PFDS Public Food Distribution System

PIO Project Implementation Officer (Bangladesh, MFDMR)

PPPD Policy, Programs and Planning Department (DPPC)

RMP Rural Maintenance Programme, a CIDA-funded project in Bangladesh

RVCC Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change, a CIDA-funded project in Bangladesh

SIFAD Strengthening Institutions for Food-assisted Development Ultra Poor The equivalent of the “chronically food insecure” in Ethiopia Union Equivalent to a PA or kebele in Ethiopia Upazila Equivalent to a wereda in Ethiopia Upazila Nirbani Officer Senior civil servant at the upazila level USAID United States Agency for International Development

USD United States dollars

VAM Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping

VGD Vulnerable Group Development

WFP World Food Programme

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I. Executive Summary In June 2004 a joint five-member Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC)/Food Security Coordination Bureau (FSCB) study tour was organized as part of the USAID/DPPC Emergency Preparedness Strengthening Program (EPSP). The Ethiopian government delegation was joined by a USAID officer and the EPSP Coordinator.

The purpose of the trip was to learn from Bangladesh’s experiences in dealing with predicable (“chronic”) and unpredictable (“acute”) food insecurity so as to contribute to a revision in the National Policy on Disaster Prevention and Management. Both Food Security Coordination Bureau staff and DPPC staff are important contributors to this exercise given the recent proclamation which redefines the role and mandate of DPPC.

Although Ethiopia and Bangladesh are different in so many ways, in a number of respects, they have important similarities. Both face severe population pressure on scarce natural resources; in both food security is a central issue; both economies exhibit a dependence on subsistence agricultural production; both face frequency and severe natural disasters; and in both the magnitude of food assistance has been enormous.

Bangladesh made the transition in thinking from relief to development in the early 1990s. Now, one government institution deals with short-term “acute” emergencies, while other technically competent line agencies and organizations work with participants who face long-term or chronic food insecurity.

A high priority for the Ethiopian government was to view the actual situation on the ground. Rather than listening to development theories, the group was advised to focus on actual beneficiaries in the field, and the benefits and experiences they have had. Consequently the study tour had only a short orientation in the capital city, Dhaka, followed by field trips to the northwest and southwest of Bangladesh.

Findings Many of the observations made during the Bangladesh Study Tour are useful to the Ethiopian context.

Disaster Risk Management Institutional Arrangements for Proactive Disaster Management Disaster management activities are mainstreamed in Bangladesh among government ministries, donors and other actors, such as NGO partners. Each government ministry is required to conduct early warning activities and have a contingency plan, effective at different levels. Each administrative level has disaster management committees with the authority and resources in reserve to immediately react to disasters without asking permission from higher levels. At a national level the Bureau of Disaster Management jointly with other sectors and partners handles disaster preparation activities. During a disaster, the relief response is under the authority of the Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation. Disaster prevention activities are the mandate of specialized, technical line agencies.

Community Disaster Preparedness Timing and characteristics of disasters are well-known in Bangladesh. The seasonality, severity and consequences of various hazards are understood. For example, the government has produced a calendar describing

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when various disasters can be expected. This has allowed them to raise awareness about these threats and improve preparation. At a local level, communities are very involved in disaster contingency planning. Community members are encouraged to take responsibility for disaster response such as defining responsibilities and actions (such as early warning).

Separating Humanitarian Relief from Development A conceptual shift occurred in Bangladesh some fifteen years before away from a relief response to chronic food insecurity towards a development one. The Strengthening Institutions for Food Assisted Development (SIFAD) task force which made its recommendations in 1991 urged capacity building of technical Ministries to take on responsibility for Safety Net programs. The “Ministry of Relief” was transformed into a Ministry of Disaster Management to emphasize the need for preparedness and prevention. “Standing Orders” have been prepared that clearly outline the duties and responsibilities of all stakeholders. Disaster managment is not the job of one agency.

Food Security and Productive Safety Nets Targeting A striking feature of all the programs observed in Bangladesh was that women (and children) were exclusively targeted. The rationale for this was that women and children were the most vulnerable to food insecurity. In Bangladesh women are at an additional disadvantage due to the cultural norms that segregate them and discourage their full participation in society. The poverty line is described in terms of calorie intake. “Poor” is defined as having fewer than 2100 kcal/person/day. The “ultra poor” are those who consume less than 1800 kcal per day. Participants are identified by the community based on agreed guidelines. Once they qualify they are guaranteed resources for a fixed period of time (ranging from 18 months to three years).

Asset Creation Bangladesh Safety Net programs are of three types:

• Physical (public) works Resources exchanged in return for some kind of physical work, such as food-for-work on public infrastructure, local road maintenance for cash wages or roadside tree plantation or other afforestation programs.

• Unconditional transfers The only unconditional transfer noted was an old age pension program that was initiated by the previous government and expanded by the current one where each Union (kebele) was allowed to nominate deserving aged people.

• Human capital creation Resources exchanged in return for participation in some kind of activity that improves their own individual human asset base. These programs included training (health, nutrition, or financial management), attendance at school for children (“food-for-education”), or family planning.

In Bangladesh resources are transferred in return for activities that benefit human resource base of the country as a whole.

Forced Savings A common feature of Safety Net programs in Bangladesh was a savings component in micro-finance activities. Groups of women are organized to regularly save money, as little as five takas per week, and deposit this amount in the group account. This amount is loaned out in turn to the women for productive purposes. The organization provides technical assistance, training and support to ensure that the productive activities succeed. The ultra poor Safety Net development program participants are also forced to save some of their earnings in a special account which they do not have access to immediately. On exiting the program, these

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resources are claimed by the individuals as seed capital. These savings can then be invested following graduation in the productive activities that the women were trained in. As well, in the case of disaster, these savings could be drawn to prevent the emergency disposal of household assets.

Safety Net Components In Bangladesh infrastructure creation is an important part of the Safety Net program. For many years food-for-work programs have supported public works such as roads and other community assets. This infrastructure is necessary to promote food security, but is not sufficient. The chronically food insecure need something more besides physical infrastructure to ensure food security. Participants need training opportunities, capital as well as physical access. Programs need to provide sufficient resources to enable the ultra poor (who are similar to the chronically food insecure in Ethiopia) to move into the mainstream of development. Resource transfers are both cash and food, depending on the program.

“Graduating” the chronically food insecure The extremely food insecure in Bangladesh need additional help. The “ultra” or “hardcore” poor (who are similar to the chronically food insecure in Ethiopia) cannot join mainstream development activities because they do not have the skills, assets, other resources to effectively take part. In Bangladesh the “poorest of the poor” have been very difficult to target for this reason. The solution to this problem has been to design programs that recognize this. Beneficiaries join a Safety Net program for between eighteen months and three years. These programs assume that the participants have no assets. In the program, while participants are sustained by food aid or cash wages, they are provided with an asset (it could be an income generating activity or capacity building training) on which to build a future. On exiting the Safety Net program, the participants have the necessary resources to “climb the ladder” out of the chronically poor category to join the development mainstream. In Bangladesh, this typically means a savings and credit program run by NGOs or the private sector. Therefore participants graduate into another development program that allows them to sustain the gains they have achieved.

Public and Private Asset Creation Both public and private assets are supported under Safety Net programs. Examples of public assets are local infrastructure such as roads, earth-raising of schools and flood shelters, and road side tree plantations. Private assets include various kinds of training as well as village earth-raising to “flood proof” houses. With private infrastructure, communities are required to contribute a portion of the cost. An important type of private asset that is transferred has to do with the variety of income generating activities that are encouraged. In these programs individuals receive, as part of the development package, poultry or a sewing machine or some other asset they can use to begin a productive activity. Benefits from public assets such as trees are legally shared between the local government, the adjacent land owner as well as the Safety Net participant who all get a long-term stake. Collective benefit sharing contributes to the sustainability of the asset because various stakeholders have an incentive to protect the asset from harm.

Common Findings Capacity Building to Support Decentralization In Bangladesh it is the government’s policy to support decision-making at the lowest possible level. Union (kebele) and Upazila (woreda) structures have been strengthened and empowered to implement government programs. All line agencies also have employees at the Upazila level ready to implement their own sector activities. The current government

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priority is to strengthen the Union (kebele) level even further to bring service delivery closer to the grassroots. Capacity building activities involves training of government staff and physical upgrading of facilities.

Recommendations Seventeen recommendations are made by the group. The more detailed basis for these recommendations is found in the text.

1. In revising our National Policy on Disaster Prevention and Management consideration must be given to interventions in the pre-, during- and post-disaster phases.

2. Considering Ethiopia’s disaster-prone environment, legal grounds to compel line ministries to mainstream disaster risk management are required to promote their accountability.

3. Disaster risk management mainstreaming involves incorporating in every sector regular disaster contingency planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and information sharing.

4. Disaster contingency planning (risk and resource mapping, disaster calendars, etc.) needs to occur at all levels – federal ministries, regional bureaus, woredas and kebeles.

5. Strengthened disaster management and food security programs require continuous investment in human resources and physical capacity.

6. Donors and NGOs need to further strengthen their support and supplement to the government’s decentralization initiatives to strengthen the woreda and kebele capacity (both physical and human) to facilitate the development process.

7. Existing targeting guidelines need to be revised in terms of the needs of Food Security Coordination Bureau and DPPC to identify the chronically food insecure (and different levels of vulnerability within this group) versus those unpredictably affected by emergency situations.

8. A complete Safety Net package would include public-private asset creation and protection, human resource development, savings, credit and market access. This package would be enabled through technical assistance delivered to the beneficiary.

9. Graduates from Safety Net programs need to link into longer-term development programs that provide services and resources necessary to sustain their improvements in livelihood (and their ability to resist future shocks).

10. Micro-finance activities need to be encouraged by enabling a wider range of partners to deliver the necessary savings and credit services.

11. Food (or cash) assistance is not sufficient support to enable the chronically food insecure to graduate. Chronically food insecure households must be provided with special help in the form of training, capital, technical assistance and income-earning opportunities.

12. Individuals (or families) need to be targeted for a fixed period of time. Recognizing this entitlement using a system of beneficiary identification cards would ease the process of monitoring and evaluation.

13. Formal (legal) benefit-sharing arrangements over common property such as forests or roadside trees between individual beneficiaries, the community and local government contribute to collective responsibility, joint accountability and long-term sustainable development.

14. Community participation needs to go beyond labor contribution and extend throughout the implementation process. Safety Net programs must be built from

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the bottom up, so that communities are closely involved in needs assessment, planning, resource generation and implementation.

15. NGOs need to be better integrated into the overall implementation process by collaborating closely with communities and government. NGOs can channel resources through local government where there is capacity, or work jointly with government using its resources where capacity is limited.

16. Ethiopia’s climate is changing. For example, rainfall patterns are becoming more variable. Ethiopia therefore needs to adapt to these changes. Our perspective must shift from preventing the problem, to living with the hazards by exploiting alternative technologies and income earning options.

17. Regional coordination within Africa to exchange early warning information on different types of hazards needs to be strengthened.

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II. Introduction Until the recent proclamation, the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) had been responsible for a range of activities including coordinating the provision of assistance to chronically needy populations. In addition to its three primary functions of prevention, preparedness and response, the National Policy on Disaster Prevention and Management (NPDPM) defined roles for DPPC across the relief-to-development continuum. Specifically, the NPDPM discusses Employment Generation Schemes as being a primary modality. However, the new proclamation No.383/2004 clearly gives Food Security Coordination Bureau (FSCB) under the MoARD responsibility for meeting the needs of the chronically food insecure.

This proclamation redraws DPPC’s mandate. It has continuing responsibilities to address the unpredictable or acute emergency needs, while the Food Security Coordination Bureau takes care of the needs of the predictably or chronically affected. However, a neat division between chronic and acute beneficiary populations or between predictable and unpredictable problems can be difficult, especially in operational terms. It is imperative that roles and responsibilities of all sectors in relation to disaster management be more explicitly clarified through a revision of the National Policy on Disaster Prevention and Management in the context of the current institutional rearrangement.

Why a Study Tour? and Why Bangladesh? Learning from other’s experiences and lessons learned can provide useful insights, although great care needs to be taken to avoid adopting approaches that may not be appropriate in the Ethiopian context. There are a number of features in the Bangladesh case that made it an interesting destination for a study tour by Ethiopian disaster preparedness and food security team of experts:

• A range of clearly defined emergency preparedness resource channels • A diversity in institutional roles, both governmental and non-governmental

(Disasters and Relief versus Local Development, NGO functions of capacity building, early warning, nutritional monitoring etc. as well as large scale implementation)

• How these roles have evolved and changed over the years • Management of strategic food reserves • The early warning apparatus and the understanding of household

vulnerabilities • In a number of respects, Bangladesh and Ethiopia have important similarities*.

Both face severe population pressure on scarce natural resources; in both food security is a central issue; both economies exhibit a dependence on subsistence agricultural production; both face frequency and severe natural disasters; and in both the magnitude of food assistance has been enormous.

* Make no mistake: in important respects Bangladesh and Ethiopia are vastly different. For example one key issue that we had to constantly remind ourselves of during the trip was how different the basic hazards faced by Bangladesh and Ethiopia were: one annually deals with too much water (floods) while the other always has too little (drought). A comparative statistical overview can be found in Annex 4.

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The key areas that the team anticipated to learn from the Bangladesh experience are summarized in Annex 5. The topics for inquiry fell into seven main headings: How Bangladesh:

• understands early warning, and how it does it • raises and spends resources • implements disaster risk management and food security programs • targets food insecure individuals and households • understands food insecurity and shapes programs to respond to this • conducts monitoring and evaluation exercises • organizes productive Safety Net programs

III. Delegation and Itinerary Participant Position Department; Agency Mohammed Umer, Group Leader

Head Policy, Plans and Programs Department; DPPC

Zewdu Abera Team Leader Early Warning Department; DPPC

Ayele Beyoro Head, Policy Team Policy, Plans and Programs Department; PPPD/DPPC

Tejitu Beyene Team Leader, Safety Nets Safety Nets and other Food Security Programs; Food Security Coordination Bureau

Kassahun Mamo Team Leader, Program Design

Program Design and Monitoring; FSCB

Tsegahun Tessema Strategic Objective Team Leader

USAID; Assets and Livelihoods in Transition (ALT)

Steve Perry Advisor-Coordinator DPPC/USAID Emergency Preparedness Strengthening Program

The ten-day study tour had three main parts:

1. Overview: Briefings at the national level on programs and orientation. The first three days were spent in the capital, Dhaka, meeting officials in government departments, donors and development organizations*. The purpose of these meetings was to develop a context in which to better understand field observations and ask better questions.

2. Productive Safety Nets: Field visit to northwest Bangladesh. Four days were spent traveling in the field to observe Government of Bangladesh food security programs, including the Integrated Food

* A detailed list of officials interviewed, with their contact details, can be found in Annex 1.

Study tour participants spent part of each evening compiling their notes together to ensure a common understanding of what they were seeing.

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Security Program, the Rural Maintenance Program, the Vulnerable Group Development and Food-for-Assets programs, as well as and the Grameen Bank.

3. Disaster Risk Management: Field visit to southwest Bangladesh. One day was again spent in the capital meeting officials from the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management and Relief in order to provide some context to the field visit. Two days were then spent observing the activities of the Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change program and the local government Disaster Management Program.

It was our interest to view the actual situation on the ground. The group specifically focused on actual beneficiaries and the benefits and experiences they have had. A more detailed, day-by-day description of the itinerary and the issues discussed can be found in Annex 2.

IV. Major Findings

4.1 Disaster Risk Management

4.1.1 Evolution of Disaster Management in Bangladesh From Bangladesh context, Disaster is defined as an event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a society causing human, material or environmental losses of such severity that the affected community has to respond by taking exceptional measures. This disruption (including essential services and means of livelihoods) is on a scale that exceeds the ability of the affected society to cope with using only its resources.

In line with this definition, the disaster management includes all aspects of planning of and responding to disasters. It refers to the management of both the risk and the consequences of disaster and includes both prevention and preparedness measures taken in disaster prone areas in anticipation of the known hazards.

Bangladesh is a country experiencing a number of hazards caused by flood, tropical cyclone, storm surges, tornados, river bank erosion, drought, earthquake and arsenic contamination. Available data reveals that between 1987 and 2002 during fourteen years time, more than 150,470 people lost their lives due to disasters occurred during these years. Cyclones are the main killer.

As a result of long history and deep-rooted severity of disasters occurred in Bangladesh, the country has passed through several stages of disaster management experiences. The 1987 and 1988 floods and the 1991 devastating cyclones caused a paradigm shift in the history of disaster management of the country. A new and major step in disaster management has taken place shifting emphasis from a “relief” culture to a disaster “risk reduction” culture.

This shift is being strengthened through different strategic initiatives:

• Sensitization and mobilization of community people in the overall risk management system through operational use of “Local Disaster Action Plan” to cope with and recover from disasters.

• Work to mainstreaming disaster management in all aspects of the development planning process.

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• Enactment and enforcement of disaster management legislation to make stakeholders accountable for disaster management activities based on the “Standing Orders on Disaster” are in draft form. The Standing Orders are the government’s basic tool to organize disaster preparedness and response. Standing Orders clearly outline the activities of each ministry, major agencies and departments so as to handle emergency situations efficiently.

• Develop closer collaboration with: the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center in Thailand; United States’ Federal Emergency Management Agency; the Institute of Disaster Risk Management in the Philippines, etc.

• Create improved partnerships with NGOs in disaster management activities.

The conceptual shift from being reactive to disaster events towards a more proactive approach not only reduces the effects of disaster and response cost, but also saves lives and livelihoods.

4.1.2 Disaster Management Mainstreaming Most government offices and NGOs have a disaster management component as part of their regular programs. Existing Safety Net activities can be “scaled up” quickly to distribute more resources in the advent of an emergency in order to provide relief. Examples of this are the Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation’s “Vulnerable Group Feeding” channel, which can distribute food to a wider number of women than would normally take part in the Vulnerable Group Development program. Similarly “Test Relief” can generate short-term employment opportunities on very short notice for relief purposes. Early warning and awareness creation activities are also mainstreamed in every line ministries and other institutions to ensure comprehensive and effective disaster management.

4.1.3 Community Disaster Preparedness As part of community disaster preparedness at union and village level early warning groups are formed. Strong and sound community level contingency plans, with a clear roles and responsibilities for community members are prepared. In general, the Union* takes into account in its planning process all things required in emergency situation. Government civil service training programs make disaster public awareness activities compulsory. In these training programs it is mandatory for the following local and national level disaster management committee members and other concerned officials to be included.

Union/Upazila/District Disaster management Committee members Primary/Secondary/Higher Secondary/ Madrasha Teachers National Level GO/NGO Officials Division Level GO/NGO officials Fisherman Communities Imams of Mosques and other community leaders Mass media representatives

* The Union (similar to Kebele) is the lowest administrative level in Bangladesh. Nine Unions make up one Upazila, or sub-district (similar to Woredas). About seven Woredas make up one District (similar to a Zone). About ten Districts comprise one Division (similar to Regions). See Annex 3 for a comparative description of the Bangladesh administrative set-up.

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Districts independently manage a certain amount of disaster response resources. Emergency response measures can be directly approved by the District’s Deputy Commissioner (the highest ranking civil servant in the district) without asking instructions from higher bodies.

Local governments prepare contingency plans, including risk and resource allocation maps as part of their emergency preparedness measures.

Physical community emergency preparedness measures include:

• Construction of multi-purpose emergency shelters and communal places • Construction of roads of dual purpose: for transport, as well as shelter and

evacuation in times of flood emergencies.

Community disaster preparedness activities are divided into engineering-related or “structural” and “non-structural” interventions. Many technical responses are focused on flooding, the main disaster hazard in Bangladesh. Non-structural preparedness interventions include income-generating activities implemented through local NGOs that reduce individual vulnerabilities, formation of mother’s clubs and children groups to facilitate health education and behavior change, bio-engineering or plant-based erosion protection of homesteads and roads, gardening and nursery establishment. A key aspect of all these activities is close community involvement and participation.

4.1.4 Disaster classification into different phases Normal Phase/Normal Time: This is a period during which there is no immediate threat but long term actions are required in anticipation of the impact, at some unknown time in the future, of known hazards.

Alert and warning Phase: This period from the issuing of an alert or public warning of an imminent disaster threat to its actual impact, or the passage of the threat and the lifting of the warning. During this period pre-impact precautionary or disaster containment measures are taken.

Disaster Phase: This is the period during which the direct impact of a natural calamity is felt. The disaster phase is longest in case of slow onset disasters (e.g. droughts or normal monsoon floods) and is short in case of rapid onset disasters (such as flash floods, cyclones, earthquakes, fires, industrial accidents, landslides etc.).

Recovery Phase: The period following the emergency phase, during which actions are to be taken to enable victims to resume normal lives and means of livelihoods, and to restore infrastructure, services and the economy in a manner appropriate to long term needs and defined development objectives. The recovery phase encompasses both rehabilitation and reconstruction, and may include a continuation of certain relief (welfare) measures in favor of particular disadvantaged vulnerable groups. In Bangladesh, relief measures are usually short-term. As quickly as feasible, victims are returned to regular development programs, which may adapt their approach to respond to the emergency situation. For example, savings and credit programs might “write-off” loans for assets that are destroyed, reschedule repayments, or provide new loans (depending on the circumstances.

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4.1.5 Organizational Structure and Institutional Arrangement Various committees facilitate disaster management coordination:

Structure Leadership Secretary Function Members National disaster management council (NDMC)

Prime Minister Cabinet Secretary Supreme decision-making body for overall direction and policy

Ministers, Ministerial Secretaries, Army, Navy and Air Force Chiefs of Staff, Planning Commission

Ministry of Food, Disaster Management and Relief (MFDMR)

Minister National coordination and resource allocation

Disaster Management Bureau (DMB)

Director General (DG) Technical assistance in terms of preparedness and early warning

Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation

Director General Administration and coordination of disaster response

Emergency Operations Center Head Day-to-day monitoring of disaster events

Inter-Ministerial Disaster Management Coordination Committee (IMDMCC)

Chair: Minister MFDMR Cabinet Secretary Coordination of disaster information and response of various Ministries

Minister (MFDMR), Principal Secretary to the PM, Planning Commission, Ministry Secretaries, Principal Staff Officer (Armed Forces Division), DGs NGO Affairs, DMB and R&R, Secretary General, Red Crescent Society

National Disaster Management Advisory Committee

Chair: Specialist nominated by the Prime Minister

DG DMB Technical coordination of specific disasters. A flood, for example, would have technical coordination by someone from the Ministry of Water Resources

Members of Parliament, experienced persons

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Structure Leadership Secretary Function Members NGO Coordination Committee (NGOCC)

Chair: DG, DMB Coordination of NGO preparation and response activities

Disaster Management and Training and public Awareness Task Force (DMTATF)

Chair: DG, DMB Pre-event awareness raising and education

CSDDWS for Early Warning Head Coordination of early warning information

District Disaster Management Committee

Deputy Commissioner Personal Assistant Local disaster response and coordination of stakeholders; local resource distribution

All department heads of line agencies, NGOs

Upazila Disaster Management Committee

Upazila Nirbani Officer Personal Assistant Local disaster response and coordination; planning; needs assessment

All department heads of line agencies, Union Chairmen, NGOs

Union Disaster Management Committee

Union Chairman Union Secretary Local disaster response; planning; needs assessment; beneficiary identification and selection

Union Members, NGOs

In Bangladesh institutional arrangements for dealing with disasters have changed substantially since the late 1980s when the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation was the primary channel for all food aid. In the wake of the Strengthening Institutions for Food-assisted Development (SIFAD) Task Force recommendations in 1991, the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation was transformed into the “Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief” to reflect the paradigm shift towards development and disaster risk management and away from relief. At the same time, the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives was strengthened to take on some of the resources that had been previously channeled through the Ministry of Relief and Rehabilitation. Quite recently (April 2004) the Ministry of Food was combined with the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief to form the Ministry of Food, Disaster Management and Relief. This was an outcome of reform processes within the Government of Bangladesh which had reduced the role of the Ministry of Food quite substantially so that its remaining functions were basically related to food aid relief channels only, so its amalgamation with the Disaster Management and Relief ministry made logical sense.

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4.1.6 Decentralization At the local level the disaster action plans developed by Disaster Management committees at the District, Upazila and Union levels are aimed at preparing and protecting people at grass-root levels and increasing their capacities to cope with and recovery from disasters. Local organizations are how disaster contingency plans get developed. These are done in a “bottom-up” way, rather than in a “top down” manner (emergency evacuation plan, flood shelter management etc.). Using the “Standing Orders” as a guide, Upazilas and Districts have some pre-positioned resources and budget available for immediate response.

As more information about the particular disaster emerges, operational directions and coordination for any disaster situation will come from highest level institutions (i.e. National Disaster Management Council and IMDMCC) which can release additional resources for response.

4.1.7 Information Management Information is gathered from lower administrative levels through different means, such computerized information tracking, hard copies, mobile-phones, faxes etc. At the very local level, information is delivered by hand. Information flow is greatly facilitated in Bangladesh by three competing national mobile phone systems with very wide coverage.

4.1.8 Resource Mobilization Disaster responses are budgeted and appropriate resources are allocated in advance to react to the expected annual emergency situations (floods, cyclones, tornados). The Public Food Distribution System (PFDS) stocks about one million tons of cereals nationwide that is pre-positioned in food warehouses in each of the 460 Upazilas (woredas). When an emergency situation exceeds the government’s capacity to respond, a humanitarian appeal is handled through the Ministry of Finance. However, a humanitarian appeal would be an unusual event. Disaster response capabilities and resources of donors are known, as well as the mobilization mechanisms. An LCG or Local Coordination Group for disasters (www.lcgbangladesh.org), chaired by the World Food Programme, is responsible for coordinating emergency needs assessments.

4.1.9 Awareness Creation Improving awareness about hazards, threats and preparation for these is a central part of the Disaster Management Bureau’s mandate. Activities, booklets containing information about different types of disaster and calendar, posters depicting disaster points have been regularly printed and distributed up to the grass root levels. A folk songs and dramas presented by community people are used to raise community awareness, to create sense of public ownership over community assets and help the partners to focus on community felt needs. Awareness creation is also done through traditional institutions such as mosques as well as other civil society organizations.

All government officials at all levels are provided disaster management awareness training in order to mainstream disaster in all sectors. The government makes disaster management training a compulsory element training curricula of all types of civil service training institutes. National Disaster Preparedness Day is celebrated in all high risk areas on last working day of March every year since 1998.

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Disaster management is included in the curriculum of schools. To raise awareness among the students on various hazards and disaster management approaches, relevant chapters have been included in the educational curricula from class V to class XII.

4.1.10 Emergency Contingency Planning Emergency contingency planning, on a continuing basis, occurs at all levels from the central government through to communities. Given the regularity and frequency of emergencies, systems have been established to respond to expected threats. Disaster risk management is extremely institutionalized in Bangladesh. A calendar is in wide circulation that defines, month by month, what the expected hazards are and what the consequences would be if that problem occurred. The new emphasis is on raising awareness about less frequent hazards, such as earthquakes*, and emerging issues such as climate change.

Each line ministry is required to have a contingency plan and budget for emergency response in place at the onset of fiscal year. As an example, the Ministry of Agriculture prepares rice seedlings for emergency purpose. In the event of a flood, these seedlings can be quickly distributed to affected farmers through its Block Supervisor extension system so that the rice harvest is not seriously disrupted. Similar preparedness measures are made by other Ministries. Floods have typical morbidity patterns, which the Ministry of Health prepares for. The Ministry of Education builds schools recognizing that they can be used as shelters in times of emergency.

The process followed in Bangladesh to allocate resources to Upazilas (woredas) is based on the geographic area, the Upazila’s relative size, population and “backwardness”. This “resource allocation map” was developed by the government jointly with technical assistance provided by the World Food Programme and other donors. It has become a primary tool with which to target resources. The existence of this tool greatly speeds up the process of emergency resource allocations.

In addition to this tool, the WFP/VAM has produced a number of other analytic tools. These include various “poverty maps” based on government household income and expenditure surveys, food insecurity maps and nutritional indicators maps.

At the local level, government officials are trained to have a high awareness level about emergency response. The Ministry of Disaster Management has “Project Implementation Officers” (PIOs) placed at the Upazila (woreda) level who are trained to implement off-the-shelf emergency response measures, such as food-for-work activities. Emergency stocks of materials and equipment are pre-positioned. A disaster response fund and food stocks are in place at the district level in case of emergencies.

At the Union (kebele) level investments have been made to develop using participatory rural appraisal techniques resource and risk maps. These are complemented by Union disaster plans, based on a standard format, that consolidate known information into a management tool for rapid response.

* Bangladesh is located in a seismic area. Given its geology, a major earthquake would have disastrous consequences in urban areas. Based on long-term historical records, the country experiences a major earthquake once per century so the country is currently overdue.

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4.1.11 Early Warning The characteristics of early warning in Bangladesh are much different than in Ethiopia given the dissimilar threats both face. Considering floods and cyclones pose the highest regular costs in terms of economic consequences and human lives, respectively, much of the early warning system has been designed around these two hazards.

Flood forecasting is highly developed. The basic dynamic is that large rivers enter Bangladesh from India in the north. These rivers swell at certain times in the year depending on Himalayan snow-melt and monsoon rain in the Himalayan watershed that extends all the way into Nepal and China. Rainfall in Bangladesh itself accounts for only a small percentage of the river volume. In order to predict flooding, a lot of “upstream” information is required. At the present time, GoB early warning can predict flooding in southern Bangladesh with about 3 days warning. With better technology and tools, there is hope that early warning can be extended to ten days. That amount of warning would allow farmers to make appropriate decisions and preparation.

Similarly cyclone forecasting has received considerable attention since the 1991 disaster claimed over 100,000 lives. As with flooding, remote sensing meteorological data is extensively used. While satellite data shows the build-up of storms, exactly predicting where the cyclone with hit land is very difficult to predict with much notice. As a result considerable investments have been made in early warning communications systems in order to disseminate information quickly. A huge network of early warning volunteers is in place equipped with radios and megaphones. Their job is to receive warnings and pass them along, house by house if necessary. Warning signals are broadcast through the radio and community meetings are organized by community volunteers to disseminate early warning information.

Drought is also considered a potential problem, especially in areas in the western part of the country although with the wide-spread adoption of deep tube wells and irrigation the economic impact of drought has become less. Nevertheless early

Bahadurabad

Bangladesh

India

Brahmaputra-Jamuna

Guwahati

Bahadurabad

Bangladesh

India

Brahmaputra-Jamuna

Guwahati

Remote sensing data (in this case, RadarSat imagery) is used to measure river widths and thus estimate discharge rates. Better early warning flood forecasting can improve lead times.

This poster is part of a training package used to raise awareness about the importance of early warning.

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warning involving drought forecasting involves farmers at the local level with “mini labs” to monitor moisture and crop stress at the local level.

Considerable work has also been undertaken to develop vulnerability models based on long-term statistical profiles. Helen Keller International, with funding from USAID, has been undertaking bi-monthly national surveys using proxy indicators for many years. Nutrition surveillance with representative data has been collected showing pre-, during- and post-disaster information that allows decision-makers to assess likely the impacts of disaster events. Predictable models using trend and multi-year data base have been created.

4.1.12 Adaptation to climate change As Bangladesh is a vast very low-laying alluvial delta, there is widespread scientific agreement that global warming will have significant consequences on the country. As sea levels rise, coastal areas in particular will experience major environmental changes. As water levels rise, inland areas will be inundated with salt water. Drainage patterns will change. Adaptive opportunities to deal with long-term changes in the environment are possible. Off-shore and coastal communities might actually disappear.

Recognizing climate change as inevitable, measures are being taken to insulate communities from these changes by stimulating a process of adaptation. Farmers for generations have grown paddy rice, but this is a crop that does not do well in poorly drained land susceptible to salt incursion. Therefore livelihood patterns need to change. Community awareness-raising to these changes (which effect most severely the most vulnerable and food insecure) are beginning. New technologies are being tested, such as products made from non-traditional crops. Traditional technologies from other parts of Bangladesh are being “imported” into areas that will be most affected by climate change, such as vegetable gardens that float.

Farmers need to adapt the changing climate pattern by using innovative ideas, working around the new for changing rainfall patterns etc.

4.2 Food Security Bangladesh defines food security as a situation when availability of adequate food, access to food, and proper utilization of food is ensured.

With about 140 million people living in an area smaller than Amhara region in Ethiopia, landlessness or near landlessness is a critical problem contributing to poverty. Poverty is understood in terms of daily energy supply. The basic poverty is drawn at 2100 kcal per day/person. However a very substantial number of people fall well below this level. Some twenty million people are considered “ultra-poor” in the sense that they consume less than 1800 kcal per day/person. The persistence of

This river bank is clogged by an aquatic weed called hyacinth. Borrowing traditional technology from another part of the country the Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change project is teaching landless people how to turn these weeds into rafts where vegetables can be grown for sale.

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poverty amongst this group of ultra or “hardcore” poor is similar in many ways to the problems amongst Ethiopia’s chronically food insecure population.

Developing an effective productive Safety Net that addresses the problems of the ultra-poor is a significant challenge. Because they lack “assets” or any productive base on which to build, conventional food security approaches have failed in the past. Thus, in order to achieve the main objective food security in Bangladesh the following strategies were pursued with this group:

• Improve the human capital of the households through the provision of food supplementation, combined with education and training;

• Build asset base through the provision of assets that contribute to income earning activities, combined with training and awareness-raising; and

• Strengthen the disaster-preparedness of the most vulnerable communities through education and awareness-raising, and through the creation of community infrastructures for income-generation and disaster protection.

4.2.1 Targeting and Selection Criteria A remarkable observation in Bangladesh is that all the productive Safety Net activities observed apparently targeted women and children exclusively. The justification for this was that women and children were the most vulnerable to food insecurity, and that men – even ultra poor men – have income-earning opportunities denied women in this traditional Islamic society.

In order to distribute resources equitably amongst Upazilas (woredas) targeting criteria at a national level have been developed. The national Resource Allocation Map (developed to allocate food aid, but also widely used by donors and the GoB alike) is based on Upazila geographic area, population size and backwardness or disaster vulnerability. These criteria developed based on geographic characteristics and classifications of poverty levels (absolute poor, moderate poor and poor female headed households).

At the community level targeting guidelines have been defined to further select different levels of vulnerable group. The criteria used to determine different level of vulnerability is daily kilocalorie intake, the land holding size, women head household, disabled person, and age group (a special pension program has been created by the government which targets aged people with a limited social support network). These criterions facilitate to segregate different levels of vulnerable group and help to design appropriate development intervention for each level of vulnerable group.

Resource allocation mapping allows the central government to “index” how much to allot Upazilas based on their physical area, population and degree of vulnerability.

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4.2.2 Market Improvement One food security initiative studied was a local market development activity. The purpose was to developing local markets as: (1) an income generating initiative for local government; (2) a means to create productive employment for women; and (3) and improve community facilities and promote environmental sanitation. The project was funded through USAID with food assistance monetized by the GoB. The local partner organization worked closely with the Government to plan the market. Resources for construction were transferred to the government’s Local Government Engineering Department which took responsibility for managing the construction work. The role of the local partner organization was to facilitate and monitor the process on behalf of the donor.

A key feature of this initiative was the involvement of Ultra Poor women. When the local government agreed to proceed with a market development scheme, they guaranteed that local women would get a reserved opportunity to rent spaces in the market for a five year period in order to compete with men in various business activities. The local partner organization facilitated this process by providing the targeted women with training in business management. These women were integrated into the market, they were not segregated in one corner. But to make attending the market a feasible activity, the local government was also in the process of constructing a “women’s room” in the market administration building where lactating women could feed their children.

4.2.3 Community participation A remarkable aspect of the productive Safety Net programs observed in Bangladesh was the high degree of community involvement at planning, implementation and monitoring. Community participation extended far beyond labor contribution. Members were involved in diagnostic processes, needs assessments, and decision-making processes. As a result of full participation of communities at all level the community was empowered to manage their own activities by themselves after the phase out of the projects.

An example of this was the Building Union Infrastructure for Local Development (BUILD) project, and its capacity building component. Through this initiative the capacity of local government has been strengthened in several ways.

In this “Courtyard Meeting” (actually held in a school) a broad cross-section of community stakeholders discuss the upcoming Union budget with their local government representative (the Union Member).

“Women’s Room” under construction in the local market. To make women’s participation more feasible, this room has been reserved for children.

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Human resource development has occurred to provide local officials with planning skills. Physical capacity of local government has also been enhanced through the construction of local government offices with sufficient space to house a variety of government line agency services.

4.2.4 Public-Private infrastructure as the Safety Net program Both public and private infrastructure is supported by safety nets. When private infrastructure is supported, a negotiated community contribution of no less than 10% of the total cost is provided, but it could be more.

A key feature of asset creation and protection activities is the promotion of collective responsibility and accountability. For example, in highly vulnerable “chars”, or temporary islands in the middle of large rivers, a labor intensive works program assists communities to build “flood proofing” infrastructure. The Flood Proofing Program works with these vulnerable communities to identify structural and non-structural approaches to reduce risks from flooding. Some investments, such as community flood shelters, are public works. Others, such as earth-raising of homesteads, benefit individuals. By working at the community level to organize participants, a greater sense of public responsibility occurs even with regard to private infrastructure so that when it is damaged in the course of the annual flood season, the community contributes to repairs.

Another example of the public-private collaboration is found with activities to increase the number of roadside trees. Planting trees on the side-slopes of roads makes the infrastructure more durable and less prone to erosion during flooding. However, past experiences with afforestation were unsuccessful as the survival rate for seedlings was low. To correct this, productive Safety Net programs recruit food insecure female heads of households to act as “caretakers” of trees along road segments. In return for a wage, some of which is placed in a “forced savings” account for the future, the women ensure that all the trees survive. In order to make the program sustainable, the long-

This is the river bank on a “char” or temporary island in the middle of a large river. People living on these chars are extremely vulnerable to annual flooding as the islands are only a few meters above water level even during the dry season.

Study tour participants interviewing roadside tree “caretakers”. These women have a long-term stake in the success of the program as they are legally entitled to a portion of the proceeds when the trees are harvested in ten years time.

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term benefits from the trees are divided legally between the women caretakers, the adjacent landowner and the local government. By giving each party a long term stake in the positive outcome of the program, collective responsibility and accountability is improved. When the trees are established and the role of caretaking is no longer needed, the women have an amount of money (their “forced savings”) to use for investing in an income generating activity upon graduation.

4.2.5 Integrated Food Security Program The integrated food security program targets vulnerable communities and individual in Bangladesh’s most food insecure areas. It focuses on community-based interventions that enhance income-earning capacities, disaster preparedness by creating human and physical assets and on nutrition interventions. It has a number of striking features that make it an interesting model.

Areas where IFSP works While all areas of Bangladesh contain poor and malnourished people, the highest rates are found along rivers and coastlines, which are most vulnerable to natural disaster such as flood, cyclone and river erosions, and in urban slums. Poor rural households are unable to accumulate reserves, and they are highly vulnerable to any shock. To prevent the regular degradation of nutritional status and the distraction of human and physical assets due to recurrent natural disasters, it is one of the main components of food security program to mitigate the depletion of the vulnerable household resource through community and household assets creation, productive Safety Net program.

IFSP’s resources Food aid resources are used to fund the largest share of IFSP’s costs. Wheat is imported to Bangladesh and sold to the government, who uses it as part of its Public Food Distribution System (PFDS). The local currency generated is given to the local partner who manages the implementation and monitoring of the program, and the financial administration.

Supporting local capacity building The local partner works with the Government of Bangladesh (Local Government Engineering Department, LGED) to define suitable infrastructure to improve. LGED, in collaboration with local governments, conduct needs assessments and set priorities. When activities have been defined, the local partner releases the resources to LGED to fund the infrastructure programs. The local partner ensures quality control through extensive human capacity building initiatives. It also maintains transparency and accountability in the process.

4.2.6 Working with the Ultra Poor Assetless target groups are difficult to work with. They are extremely vulnerable and depend on daily wage labor for survival. Given the marginality of this group, they cannot participate in “mainstream” development programs, which in Bangladesh are typically savings and credit related. In order to assist the Ultra Poor so that they can benefit from these services, one

Ultra Poor women join a savings and credit group as part of the GoB/WFP/BRAC “Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction” program.

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program* observed provided them with a significant marketable asset. In the group observed these assets were one of four types: tailoring, poultry raising for eggs, goats or cows for meat and milk. On entering the program the women qualified for 18 months of food aid. They received their asset and an intensive training program on how to manage the asset. Then, in order to make this business a success they were enrolled in a savings and credit group where they were given additional training and required to save regularly. As a member of a savings and credit group the individual women were insured against calamity and shared collective responsibility. For example, when other women wanted to borrow money on a credit basis, the loan was secured by the group as a whole. At the end of the food aid period, the ultra poor (or the chronically food insecure) are able to withstand shock and continue in to the mainstream economic growth agenda. The provision of food for the life of the safety net project has triple objectives. First, if the beneficiaries do not have enough food to feed their family members they are going deplete the created assets for domestic consumptions. By providing the necessary food the family will be able to save their income and expand their activities for further investments. Secondly, the food will improve the nutritional status of the family. Thirdly, the food will be used as incentive or composition for their involvement in the skill training program.

4.2.7 Saving and credit Different food security programs have a credit and saving component as an in-built part of their program. For the Ultra Poor target group “forced savings” is an important component. Participants save some percentage of their wage (or resource transfer) in a savings account that cannot be easily accessed. When their time in the program ends, they can use this capital to continue the development process after the graduation. The process of forced saving is part of the strategy to the linkage between the participant and the service provider.

• Forced saving coupled with individual microfinance insurance helps the participants from forced sale of assets as a coping strategy following a disaster. The insurance scheme comes as part of the credit/saving package at a minimal charge.

• Saving and credit services are delivered to the poor at their door. The bank comes to them.

• Typically, in a given village, an individual has choice about who to access for credit services. More than one service provider works in the same village. Each of the service providers offer slightly different terms. The Grameen Bank, for example,

* Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction/Targeting the Ultra Poor, is a collaborative program with the Government of Bangladesh providing food resources through the World Food Program, and a range of other services provided by BRAC, a local NGO.

Members of the Grameen Bank are mostly women who meet on a weekly basis to deposit savings and approve new loans. Nationwide, its repayment average is 99%.

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targets slightly better off individuals, but offers a higher credit limit and allows more than one loan at a time. BRAC offers a higher rate of return on savings.

Grameen Bank has the service intensity of an NGO but is actually a chartered bank. It has the motto “nothing for free” and its philosophy is to ensure self-reliance among its members. By involving the private sector in the credit and saving services a sustainable solution to provide access the credit services for the poor is achieved.

4.2.8 Graduation Food security programs are designed with a “graduation” strategy from the start. Typically the strategy assumes that an individual will only qualify a single time for assistance. An Ultra Poor woman has one 18 month opportunity to receive food aid while part of a training program. There is a growing recognition that the very poorest are hardest to reach, so organizations have developed the “ladder” strategy. Their objective is not to solve an individual’s food security problem completely, but to improve the situation of the Ultra Poor to the extent that beneficiaries can join other mainstream development programs and participate fully in them.

Graduation is achieved by providing beneficiaries useful vocational training while providing a program that ensures forced savings. Programs are seen as transitional. Individuals benefit for a duration from services specifically targeted at their problems. They are then made part of mainstream development activities after graduation. Sometimes the same organization provides both types of services. BRAC’s Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction places its graduates in its own savings groups when they graduate.

Different project interventions are designed for different vulnerable groups. Each vulnerable group graduated to the next higher level with in fixed period of time. In addition, the participants are allowed to participate in the safety net programs once in their life. After graduation they expected to move on.

Entitlement to a Safety net program is limited for a fixed period of time. Time to graduate varies from eighteen months to three years depending on the nature of the program.

Sound linkages are created between graduated beneficiaries and service providers in order to have access to the basic services, such as credit and saving, etc. after their graduation from the program.

4.2.9 Nutrition Emphasis is placed on nutrition education, and the provision of nutrition supplements to women and children. Community nutrition initiative program not only provide nutrition to malnourished but also transfers knowledge to mothers on how to prepare it .In addition the program also addresses the question of changing the consumption behaviors of the poor people by educating them how to produce various pulses and vegetables which ultimately enables them to get adequate nutrients.

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An interesting (and large scale) program observed was one where imported food aid wheat was fortified locally. The donor imports wheat for distribution. It consigns the wheat to a local partner who channels the grain to a micro mill where nutrients are added during the milling process. The partner then bags the flour in ration-sized packages, which greatly improves the logistics of food distributions.

Another program targets school children. The donor imports whole grain wheat. It then tenders local biscuit manufacturers for interest in processing the wheat into fortified biscuits and producing them in individual ration-sized packets. No money changes hands. The bid is based on commodity only. The Government equests the manufacturer to quote a price in commodity – x MTs of wheat to produce y MTs of biscuits.

Community participation and a significant role for local governments was seen to be an intrinsic part of all programs, no matter who the implementer of the program was. Considerable attention is given to targeting of most vulnerable. This was undertaken through vulnerability analysis and mapping in collaboration with the concerned partners.

4.3 General or Joint Observations

4.3.1 Capacity building Significant emphasis was given to capacity building interventions. Strengthening of local level Union (kebele) government occurred through building infrastructures such as offices and roads, as well as institutional building. Interventions strengthened village organizations or associations of poor in order to bring the ultra poor into the mainstream of development.

One approach to this was to organize a Local Project Society (LPS) among community members. The LPS was responsible to carry out a needs identification process and reconnaissance survey to identify and prioritize activities. The LPS was not the government, but it worked in close conjunction with the government. To promote effective and sustainable institutional support systems, Local Project Societies (LPS) are selected by the local communities and trained. When needs were identified, the local government channeled cash-for-work resources to create the needed infrastructure through the LPS directly, which took on the responsibility for adequate monitoring and

Pre-milled wheat flour is fortified and packed in one-month ration-sized bags for distribution to Vulnerable Group Development women.

Chairman of a Local Project Society which recently “graduated” by being recognized by the government as a Community Based Organization, which qualifies it for other kinds of resources and activities, including disaster risk management ones.

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accounting for the resources. Some of these LPSes have “graduated” into a higher level of government recognition, and are now considered as “Community-based organizations” which qualifies them for other kinds of resources and responsibilities.

4.3.2 Roles of different actors Government: The Government of Bangladesh play a significant role by giving directives, frameworks and guidelines to all actors. It coordinates resource mobilization and makes considerable financial contributions to materialize various development ventures initiated at local levels. It also controls resources distribution to local organizations, approves local project plans and monitors progress.

Donors: Provide resources to Government and NGOs. Considerable emphasis is given by donors to focus on the problems of ultra-poor women, coordinate through local coordination groups, monitor and evaluate donor funded activities. Another focus of donors is support provided to the decentralization process of the GoB.

UN agencies: WFP is coordinating jointly with GoB, a Disaster and Emergency Response (DER) group comprising of representatives from government, UN-agencies, donors, and NGOs focusing on improved coordination, better information sharing, training for increased effectiveness and increase the efficiency of emergency response. WFP also implements a Safety Net program in partnership with the Government and BRAC focusing hard core, ultra-poor women.

NGOs: Participate in capacity building of GoB and community-based organizations. NGOs are significant actors in micro-finance (saving and credit) activities and income generating projects specifically targeting poor women. NGOs actively participate in disaster management and Safety Nets programs at all levels.

4.3.3 Group formation Community organization is a critical ingredient at the village level for the poor to participate in decision making and implementation that benefits them. Various kinds of groups are formed. Some are project specific, such as the Local Project Societies discussed above. Others are groupings that aim to improve health hygiene and nutritional practices of vulnerable groups. Others are specific cohorts, such as “mother’s clubs” or “children forums”. Some groups are organized around a particular occupation, such as road maintenance crews, who work together as a group for three years. Others are formed to deliver training, such as home garden and tree plantation, health and nutrition, or mass awareness activities.

4.3.4 Monitoring and Evaluation The GoB has an Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department (IMED) under the Ministry of Planning which is the central authority for monitoring of the development projects taken under the annual development program.

NGOs have their own internal M&E system. They are coordinated at the national level by NGO Affairs Department, under the Prime Minister’s office. At the local

This savings and savings passbook is for an individual group member. It records all the weekly savings contributions, as well as when withdrawals or loans are taken.

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levels, the Deputy Commissioner at the District (Zone) level coordinates and the Upazila Nirbani Officer (at the woreda level) closely follows-up on their activities.

Some of the significant monitoring mechanisms that are being implemented include:

• Individual beneficiaries all have their own saving books/documentation of loans

• Excellent record keeping for Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) participants is in place. The VGD card entitles participants to regular monthly food rations. Shown in the photograph below is the front page of a VGD card. Note the Government of Bangladesh seal at the top, the participant’s photograph and her signature.

V. Conclusions and Recommendations Many of the observations made during the Bangladesh Study Tour are useful to the Ethiopian context. In order to highlight our main conclusions the group prioritized the observations to generate the list that follows.

5.1 Concluding Observations: Disaster Management

5.1.1 Institutional Arrangements for Proactive Disaster Management Disaster management activities are mainstreamed in Bangladesh among government ministries, donors and other actors, such as NGO partners. Each government ministry is required to conduct early warning activities and have a contingency plan, effective at different levels. For example, the Ministry of Agriculture assumes that a disaster will strike and annually ensures that 200ha of rice seedlings are planted as a contingency so that they can be immediately distributed to farmers affected by floods. At each administrative level – Union (kebele), Upazila (woreda) and District (zone) – have disaster management committees with the authority and resources in reserve to immediately react to

Targeted beneficiaries are given cards (complete with pictures and identification details) that track their eligibility and resources received.

Pre-emergencyEmergency Response Post-emergency

Contingency planning, awareness creation, training

Needs assessment, short-term relief aid

Longer-term rehabilitation, disaster prevention and mitigation measures

Disaster Management Bureau

Line Ministries

Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation

Line Ministries –Agriculture, Local Government, Water, Health, Education

Func

tions

Res

pons

ible

Ag

ency

Bangladesh Disaster Risk Management Phases

Pre-emergencyEmergency Response Post-emergency

Contingency planning, awareness creation, training

Needs assessment, short-term relief aid

Longer-term rehabilitation, disaster prevention and mitigation measures

Disaster Management Bureau

Line Ministries

Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation

Line Ministries –Agriculture, Local Government, Water, Health, Education

Func

tions

Res

pons

ible

Ag

ency

Bangladesh Disaster Risk Management Phases

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disasters without asking permission from higher levels. At a national level the Bureau of Disaster Management jointly with other sectors and partners handles disaster preparation activities. During a disaster, the relief response is under the authority of the Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation. Disaster prevention activities are the mandate of specialized, technical line agencies.

5.1.2 Community Disaster Preparedness Timing and characteristics of disasters are well-known in Bangladesh. The seasonality, severity and consequences of various hazards are understood. For example, the government has produced a calendar describing when various disasters can be expected. This has allowed them to raise awareness about these threats and improve preparation. At a local level, communities are very involved in disaster contingency planning. Risk and resource maps are created at the Union (kebele) level which identify where families live, what kinds of infrastructure is available and likely threats. Community members are encouraged to take responsibility for disaster response such as defining responsibilities and actions (such as early warning). Volunteers at the local level assume roles such as emergency communication and collection of disaster information.

5.1.3 Separating Humanitarian Relief from Development A conceptual shift occurred in Bangladesh some fifteen years before away from a relief response to chronic food insecurity towards a development one. The Strengthening Institutions for Food Assisted Development (SIFAD) task force which made its recommendations in 1991 urged capacity building of technical Ministries to take on responsibility for Safety Net programs. The “Ministry of Relief” was transformed into a Ministry of Disaster Management to emphasize the need for preparedness and prevention. “Standing Orders” have been prepared that clearly outline the duties and

Community Disaster Volunteer. As part of of the Disaster Management Project, volunteers are recruited to organize the community and provide a channel of communication between the local government and the village.

Through the Disaster Management Program local government officials are trained to develop emergency contingency plans that include risk and resource mapping of their localities.

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responsibilities of all stakeholders. Disaster management is not the job of one agency. All Ministries have a disaster management unit within their own organization and are also responsible for collecting relevant early warning information and coordinating this with others.

5.2 Concluding Observations: Food Security

5.2.1 Targeting A striking feature of all the programs observed in Bangladesh was that women (and children) were exclusively targeted. The rationale for this was that women and children were the most vulnerable to food insecurity. In Bangladesh women are at an additional disadvantage due to the cultural norms that segregate them and discourage their full participation in society. The poverty line is described in terms of calorie intake. “Poor” is defined as having fewer than 2100 kcal/person/day. The “ultra poor” are those who consume less than 1800 kcal per day. This is not measured directly. Instead proxy indicators of nutritional level are used that include landlessness, household assets and female-headed households. Participants are identified by the community based on agreed guidelines. Once they qualify they are guaranteed resources for a fixed period of time (ranging from 18 months to three years). Identified beneficiaries are given a “identity card” where the dates and amounts of resources are recorded.

5.2.2 Asset Creation Asset Creation Bangladesh Safety Net programs are of three types:

• Physical (public) works Resources exchanged in return for some kind of physical work, such as food-for-work on public infrastructure, local road maintenance for cash wages or roadside tree plantation or other afforestation programs.

• Unconditional transfers The only unconditional transfer noted was an old age pension program that was initiated by the previous government and expanded by the current one where each Union (kebele) was allowed to nominate deserving aged people.

• Human capital creation Resources exchanged in return for participation in some kind of activity that improves their own individual human asset base. These programs included training (health, nutrition, or financial management), attendance at school for children (“food-for-education”), or family planning.

In Bangladesh resources are transferred in return for activities that benefit human resource base of the country as a whole.

WFP Food-for-Assets program. Conditional transfer activity. Nutrition training is given to pregnant and lactating mothers and their children. Their time spent in training is compensated with a weekly ration of supplementary food for the children.

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5.2.3 Forced Savings A common feature of Safety Net programs in Bangladesh was a savings component in micro-finance activities. Groups of women are organized to regularly save money, as little as five takas per week, and deposit this amount in the group account. This amount is loaned out in turn to the women for productive purposes. The organization provides technical assistance, training and support to ensure that the productive activities succeed. The ultra poor who participate in Safety Net development programs are also forced to save some of their earnings in a special account which they do not have access to immediately. On exiting the program, these resources are claimed by the individuals as seed capital. These savings can then be invested following graduation in the productive activities that the women were trained in. As well, in the case of disaster, these savings could be drawn to prevent the emergency disposal of household assets.

5.2.4 Safety Net Components In Bangladesh infrastructure creation is an important part of the Safety Net program. For many years food-for-work programs have supported public works such as roads and other community assets. This infrastructure is necessary to promote food security, but is not sufficient. In Bangladesh all-weather rural roads extend right to the village level where chronically food insecure people still live. They need something more besides physical infrastructure to ensure food security. Participants need training opportunities, capital as well as physical access. Programs need to provide sufficient resources to enable the ultra poor (who are similar to the chronically food insecure in Ethiopia) to move into the mainstream of development. Resource transfers are both cash and food, depending on the program. One example of this was the Targeting the Ultra Poor activity under the Government’s Vulnerable Group Development programme which

Grameen Bank group members are expected to save money on a weekly basis for deposit into their account.

Ultra poor women in the BRAC-VGD program are given an income-earning asset (such as chickens) and are given technical support and training to turn the asset into a sustainable business. Pictured is the “package” of 36 layers in their cages.

29

provided women participants with an asset (e.g. a commercial poultry business) as well as functional savings and credit services. In addition the target group are entitled to receive a food ration during the program duration (from 18 months to two years) while they are attending the skill development training. The provision of the food has a triple objective: to fulfill domestic consumption needs; improving the family’s nutritional status; and as compensation for their opportunity costs incurred by the women during training.

5.2.5 “Graduating” the chronically food insecure The extremely food insecure in Bangladesh need additional help. The “ultra” or “hardcore” poor (who are similar to the chronically food insecure in Ethiopia) cannot join mainstream development activities because they do not have the skills, assets, other resources to effectively take part. In Bangladesh the “poorest of the poor” have been very difficult to target for this reason. The solution to this problem has been to design programs that recognize this. Beneficiaries join a Safety Net program for between eighteen months and three years. These programs assume that the participants have no assets. In the program, while participants are sustained by food aid or cash wages, they are provided with an asset (it could be an income generating activity or capacity building training) on which to build a future. On exiting the Safety Net program, the participants have the necessary resources to “climb the ladder” out of the chronically poor category to join the development mainstream. In Bangladesh, this typically means a savings and credit program run by NGOs or the private sector. Therefore participants graduate into another development program that allows them to sustain the gains they have achieved.

100% population(140 million)

2100 kcal/person/day

1800 kcal/person/day

18-20%

25-30%

poverty line

moderately poor

“ultra” or “hardcore”poor

50-55%

Chronically food insecure households are provided with special help in the form of training, capital, technical assistance and income-earning opportunities.

Mainstream development programs usually involve savings, credit and income generating activities.

People who have land and other assets can benefit from regular government activities.

100% population(140 million)

2100 kcal/person/day

1800 kcal/person/day

18-20%

25-30%

poverty line

moderately poor

“ultra” or “hardcore”poor

50-55%

Chronically food insecure households are provided with special help in the form of training, capital, technical assistance and income-earning opportunities.

Mainstream development programs usually involve savings, credit and income generating activities.

People who have land and other assets can benefit from regular government activities.

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5.2.6 Capacity Building to Support Decentralization In Bangladesh it is the government’s policy to support decision-making at the lowest possible level. Union (kebele) and Upazila (woreda) structures have been strengthened and empowered to implement government programs. For example, each Upazila has a Local Government Engineering Department with as many as twenty employees who are responsible for implementing infrastructure development such as roads, bridges, schools, markets and offices. All other line agencies also have employees at the Upazila level ready to implement their own sector activities. Grassroot meetings are also arranged to involve local communities in local government decision-making around how to spend the block grant Annual Development Budget. The current government priority is to strengthen the Union (kebele) level even further to bring service delivery closer to the grassroots.

Capacity building activities involves training of government staff and physical upgrading of facilities. One example of this kind of initiative is the Building Union Infrastructure for Local Development, the “BUILD” program.

5.2.7 Public and Private Asset Creation Both public and private assets are supported under Safety Net programs. Examples of public assets are local infrastructure such as roads, earth-raising of schools and flood shelters, and road side tree plantations. Private assets include various kinds of training (as described above) as well as village earth-raising to “flood proof” houses. With private infrastructure, communities are required to contribute a portion of the cost. An important type of private asset that is transferred has to do with the variety of income generating activities that are encouraged. In these programs individuals receive, as part of the development package, poultry or a sewing machine or some other asset they can use to begin a productive activity. Benefits from public assets such as trees are legally shared between the local government, the adjacent land owner as well as the Safety Net

In the Rural Maintenance Programme women earn a cash wage to maintain public roads while saving money and taking training for their “graduation” into food security.

NGOs invest in a local government office with donor resources to strengthen physical capacity strengthening to improve Union (kebele) service delivery.

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participant who all get a long-term stake. Collective benefit sharing contributes to the sustainability of the asset because various stakeholders have an incentive to protect the asset from harm.

5.3 Recommendations 1. In revising our National Policy on Disaster Prevention and Management

consideration must be given to interventions in the pre-, during- and post-disaster phases.

2. Considering Ethiopia’s disaster-prone environment, legal grounds to compel line ministries to mainstream disaster risk management are required to promote their accountability.

3. Disaster risk management mainstreaming involves incorporating in every sector regular disaster contingency planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as information sharing.

4. Disaster contingency planning (risk and resource mapping, disaster calendars, etc.) needs to occur at all levels – federal ministries, regional bureaus, woredas and kebeles.

5. Strengthened disaster management and food security programs require continuous investment in human resources and physical capacity.

6. Donors and NGOs need to further strengthen their support and supplement to the government’s decentralization initiatives to strengthen the woreda and kebele capacity (both physical and human) to facilitate the development process.

7. Existing targeting guidelines need to be revised in terms of the needs of Food Security Coordination Bureau and DPPC to identify the chronically food insecure (and different levels of vulnerability within this group) versus those unpredictably affected by emergency situations.

8. A complete Safety Net package would include public-private asset creation and protection, human resource development, savings, credit and market access. This package would be enabled through technical assistance delivered to the beneficiary.

9. Graduates from Safety Net programs need to link into longer-term development programs that provide services and resources necessary to sustain their improvements in livelihood (and their ability to resist future shocks).

10. Micro-finance activities need to be encouraged by enabling a wider range of partners to deliver the necessary savings and credit services.

11. Food (or cash) assistance is not sufficient support to enable the chronically food insecure to graduate. Chronically food insecure households must be provided with special help in the form of training, capital, technical assistance and income-earning opportunities.

12. Individuals (or families) need to be targeted for a fixed period of time. Recognizing this entitlement using a system of beneficiary identification cards would ease the process of monitoring and evaluation.

13. Formal (legal) benefit-sharing arrangements over common property such as forests between beneficiaries, the community and local government contribute to collective responsibility, joint accountability and long-term sustainable development.

14. Community participation needs to go beyond labor contribution and extend throughout the implementation process. Safety Net programs must be built from the bottom up, so that communities are closely involved in needs assessment, planning, resource generation and implementation.

32

15. NGOs need to be better integrated into the overall implementation process through close collaboration with communities and government. NGOs can channel resources through local government where there is capacity, or work jointly with government using its resources where capacity is limited.

16. Ethiopia’s climate is changing. For example, rainfall patterns are becoming more variable. Ethiopia therefore needs to adapt to these changes. Our perspective must shift from preventing the problem, to living with risks by exploiting alternative technologies and income earning options.

17. Regional coordination within Africa to exchange early warning information on different types of hazards need to be strengthened.

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VI. Annexes

6.1 Persons Contacted

Organization/ Agency Name

Position/ Responsibility Telephone Fax Email

1 USAID Bangladesh

M. Golam Kabir Senior Food Aid Manager & Mission Disaster Management Specialist

(880-2) 8855500 ext 2347

(880-2) 9890195

gkabir@usaid.gov

Syed Sadruf Ameen Mission Engineer/Senior Program Manager, Food Security and

(880-2) 885 5500 ext 2339

(880-2) 9890195

sameen@usaid.gov

2 Ministry of Food, Disaster Management and Relief (MFDMR)

Faruk Ahmed Secretary-in-charge, MFDMR

7168744 888-02-7169623

mdmrrc@bdcom.com

A H M Shamsul Islam Additional Secretary Director General, Disaster Management Bureau

880-2-8851615

880-2-8851615 dmb@bttb.net.bd

Md. Abu Haider Sarder Additional Secretary, Director General, Directorate of Relief & Rehabilitation

8813639 880-2-7169048

3 Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives

A H M Abul Qasem Secretary-in-Charge, Local Government Division

7163566 7164374

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Organization/ Agency Name

Position/ Responsibility Telephone Fax Email

(MLGR&C)

Waliul Islam Senior Assistant Secretary

880-2-8623058

wgea@aitlbd.net

4 World Food Programme

Rehana Banoo Manager, Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Section

8116344-48, 8119064-72

(880-2) 8113147

Rehana.banoo@wfp.org

Siemon Hollema Manager Policy & Resourcing Section, Vulnerability Analysis & Mapping Officer, WFP

8116344-48, 8119064-72

(880-2) 8113147

Siemon.hollema@wfp.org

5 Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department (IMED), Ministry of Planning

Ehsan Shamim, ndc Secretary-in-Charge, IMED Division, Ministry of planning

8115026 8122210

6 Department of Agricultural Extension

Krishibid M Tariq Hassan

Director General 8115267 88-2-8111884 dgdoedhk@citechco.net

7 Helen Keller International

Dora Panagides Country Director (880-2) 8852113

(880-2) 8852137

dpanagides@hkidhaka.org

8 CIDA Rajani Alexander First Secretary (Development), Premier Secretary (Cooperation)

988-7091-7 ext 3452

(88-02)882-6585

Rajani.Alexander@dfait-maeci.gc.ca

Sylvia Islam Senior Development Advisor

9887091-7 ext 3457

(88-02) 882-6585

Sylvia.islam@dfait.maeci.gc.ca

35

Organization/ Agency Name

Position/ Responsibility Telephone Fax Email

9 CARE Monzu Morshed Coordinator, Disaster Management Project

9112315 ext 139, 9131936

8114183 morshed@carebangladesh.org or caremu@bangla.net

Alka Pathak Program Coordinator, Integrated Food Security Program (IFSP)

9112315 , 8114207 ext 124

8114183 alka@carebangladesh.org

10 BRAC Hafiza Zahir Communication Officer 9881265, 8824180

(88-02) 8823542, 8823614

brac@brac.net

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6.2 Detailed Itinerary Date/Day Government and Organization visited Discussions/Presentation Focus

6 June 04

(Sun)

• Arrival Bangladesh, Dhaka from Addis Ababa (via Dubai)

• USAID Office (1) USG food security and emergency preparedness programs in Bangladesh.

Linkages to USAID strategic plan and problem analysis. USAID partners and implementation strategies. (2) Brief overview of USAID’s food security and disaster response “lessons learned”. (3) Experience with institutional transformation in dealing with chronic food insecurity problems in Ethiopia, the SIFAD experience.

• Ministry of Food, Disaster Management and Relief The Ministry of Food, Disaster Management and Relief is a focal point of the government disaster related issues. The disaster management bureau will assist the Ministry with all necessary information during normal, alert and warning stage, disaster and post-disaster recovery stage. In addition, the office is responsible for the coordination and dissemination of early warring information and front line response during emergency.

Issue discussed

(1) Early Warning system (2) Resource Mobilization (3) Implementation (4) Local Partnerships (5) Emergency Food Distribution System

7 June 04

(Monday)

• Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives

The Ministry of Local Government is responsible for decentralized development activities at the local level. The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) is responsible for local infrastructure.

Issue discussed

(1) Food Security Definitions (2) Food Security Programs (3) Safety Nets (4) Resource Mobilization (5)Policy Process (6) Implementation (7) Local Partnerships (8) Disaster management and coordination

8 June 2004

(Tuesday)

• World Food Programme Issue discussed

(1) Country Program briefing, what WFP does and why in Bangladesh (2) Vulnerability Assessment and Mapping (3) Crop assessment methodologies (4) Nutritional monitoring (5) health monitoring (6) Food Distribution System

37

Date/Day Government and Organization visited Discussions/Presentation Focus • IMED-Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation

Department ( Under the Ministry of Finance) Responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of government funded projects

Issue discussed

(1)Monitoring and Evaluation

• Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Extension

Ministry of Agriculture is responsible to achieve the following objectives: increase agricultural productivity, provide pro-poor services, strength partnership and links with local government develop department of agricultural extension as an effective institution to provide quality and quantity services and develop performance measurement. The department of agricultural extension department is responsible to provide agricultural extension services to all categories farmers in order enable them to optimize use of their resource with a view to be self sufficient in food production.

Issue discussed

(1) Safety Nets and Implementation (2) Early Warning (3) Targeting (4) Monitoring and Evaluation (5) disaster preparedness within the ministry of agriculture (4) Crop assessment

• Helen Keller International Helen Keller International is non governmental organization which is working since 1990 in the Nutritional Surveillance project in Bangladesh. The project is one of the most extensive and well established nutritional surveillance systems in the world.

Issue discussed

(1) Nutritional Surveillance Monitoring (2) Early Warning (3) Home Gardening Project activities

• CIDA Office (1) Food Security Programs (2)Early Warning (3) Implementation (4) Local Partnerships 9 June 2004

(Wednesday) • CARE Bangladesh office CARE Bangladesh is implementing both disaster management program and food security program through local NGO and local government implementing agency.

Issue discussed

(1) Food Security Programs (2) Disaster Preparedness (3) Implementation (4)Local Partnerships

38

Date/Day Government and Organization visited Discussions/Presentation Focus • BRAC office BRAC is one the world’s largest local NGO implementing integrated food security project through

out the country, divers in its operations with over 28,000 regular staff and 34,000 part- time teachers working in 61,921 village. BRAC is engaged in a number of development program, such economic development program , health, nutrition and population program, non-formal primary education program. Under its economic development program the credit and saving component, initiated in 1972, has distributed USD 2,150 million with recovery rate at 98% and the saving deposit made by the beneficiaries accounted USD 107 million.

Issue discussed

(1) Food Security Programs (2) Safety Net program (3) Disaster Preparedness

• Grameen Bank office Grameen Bank is one of the largest privet sector micro- finance enterprises that provide credit and saving services to the poor. It provides services to the poor framers through their credit service agent at the community level.

Issue Discussed

(1) Micro credit and risks mitigation (2) communities take part in defining development plans

Observed Field Visit Activities

10 Jun 2004

(Thursday)

• Travel to Rangpur by road. On way, observe Integrated food security program(IFSP)

• Meet Upazila and Union (Wereda and PA) official and council members

• Community members and project participants

• Community participation in governance process, women employment creation through tree plantation and profit sharing program,

• Local government (at wereda and PA level) capacity building for better services, • Rural Pave road networks and improvements to promote agricultural product marketing

through food or/and Cash for work program • small town market development activity • Meet wereda and PA officials and discussed the capacity building project. In addition, issue

related to disaster preparedness, response and contingency plan. Discussed on joint (Government and NGO) implemented projects coordination. In addition, get more insight on collaboration in terms of project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation between local government and NGO.

11 Jun 2004

(Friday)

• Nageshsawri Upazila (wereda) under Kurigram district to observe IFSP activities

• Disaster management and Flood proofing project • Meet with Union (PA) officials • Meet group of community members and different

project participant

• Visit PA office built by USAID funded project to support the government decentralization program.

• Visit flood shelters, flood preparedness/mitigation, nutritional activities etc. • Community disaster preparedness”: discussion with wereda officials how local level actors get

involved in disaster mitigation? • Discuss with officials at the Wereda and PA level contingency planning and disaster

preparedness

39

Date/Day Government and Organization visited Discussions/Presentation Focus 12 Jun 2004

(Saturday)

• Visit Vulnerable group development project (VGD) women

• Meet with Union councils (PA councils)n VGD committee, responsible for the beneficiary selection

• Meet with district ( Zonal) relief and rehabilitation officer at Rangpur

• Visit fortified whole wheat meal flour distribution to the vulnerable group VGD women, FFE children, Food for Asset etc.

• Discussion with project participant about the selection criteria, individual readiness and future plan after graduation, any change in their life since they start participating in the program.

Issues discussed:

• (1)Disaster Preparedness Early Warning system (2) Resource Mobilization (3) Implementation (4) Local Partnerships (5) Emergency Food Distribution System

13 Jun 2004

(Sunday)

• Visit Integrated food security program (safety net project interlocked with micro-finance project) and rural infrastructure maintenance activity

Return to Dhaka

• Visit safety net project, discuses with participant and visit their off-farm income generating activity.

• Visit rural road maintenance project and have and dissection project participant regarding their forced saving activity duration of the project and their readiness after graduation.

• Visit previously graduated participant discuss about their success.

14 Jun 2004 (Monday)

• Visit Emergency Preparedness Warehouse • Visit Disaster Management Bureau and discuss on

their activities • Meet Directorate of Relief and Rehabilitation and

discuss on their activities

• Visit Stock piling and Institutional Preparedness • Discusses Public Awareness, Emergency activities coordination among govt. departments and

NGOs, field level preparedness activities etc. • Emergency Reponses, VGD, Warehousing of emergency supplies etc.

15 Jun 2004

(Tuesday)

Fly to Jessore and drive to Khulna

• visit Reducing Vulnerability to Climatic Change (RVCC) activities

RVCC- project main objective is to increase the capacity of the communities to adopt the adverse effect of climatic change (water logging, salinity. Through the promotion of suitable development package and the building of local level capacity to advocate climatic change issues.

• Visited Baira cultivation(Hydroponics) floating vegetable garden, mele (reed) cultivation, duck rearing

• Meet Union (PA) councils and discussed about the environmental change and awareness creation among the community

Meet with community member and project participant

16 Jun 2004 (Wednesday)

• Visit Disaster Management Project (DMP) • Fly back to Dhaka • Departure to Addis Ababa through Dubai

• Meet Union (PA) level disaster management committee. DMP-Capacity building of LGI (local government institutions), volunteers, R&R mapping, development of local level disaster action plan, community awareness

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6.3 Comparative Administrative Structure Ethiopia Bangladesh

Got Gram Represented by a directly elected Union Member.

Kebele, Peasant Association Union Headed by a directly elected Union Chairman who is elected from among the Union Members. There are only a few government-paid employees under Union jurisdiction, the secretary and several guards or local police. Other government employees at this level would include “Agriculture Block Supervisors” -- there are 12,500 in the country – or health and family planning workers and teachers.

The present government is taking steps to decentralize decision-making and implementation to this level, which will require considerable capacity building investments. Unions have some (minor) income sources, such as renting space in local markets.

Woreda Upazila These were previously known as “thanas” or police stations. There are nine unions in one upazila. Led by an Upazila Council made up of the nine Union Chairmen and the Upazila Nirbani Officer (UNO), the top civil servant in the area. All government line agencies are represented in the Upazila which might have 150 employees. Upazilas would be represented in the national parliament by a Member, although there is no locally elected leader.

Most implementation activities are decentralized to this level. Upazilas receive a “block grant” from the central Government’s Annual Development Plan to carry out locally defined initiatives. Upazilas have other sources of locally generated revenue that give it some independence from the central Government.

Zone District There are about seven Upazilas in each district, which fall under the administrative supervision of a Deputy Commissioner.

Region Division Supervise Deputy Commissioners in districts.

Federal Government Central Government Given its significant homogeneity, Bangladesh has a unitary form of government. Most government planning and decision-making is taken at this level. The central Government has a significant say in resource allocation and priority-setting.

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6.4 Comparative Statistics Indicator Ethiopia Bangladesh

6.4.1 Basic Facts Type of Government Federal Republic Parliamentary

Democracy

Independence oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world - at least 2,000 years

16 December 1971 (from West Pakistan)

Capital Addis Ababa Dhaka

Population of capital city 2.354 million 10 million

Climate Tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variations

Tropical monsoon; mild winter (October to March); hot, humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October)

Main languages Amharic (official) Oromigna Tigrigna English (major foreign language taught in schools)

Bangla (official) English

6.4.2 Greatest Similarities Rural Population 84.7% 74%

Labor force by occupation

Agriculture and animal husbandry

Government and Services

Industry and Construction

80% 12% 8%

63% 26% 11%

Principal export as % of total exports 38.4% (coffee) 49.8% (woven garments)

Daily per capita supply of calories. kcal (2001)

2040 2187

Average annual cereal food aid receipts (from all donors) 1991-2002, MT

716,712 726,588

Average number of national disasters requiring external assistance per year (1990-2002)

3.8 8.5

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Indicator Ethiopia Bangladesh Environment: current issues deforestation;

overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; water shortages in some areas from water-intensive farming and poor management

deforestation; soil degradation and erosion; intermittent water shortages because of falling water tables in northern and central parts of country; water pollution

6.4.3 Biggest Differences Surface Area 1,140,000 sq. km. 144,000 sq. km

Total Population 69.1 million (2003) 135.7 million (2002)

Urban population 10.3 million (15.3%) 35.3 million (26%)

Population density per ha arable land 6 17

Ethnic Groups Oromo Amhara Tigre Somali Welayta Gurage Sidama Afar Hadiya Kembata Keffa Other

32% 30% 6% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 2% 1% 1% 8%

Bengali Tribal groups and non-Bengali Muslims

98% 2%

Religions Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Other Christian Muslim Others

50.5% 11.1% 33.3% 5.1%

Muslim Hindu Others

83% 16% 1%

Land use Arable land

Irrigated

Forests and woodland

45% (513,000 sq. km)

15,390 sq. km

4.2%

60.7% (87,408 sq. km)

38,440 sq. km

10.2%

Terrain High plateau with central mountain range divided by the Great Rift Valley

Mostly flat alluvial plain; hilly in southeast

Rainfall variance 510-1,530 mm 1,500-5,000 mm

Fertilizer use (kg nutrients per ha) 16 163

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Indicator Ethiopia Bangladesh

6.4.4 Natural Resources Natural gas, proven reserves 12.46 billion cu m 150.3 billion cu m

Natural resources small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, hydropower

natural gas, arable land, timber, coal

Water 7,444 sq km 10,090 sq km

Percentage of total land under forest cover

2.8% 14%

Elevation Extremes Lowest point: Danakil -125 m Highest point: Ras Dashen 4,620 m

Lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m Highest point: Keokradong 1,230 m

6.4.5 Disasters Natural hazards geologically active

Great Rift Valley susceptible to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions; frequent droughts

droughts, cyclones; much of the country routinely inundated by floods during the summer monsoon season

Traditional fuel consumption (as a % of total energy use) 1997

95.9 46.0

Worst Natural Disaster (date)

number affected

Drought (2002)

14.3 million

Floods (1987, 1988)

73 million

HIV/AIDS prevalence Total Urban Rural

6.6% 13.7% 3.7%

<0.1%

6.4.6 Population Growth Population 0-14 years 44.8% 34.1%

Population growth rate (1975-2001) 2.7% 2.4%

Population growth rate (2000-2015) 2.4% 1.8%

Urban population growth rate (1990 to 2002)

4.52 5

6.4.7 Economic Structure GDP by main activity Agriculture

Industry Other Service

43.2% 10.95% 45.88%

35% 19% 46%

GDP growth (1990-2001) 2.4% 3.1%

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Indicator Ethiopia Bangladesh Agricultural GDP as a % of total GDP 52.3 24.6

Agricultural GDP growth (1990-2000) 2.1 2.9

Principal commodity exports Coffee

Hides and skins

Chat

Garments

Jute and jute goods

Leather

Industries Food Processing Beverages Textiles Chemicals Metals processing Cement

Cotton textiles Jute Garments Tea processing Paper newsprint Cement

Net inflow of foreign direct investment (2001)

$19.6 million $77.5 million

6.4.8 Infrastructure Railways 681 km 2,706 km

Roads 21km of road per 1,000 sq. km

0.43km per 1,000 people

1440km of road per 1000 sq. km

1.53km per 1,000 people

Ports and harbors Landlocked Chittagong, Dhaka, Mongla Port, Narayanganj

International Airport traffic Bole International handles about 1.3 million per year

Zia International handles about 500,000 per year

International passengers per year carried by national airline

1,054,687 passengers (Ethiopian 2002)

128,568 passengers (Biman 1999-2000)

6.4.9 Measures of Poverty Real GDP per capita US$100 US$350

Purchasing Power Parity US$810 US$1,610

Poverty (Head Count Ratio) 44% 34.6%

Population living below $1 a day (1990-2001)

81.9% 36%

Population living below $2 a day (1990-2001)

98.4% 82.8%

% of total population malnourished 49 24

Population living below national poverty line

44.2 33.7

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Indicator Ethiopia Bangladesh

6.4.10 Gender Seats in parliament held by women 7.8% 2%

Female economic activity rate (% aged 15 years and above) 2001

57.3 66.4

Contraceptive use, married women (%), 1991-2002

8 54

Girls-to-boys ratio in school 70% 101%

Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births)

871 380

6.4.11 Social Welfare Human Development Index (2001) 0.359 (169/175) 0.470 (132/175)

Life Expectancy 45.7 years 62.1 years

Primary gross enrollment ratio 61.6% 100%

Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000) 187.8 77.0

Access to clean water Total Urban Rural

28.4% 75.7% 19.9%

97% 99% 97%

Country ranking on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (133=most corrupt)

92 133

Public expenditure on education (as % of GDP) 1998-2000

4.8 2.5

Pupil-teacher ratio, Primary, 2000/01 55 57

Public expenditure on health (as % of GDP) 2000

1.8 1.4

6.4.12 Development Assistance Official Development Assistance (ODA) per year (1997-2003 average)

US$996 million US$1.575 billion

ODA per capita (US$ 1997-2003 average)

$12.80 $7.70

Total external debt (stock US$ billion) 6.1 16.5

Cereal food aid in MT, all donors, 2002 1,218,480 352,723

Top three donors World Bank/United States/European Commission

Japan/World Bank/Asian Development Bank

Sources: UNDP Human Development Report 2002 and 2003; Ethiopia Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED); Ethiopia Central Statistics Authority

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(CSA); Ethiopia Ministry of Health (MoH); Ethiopia Ministry of Education (MoE); Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics; World Bank; Bangladesh Bureau of Trade; Banglapedia; Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED); Bangladesh Bureau of Trade; World Bank; United Nations; Transparency International; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; World Food Programme; Food and Agriculture Organization; United Nations Human Settlements Programme

6.5 Answers to Specific Questions

6.5.1 Early Warning How does the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) early warning system work (rapid and slow onset)? Bangladesh is affected by different kinds of emergencies than Ethiopia. Major hazards include seasonal flooding, cyclonic storms (and tidal surges) and tornados. The country is seismically active, so an earthquake threat exists. These hazards are basically rapid onset, as compared to drought and famine. Thus the early warning concept is different than in Ethiopia. In Bangladesh the main emphasis is on effective dissemination of information about potential hazards. Note that effective communication is greatly facilitated by an extensive road network and several national cellular telephone systems.

Considerable attention is paid to event prediction in order to extend the preparedness time for various emergencies. For example, a priority for the government is to extend the advance warning for flooding from a few days to a few weeks. This kind of early warning would enable farmers to take appropriate action to protect their assets. Similarly for cyclones, investments have been made in remote sensing technology to monitor weather.

What crop assessment methodology is used? Who implements it? The Department of Agriculture Extension, under the Ministry of Agriculture, has a large network of 12,500 “block supervisors” (similar to Ethiopia’s Development Agents). Each “union” (similar to a kebele) would be divided into several blocks, each with one supervisor. These employees are responsible for collecting cropping information and feeding this upwards in the system to the “upazila” (similar to woreda) agriculture office and the national Ministry.

Bangladesh is extremely homogeneous in terms of topography. Given widespread use of irrigation and improved agricultural packages, production is fairly stable. For localized emergencies, such as a tornado or flood which damages crops, Block Supervisors are responsible for making damage estimates.

How is early warning structured organizationally from the front-line to decision-makers? Needs assessments and nutritional surveillance are carried out by different actors, primarily donors and NGOs. For example, both the Government of Bangladesh and donors recognize the value of Helen Keller International’s national nutritional surveillance program and use it as the standard reference point. These assessments are done independently specifically in order to ensure that objectivity is maintained.

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Various Local Coordination Groups exist amongst donors, including one for disaster response, and it is through this mechanism that humanitarian needs assessments are undertaken.

Line agencies (e.g. Meteorological Department, Ministries of Health, Water, Agriculture, etc.) are individually responsible for collecting information related to their specialty. This information is coordinated by the Ministry of Food, Disaster Management and Relief (MFDMR) through the Inter-Ministerial Disaster Management Coordination Committee chaired by the Minister for MFDMR. Different kinds of emergencies have different lead agencies. The National Disaster Management Advisory Committee would have a specialist nominated by the Prime Minister.

At a field level, Disaster Management Committees are organized at the Union, Upazila and District level to coordinate response.

Is the early warning system supported by baseline data? A national livelihoods baseline study does not exist in Bangladesh. Various agencies have developed project-specific surveys, and in some cases this data is extrapolated. Helen Keller International has developed a long-term longitudinal study accurate to the divisional level looking at a wide range of indicators concerning the impact of disasters on livelihoods.

National disaster hazard maps also exist. These have been extended to the local level through emergency preparedness programs to “map” local hazards and resources.

National Disaster Management Council

(chaired by PM)

Inter-Ministerial Disaster Management Coordination

Committee (chaired by MFDMR)

National Disaster Management Advisory Committee

(chaired by Specialist)

NGO Coordination Committee on Disaster Management

(chaired by DG Disaster Mgmt Bureau)

District Disaster Management Committee

(chaired by Deputy Commissioner)

Upazila Disaster Management Committee

(chaired by Upazila Nirbani Officer)

Union Disaster Management Committee

(chaired by Union Chairman)

Community level disaster volunteers

1440

460

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National Disaster Management Council

(chaired by PM)

Inter-Ministerial Disaster Management Coordination

Committee (chaired by MFDMR)

National Disaster Management Advisory Committee

(chaired by Specialist)

NGO Coordination Committee on Disaster Management

(chaired by DG Disaster Mgmt Bureau)

District Disaster Management Committee

(chaired by Deputy Commissioner)

Upazila Disaster Management Committee

(chaired by Upazila Nirbani Officer)

Union Disaster Management Committee

(chaired by Union Chairman)

Community level disaster volunteers

1440

460

64

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6.5.2 Resource Mobilization How does the GoB mobilize resources for emergencies? All resource mobilization is carried out through the Ministry of Finance (External Resources Division, ERD). Budgets for disaster response are allocated by the central government. Shortfalls, when they occur, are appealed for via the ERD. Response capabilities of various donor actors are known and documented.

Disasters are “planned” and “budgeted for”, which sets definite limits on the scale of response. Given that the nature of emergencies is well known, the government’s response is in terms of short-term relief rather than long-term rehabilitation. Communities have “standing orders” to respond to emergencies, and limited resources are available at the local level for emergency response that can be utilized with local authority.

In terms of food assistance, are commitments made in a multi-annual manner? Two types of food assistance need to be distinguished: relief and development. Relief food commitments are very short-term. The prevailing ideology in Bangladesh is to distribute emergency relief in a widespread manner immediately following a shock, but to quickly get beneficiaries back into “mainstream” development programs, such as savings and credit, where disaster rehabilitation occurs.

Safety net programs are much longer-term and are resourced in a multi-annual manner. The duration of these safety net programs varies from two to four years.

How are these resources integrated into the budgeting process? At an aggregate level, Bangladesh is food self-sufficient in terms of production. However, it does not produce sufficient amounts of some food grain (such as wheat) resulting in structurally large imports. These imports are made both commercially by the private sector, as well as through food aid.

For several GoB development programs (including the Integrated Food Security Program or the Rural Maintenance Programme), food aid is monetized by the government directly. The food is channeled into the government’s Public Food Distribution System (PFDS) and the cash resources are given to the specific development initiative. Food in the PFDS is distributed through various “channels”, including relief channels and a small food for work program. Having a public food stock also allows the government to set maximum and minimum prices for food grain to reduce the public’s vulnerability to price instability.

How are resources spent (programs, projects, budget support, resource transfers to lower levels such as block grants)? Bangladesh distinguishes programs and projects in terms of timeframes. Several long-term “programs” exist year-after-year, such as food-for-work, vulnerable group development, food-for-education and food-for-family-planning. Projects are shorter term and are typically donor initiatives.

An “Annual Development Budget” (ADB) in the form of a block grant is available to upazilas (woredas). The ADB funds locally defined projects, usually infrastructural in nature, and amounts to several hundred thousand dollars per upazila per year.

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6.5.3 Implementation Who does what? How do different actors function? The Government of Bangladesh is a very significant implementer of programs. The Ministry of Local Development, for example, has a large number of staff undertaking infrastructure development. Similarly the Ministry of Agriculture has the Block Supervisor extension system.

A notable difference in Bangladesh is the widespread role of NGOs, both local and international. Bangladesh has several large NGOs including the world’s largest local NGO, BRAC. The role of NGOs is coordinated by government, especially at the local level. An “NGO Affairs Bureau” exists under the Prime Minister’s Office where the work of NGOs is coordinated at a central level.

Most large-scale government programs are targeted at the moderately well-off, as defined by landholdings.

What is the comparative role of various actors? Actor Role

Government Providing directives, frameworks and guidelines. Planning. Resource mobilization and taxation. Monitoring and evaluation of government-implemented activities. Implementation of technical activities (e.g. agriculture Block Supervisors, health workers, family planning etc.). Local government unconditional safety net programs (pensions for the aged). National statistics.

NGOs Implementation of savings, credit and IGA programs, safety nets, nutritional surveillance. Capacity building of GoB.

100% population(140 million)

2100 kcal/person/day

1800 kcal/person/day

18-20%

25-30%

poverty line

moderately poor

“ultra” or “hardcore”poor

Government of Bangladesh activities

NGO activities targeted at richer beneficiaries (including savings and credit)

NGO “mainstream”activities of micro-credit for income generating activities

Government programs (FFW)

NGO safety nets (IGVGD, CFPR-TUP, RMP, IFSP, FFA etc.)

50-55%

100% population(140 million)

2100 kcal/person/day

1800 kcal/person/day

18-20%

25-30%

poverty line

moderately poor

“ultra” or “hardcore”poor

Government of Bangladesh activities

NGO activities targeted at richer beneficiaries (including savings and credit)

NGO “mainstream”activities of micro-credit for income generating activities

Government programs (FFW)

NGO safety nets (IGVGD, CFPR-TUP, RMP, IFSP, FFA etc.)

50-55%

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Actor Role

Donors Providing resources, coordination (through local coordination groups) and monitoring and evaluation of donor-funded activities.

UN WFP implements safety net programs in partnership with the government and local NGOs.

Private Sector Transportation. Savings and credit programs (e.g. the Grameen Bank which has charter status). Communications (e.g. three competing mobile phone companies)

Community Resources, beneficiary targeting, implementation.

What kinds of coordination mechanisms exist? At a local level communities identify priorities and these are fed upwards to the sub-district (upazila) level where resources are mobilized. All Union Chairmen sit on the Upazila Parishad (council) where this coordination occurs.

Donors and NGOs have a mechanism called the Local Coordination Group (www.lcgbangladesh.org) which coordinates their activities.

Multi-ministry coordination occurs in terms of disaster response through the disaster management coordination committee.

Particular initiatives are undertaken in a collaborative manner. For example the risk and resource vulnerability map developed by the government, donors and NGOs as a joint activity.

A clear weakness had to do with donor coordination in terms of emergency response. Although a donor LCG exists in this area, it is slow and apparently ineffectual.

How are communities organized? There are various kinds of “Village Organizations” depending on the activity. Communities also elect Union Members to represent their interests who form a “Union Parishad” or council. The Union Chairman represents their interests at the sub-district level.

What level of participation do they have in decision-making processes? This local body has significant responsibility, especially in terms of beneficiary selection and the selection of local infrastructure priorities.

An important aspect of the Integrated Food Security Program has to do with building the capacity of local stakeholders to contribute to decision-making processes. This involves raising awareness about roles and responsibilities of local bodies and broadening input into these decisions to include women and the poor.

How committed are NGOs to work with the government plan and what are their best experiences to be shared? How do local NGOs integrate with development activities performed by governments and communities? How are NGOs held accountable? NGOs are supportive of government planning processes. Their activities are tracked at the local level by the upazila and union. If the NGOs undertake a government sponsored project (which happens) they are subject to full Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division scrutiny.

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NGO phases were described as:

1970s: “total ignorance” of government concerning the role of NGOs

1980-87: “suspicion phase” where the government questioned their motives

1987-now: “trust”

NGOs have been work in the same communities, and, over time, a trust relationship is established. Something different in Bangladesh is that often more than one NGO works in the same community offering a choice of services. For example, several organizations may offer savings and credit opportunities with varying terms and conditions. One organization may have a higher service charge (and better technical assistance) while another has lower interest rates but correspondingly lower levels of technical inputs to their clients.

Accountability of NGO actions is very transparent. Beneficiaries and clients have savings passbooks which individuals hold. These track savings, loans and repayments, and eligibility. Public signboards indicate the value of projects, the implementer, timeframe when the project will be completed and donor.

6.5.4 Targeting How do different actors target recipients? Targeting depends on the objectives of particular programs. However, it always depends on poverty-line cut-offs (2100 kcal and 1800 kcal). Proxies are used to define these cut-off points, such as:

Gender (most programs are exclusively targeted towards women) Female heads of households Land (marginal or landless families)

At what level is targeting done (individual, household, community, geographic area)? Targeting is done in several ways depending on the program:

• National level geographic/administrative planning. The total resources available are divided among upazilas according to a resource allocation index that uses an upazila’s size, population and “backwardness” based on access and other factors.

• Individual beneficiary targeting. Local government is given the responsibility to target beneficiaries using agreed criteria, usually set at the national level. For example a national elderly pension scheme has been recently introduced that gives each union the opportunity to target deserving beneficiaries.

• Eligibility for continuing participation. With Food for Education attendance and performance are used as targeting criteria. Children who fail to attend or do not pass exams are dropped.

• Self-targeting. Food-for-Work or Test Relief targets all those who are willing to work at the wage level set, which is often below the prevailing wage rate.

What access do individuals have to various GoB services? Equitable access to services exists, however services are limited in availability. Vulnerable communities interviewed on the chars (sandbars in the middle of rivers) indicated that government Block Supervisors visited their communities only rarely. When these visits occurred, they tended not to deliver services but only monitor the

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agriculture production situation. The ratio of government staff to population is very low.

6.5.5 Food Security Definitions How does the GoB characterize poverty and food insecurity? Is a clear demarcation made between “chronic” and “acute” food insecurity (or predictably versus unpredictably food insecure)? The GoB uses the “availability, access and utilization” framework for food security.

The distinction between “chronic” and “acute” food insecurity is not as prominent. In its place, a caloric intake of less than 1800 kcal per day per person is used as a theoretic cutoff defining the “ultra” or “hardcore” poor. This group is similar to the chronically food insecure in Ethiopia. It is estimated that some twenty million Bangladeshis are ultra poor according to this definition.

Following an emergency, everyone is (briefly) eligible to receive relief assistance.

What types of identification mechanisms are used? Each community defines who the most vulnerable are based on their assets, social status and other socio-economic criteria. BRAC has ten indicators to define the chronically food insecure eligible for their “Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction” program.

Once selected, beneficiaries are given identification cards. Besides recording their names and signature, these cards have the beneficiary’s picture on them to ensure transparency and reduce resource misuse.

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What does a Bangladesh food security program look like? What packages are included? How would packages differ for individuals or communities affected by food insecurity in different ways? Cash, food or assets are used to transfer resources to beneficiaries. Assets can be a physical (chickens, cows or goats) or training.

Food-for-work programs have been a major feature of food security programs in Bangladesh for many years. These have evolved from:

• Food-for-relief (1970s, when resources were transferred on the basis of poverty)

• Food-for-work (1980s, when the quality of the infrastructure built took on additional prominence)

• Food-for-development (1990s, when the quality of assets became important as well as planning and environmental criteria)

Food security programs have shifted significantly beyond asset creation only. The quality of processes used to “graduate” beneficiaries is now considered very important. For example, participants in the Vulnerable Group Development program receive, in addition to food aid, training to enable them to gain new income generating skills.

A common feature of savings and credit programs are “forced savings” components that give beneficiaries a lump sum at the end of their participation that allows them to invest in an income generating program of their own choosing. Poverty Group Program Definition of Target Group Terms and Conditions Package Details Extreme Poor

Income Generating, Vulnerable Group Development

Female heads of households owning no more than 0.15 acres of land; women who are divorced, separated or who have a disabled husband; aged between 18 and 49 years.

Village Organization member of NGO; Must be a savings member with savings to be eligible for a loan

Starting loan is about taka 1000 (USD 20) Service charge is flat 15% Repayment is through 46 weekly installments over a

period of one year

Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction: Targeting the Ultra Poor

Dependent on female domestic work and begging; owning less than 0.1 acre of land; no economically active male member in the household

There should be at least one adult, active woman member in the household capable of getting involved in an income generating activity

Asset transfer (e.g. poultry, goats, sewing machine) coupled with subsistence allowance

Employment and enterprise development training Social development support Essential health care support After two years of subsistence allowance, members can

join regular poverty alleviation program Food-for-Work Landless men or women who sell

their manual labor; Self-selected Willing to manually work (usually moving earth) at a food wage less than the

Community assets are constructed as defined by the local government.

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Poverty Group Program Definition of Target Group Terms and Conditions Package Details

prevailing rate Food-for-Assets Live within a highly food insecure

targeted area; community selection

Willing to manually work and attend training in return for food

Individual and community assets are constructed (as identified by the individuals). Nutritional supplementation. NGO facilitation – graduates move into mainstream program. Training on life skills and income earning opportunities.

Rural Maintenance Program

Female head of household, able to do manual work

Work on maintenance of public roads 40 hours per week

Women earn a cash wage; a portion of salary is held in forced savings account; training on life skills; graduation program to assist women define and prepare for income generating activity; small business training

Moderate Poor

Poverty Alleviation Own less than one acre of land (including homestead), live in slums, sell their manual labor to earn their living

Member of a NGO Village Organization; Must attend weekly meetings; must have an active savings account with the VO

Loan package up to taka 15000 (USD 220) Service charge 15% flat Loans repayable over one year

Grameen Bank Poor women; meet eligibility criteria, including having no other access to credit

Must abide by the “sixteen decisions”; Must save and pay back loans according to contract; regularly attend weekly meetings

Credit limit depends on previous borrowing history; technical review of loan purpose; service charge of 10%; compulsory insurance on loan for a nominal amount; Monthly installments

Vulnerable non-poor

Economic Development Program

More than one acre of land and are involved in farm and non-farm activities

Save regularly; regularly attend weekly meetings

Loans up to taka 30,000 (USD 520) Service charge 15% flat Flexible loan repayment periods Equal monthly installments

PROGOTI Micro-entrepreneurs Must have good entrepreneurial skills; must open a bank account

Loans up to taka 300,000 (USD 5000) Service charge 15% flat Flexible loan repayment in equal monthly installments

Agricultural development program

Farmers with land Direction under DAE Block Supervisors; pay for inputs

Improved high-yielding varieties of seed; irrigation; fertilizer

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For the food insecure, is the GoB’s focus on asset protection? Or asset promotion? The GoB’s focus is primarily on asset promotion (through food-for-work), although a range of other programs focuses on both.

Following disasters insurance programs protect individuals from negative coping strategies such as selling off assets. The Grameen Bank and other micro-credit programs encourage borrowers to reschedule loans or to take new ones to restore damaged or destroyed assets. The flood proofing project under the integrated food security program has a strategy to encourage vulnerable communities to protect their assets from flooding.

Many programs encourage savings (either voluntary or forced) and vocational training in order to improve skills.

How do beneficiaries graduate away from development support? Safety net programs reviewed all have time limits on participation (RMP three years, VGD eighteen months, roadside trees two years). After this period, participants have received some type of asset, skills training and savings.

Children participating in food-for-education can participate through secondary school.

The VGD program strategy is to explicitly graduate participants in their programs by mainstreaming them (through “graduation”) into regular NGO development programmes to ensure the sustainability of development results and to provide women with opportunities to further improve their livelihoods after termination of the food assistance.

How is dependency avoided? With the exception of short-term humanitarian assistance following a disaster, there is no free resource hand-outs in Bangladesh.

Participants are given only a single opportunity to be involved in a skills-transfer program such as VGD.

6.5.6 Monitoring and Evaluation. What M&E mechanisms does the GoB use? The GoB has a Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Department (IMED) under the Ministry of Planning. IMED’s role is to monitor government programs.

NGOs have their own internal M&E systems. Where they receive external donor support, this condition is a requirement. Note, however, that several of the large local NGOs receive relatively little donor support with their resources generated from their own earnings and activities instead.

Do the donors, GoB or NGOs have a coordinated M&E approach? The GoB, through IMED, does have a coordinated approach.

Where donors work with a particular program in consortia, a coordinated M&E approach is used (e.g. RMP, which has CIDA and EU support, or BRAC, which receives funds from a variety of external sources).

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How are different levels and actors held accountable for performance? How would the government assess whether the resources being spent in a community are being misused or not? IMD is responsible for monitoring performance, and anomalies are reported.

Do programs have pre- and post- household socio-economic baseline surveys or benchmarks? For GoB programs, IMED admitted that this was a weak area.

NGO programs investigated did have impact monitoring approaches in place.

How does the government assess whether resources are well spent? Program activity evaluations are part of IMED’s responsibilities for government-assisted activities.

What are the tools, mechanisms and principles as well as indicators for successful implementation? One criteria of a successful safety net program is what percentage of participants sustain ably “graduate” into mainstream activities. This is often defined as earning a threshold amount, or maintaining a given asset level, a certain time following the end of the program.

6.5.7 Safety Nets What is the Government of Bangladesh’s philosophy towards safety nets (conditional versus unconditional transfers)? Safety net programs focus only on people below the poverty line.

Transfers are of two types:

Conditional • Physical qualification – work (earth moving, road maintenance, enclosure guards, etc.)

• Software – vocational training, life skills, school feeding, family planning

Unconditional Old age pension for individuals selected by the community. The benefit continues until death.

Do safety net resources support public works or private initiatives? In what proportion? and under what conditions? Both public and private initiatives are supported:

• VGD supports skills training of individuals (private) and income generating activities for individuals (private).

• RMP supports the maintenance of local roads (public) as well as skills training, savings and IGAs for individuals (private).

• The variety of micro-credit initiatives support individual capital formation (private) through no collateral group-secured loans (public).

• The flood proofing project supported earth-raising of schools and flood shelters (public) as well as individual houses (private).

• Many afforestation projects supported the plantation of trees where ownership and long-term benefits were jointly held by the community (public) the adjacent landlord (private) and the caretaker (private).