Staff Correspondent

The government on Wednesday began commissioning a project with an involvement of $120 million to help improve livelihoods and living conditions of three million urban poor, especially women over a period of seven years.

A major objective of the project is to deliver benefits to the poor through ‘pro-poor urban policy.’

The United Nations Development Programme with support from the UK Department for International Development has undertaken the project styled ‘Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction.’

A total of 30 towns, including the Dhaka city, will be covered by the project to be implemented by the Local Government Engineering Department in collaboration with respective municipalities and city corporations.

A memorandum to this effect was signed between the government’s Economic Relations Division and the UNDP on Wednesday. ERD secretary Aminul Islam Bhuiyan and UNDP country director Manoj Basnyat signed the memorandum. ‘The ground work of the project has already been done while the money is also ready.

The implementation of the project started with the signing of the MoU,’ a UNDP official told this correspondent. The Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction project is built on the experiences of the earlier UNDP-funded Local Partnerships for Urban Poverty Reduction Project 2000-2007.

The new project is designed to support local capacity for development and implementation of poverty reduction strategies at town level. Links to financial institutions, such as local banks and micro-finance bodies, to provide access to a wide range of financial services by community groups, including housing improvements and business development support will also be provided through the project.

‘It will ensure that the implementation of pro-poor urban development and poverty reduction strategies at town level influence policy development at the national level,’ said a news release issued on the occasion.

This project also aims to mobilise the urban poor communities and groups to create healthy living environments and support urban poor families to acquire resources, knowledge and skills to increase their incomes and assets.

‘As part of the global commitment made through the Millennium Development Goals, UNDP will continue assisting Bangladesh to fulfil the promise and we are thankful to the UK Government for its support to poverty eradication drive,’ said Manoj Basnyat.

Comments

Add New

Write comment
Name:
Email:	We don't publish your mail. See privacy policy.
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.