Delegating Authority in Bangladesh to Manage the Covid-19 Pandemic

July 11, 2023 CPAN

Bangladesh, like most countries, grappled with the harsh conditions of Covid-19, with little infrastructure and set up of institutions to deal with the consequences of the pandemic.

A country with a large informal economy, and an even larger export manufacturing sector it is highly dependent on, the Bangladesh government had tough decisions to make when it came to saving and protecting the lives of millions, as well as ensuring continued economic activity to save livelihoods.

To strike a balance between protecting both these important factors, the central government adopted a unique approach of mobilising and enabling the local government to implement a lot of measures. Their approach was area centric, in that the local government recognised the needs of their districts, and that looked different for different areas of the country, whether rural or urban, agricultural or industrial focused.

This policy brief outlines some of the local measures and responses that worked in minimising the impact of Covid-19 on the dense Bangladeshi population.

Download the policy brief

Health, Resilience and Sustainable Poverty Escapes - A Synthesis

March 7, 2019 CPAN

The brief presents findings around health shocks and health as a resilience capacity from a series of 11 country studies on drivers of poverty dynamics in both Africa and Asia.

(In)tangible assets: The road to economically empowering poor women in Bangladesh and Nigeria

September 28, 2017 CPAN

This report assesses drivers of the economic empowerment of chronically poor women and girls in rural Bangladesh and rural Nigeria. The focus is on drivers related to assets, both intangibly in terms of education, and tangibly in terms of ownership of consumption and productive assets including land.

Ensuring Escapes from Poverty are Sustained in rural Bangladesh

June 4, 2017 Lucy Scott

Bangladesh has experienced substantial reductions in both extreme poverty and poverty. The proportion of the population living below the national extreme poverty line has reduced from 50 percent in 1991 to 18 percent in 2010. However, some households escape poverty only to live at a level just above the poverty line. They therefore remain vulnerable to slipping into poverty in the event of a shock or stressor, such as an episode of ill-health or a flood. The specific focus of this report is on “transitory poverty escapes”: a term referring to households that successfully escape from poverty only to return to living in it once again i.e. they become re-impoverished.

Authors: Lucy Scott and Vidya Diwakar

National Policy Brief: Rethinking lessons in tackling chronic and extreme poverty in Bangladesh

March 30, 2014 CPAN

This National Policy Brief highlights the improvements that have been made in the poorest people's incomes, levels of education and health in Bangladesh and sets out the policies that need to be focused on in order to sustain and expand this progress.

Authors: Binayak Sen and Zulfiqar Ali

The State of the Poorest in Bangladesh: tales of ascent, descent, marginality and persistence

April 15, 2013 CPAN

Bangladesh has come out of the "shadow of famine", the problem of starvation still persists. Accurate figures are not available for urban areas, but in effect between 25 to 30 million of the country's citizens are chronically poor. Here we review the present status and situation of the poorest, analyse the main factors that keep them in poverty and identify the types of policy that can help them escape deprivation and gain their full rights as citizens of an increasingly prosperous and high-stepping country.