Institute of Development Studies

Unlocking Bangladesh’s Latent Capacity

16 March 2010

A new report from the UK Parliament's International Development Committee suggests that it will take concerted efforts to tackle corruption and climate change in Bangladesh. The report draws heavily on IDS research, in particular from Tom Tanner, a Research Fellow in the Climate Change and Development Centre.

Bangladesh has made significant progress in poverty reduction, reducing poverty levels from 57 per cent in the early 1990s to 40 per cent in 2005. This has been accompanied by sustained and stable economic growth rates, averaging 5 per cent per annum since 1990 - largely due to the success of the export garment industry. However, the report outlines both the urgent need and latent potential to make further progress in a country where poverty remains overwhelming. Sixtyfour million people in Bangladesh still live on less than the equivalent of $1 per day and 15 million people on only 20 pence a day.

Better support for governance

The Committee, comprised of UK members of Parliament, took evidence from three IDS Research Fellows: Naomi Hossain, Martin Greeley and Tom Tanner in the course off its enquiry. The Committee made firm recommendations to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to support programmes that address governance problems, climate change and other obstacles to growth. It also called on DFID to increase the visibility of its activities in both Bangladesh and the UK, and strengthen links with the Bangladeshi population in the UK.

The report notes the importance of long-term programmes to improve accountability, and strengthen parliament and the civil service. It argues that state power is commonly used for personal and partisan ends, proving unresponsive to the needs of poor and marginalised communities, and stifling mechanisms for accountability.‘Until and unless governance improves, the benefits of any further economic growth may bypass those who need it most - the poorest, women and other marginalised groups.' (paragraph 141)

In giving evidence, Naomi Hossain noted the importance of DFID support to civil society in raising the profile of governance issues within the public debate in Bangladesh, including corruption and public accountability.

Better support for building climate resilience 

Drawing directly on research by IDS Research Fellow Tom Tanner, the Committee's report called for greater attention to tackling the impact of disasters and climate change on aid programmes. The report echoes the findings of the work applying the IDS-led ORCHID (opportunities and risks of climate change and disasters) methodology to assess a number of its programmes for climate risk. The ORCHID recommendations included that DFID:

• continue to support climate change from a risk management approach in terms of adapting to existing climate vulnerabilities;
• support the Government of Bangladesh's programme for adaptation;
• target those geographical areas most prone to disaster such as the coastal zones;
• incorporate climate indicators within its programmes to monitor climate impacts on poverty;
• continue to support adaptation as a process by supporting dialogue on disaster management and by linking scientific climate information with existing risk management practices;
• increase its emphasis on urban poverty reduction given likely impetus from climatic factors for enhanced rural-urban migration.

The committee also repeated the research's recommendation that DFID develop a multi-donor approach to stimulate dialogue on mass migration and trans-boundary water management:‘We endorse the ORCHID conclusion and recommend that DFID Bangladesh initiate this discussion in the next 12 months and report its progress to us.' (paragraph 122)

Additional funding required

In addition, the committee called on donors to provide adequate additional earmarked funding for climate change, not taken from already committed aid budgets. While recognising that development projects can deliver outcomes that increase resilience and constitute effective adaptation to climate change, '...this does not mean that development programmes in health or education should be cut to pay for necessary climate change adaptation. Equally, any new climate change programmes in Bangladesh must have a development benefit.' (paragraph 115)

Related Publications

• Tanner, T.M., Hassan, A., Islam, K.M.N., Conway, D., Mechler, R., Ahmed, A.U., and Alam, M. (2007) 'ORCHID: Piloting Climate Risk Screening in DFID Bangladesh', IDS Research Report , Brighton: IDS
• Tanner, T. (2009) 'Screening Climate Risks to Development Cooperation', In Focus 2.5, Brighton: IDS

Related Projects

• Adaptation screening tools for development cooperation: Piloting ORCHID and other approaches - IDS is involved in a range initiatives to develop, test, discuss and disseminate tools for screening and assessment of climate and disaster risk. (2006 - 2009)