Press release number: IFAD 32/05

Dhaka, 26 July - A national round-table workshop met on 24-25 July to discuss the impact of development projects supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Bangladesh during the decade 1994-2004.

Bangladesh has received more loans from IFAD than any other country - 22 since the organization was established in 1978. During 1994-2004, IFAD provided some US$118 million of financing to nine projects in the country worth a total of about US$393 million.

More than 100 people participated in the workshop - senior government decision-makers, representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Bank, the World Food Programme (WFP), and representatives of the bilateral development agencies of Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.

The workshop is a major step in a Country Programme Evaluation carried out by IFAD's Office of Evaluation earlier this year. The overall goal of the evaluation is to learn from past successes and failures in order to improve the future performance of the country programme. The evaluation is high priority because the IFAD Division for Asia and the Pacific is preparing a new Country Opportunities Strategy Paper for Bangladesh for presentation to the IFAD Executive Board in 2006.

Most of the nine projects evaluated focused on a particular area of the country and provided investments for agricultural production, rural infrastructure and microfinance services. Community development and institution building were also important project activities.

Results for six of the nine projects evaluated showed that about 3.7 million people were reached, more than 130 per cent of those targeted when the projects were designed. Significant household-level impacts on income and asset accumulation were also reported for project participants: one study found a 39 per cent increase in household income for landless people and farmers who had access to microfinance services. At least half of all recorded participants in most projects were women.

Workshop participants exchanged views on the key findings and recommendations of the Country Programme Evaluation (CPE), and the best options for putting the recommendations into practice in the new strategy for Bangladesh. The participants also divided into working groups for in-depth discussion on four key issues:

• working relationships between NGOs and government in development projects
• the role of the private sector in reducing rural poverty
• the importance of infrastructure for rural poor people
• the use of microfinance services for agricultural production

The Finance Minister of Bangladesh, Mr. Saifur Rahman who made closing remarks at the workshop said, ''IFAD has an excellent programme in Bangladesh, with a strong emphasise on innovation with a unique focus on caring for the rural poor''. James Carruthers, IFAD's Assistant President of the Programme Management Department, expressed his satisfaction with the CPE finding that IFAD programmes in Bangladesh have been successful in terms of both effectiveness and impact.

The workshop was jointly organized by IFAD and the Government of Bangladesh Ministry of Finance. The Minister of Finance and Planning, Saifur Rahman, opened the workshop and closing remarks were made by the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, Kamal Uddin Siddiqui.

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IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. Seventy-five per cent of the world's poorest people – 800 million women, children and men – live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods. Through low-interest loans and grants, IFAD works with governments to develop and finance programmes and projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves.

There are 192 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.5 billion. IFAD has invested about US$2.8 billion in these initiatives. Cofinancing has been provided by governments, beneficiaries, multilateral and bilateral donors and other partners. At full development, these programmes will help more than 100 million rural poor women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested almost US$8.7 billion in 690 projects and programmes that have helped more than 250 million poor rural men and women achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Governments and other financing sources in the recipient countries, including project beneficiaries, have contributed about US$8.4 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided about US$6.9 billion in cofinancing.