Bangladesh launches SDG model village pilot in Aug

The General Economics Division (GED) of the Planning Commission is set to roll out the pilot of the SDG model village programme next month to transform three villages into Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) model villages.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is expected to inaugurate the initiative on August 10, the opening day of the three-day National Conference on SDGs Implementation and Review organised by the GED.
The plans were disclosed in two separate letters the GED sent to ministries and government agencies as part of preparations for the inauguration of the model villages and the three-day conference.
The pilot seeks to develop an integrated, evidence-based, and replicable rural development model by aligning local development priorities with the SDGs and the government's election manifesto, reveal the documents.
Officials say the model could eventually be replicated across Bangladesh's more than 90,000 villages.
The inaugural ceremony will be held at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre, while the three villages will be linked through live video conferencing.
The three villages are Pankhali in Dacope upazila of Khulna, Banchanagar in Bochaganj upazila of Dinajpur, and Mitingachhari in Kaptai upazila of Rangamati, according to GED officials.
The documents reveal that the initiative is part of the government's effort to localise the SDGs through the implementation of the Cabinet Division-approved 40 local SDG priority indicators.
The pilot is intended to produce a practical governance model that can be adapted to different geographical and socio-economic settings across the country.
GED Member (Secretary) Dr Monzur Hossain says the three villages have been selected to reflect the country's diverse geographical conditions and development challenges.
"Bangladesh has 90,049 villages. We want to transform the three villages into model villages. Their development constraints have already been identified and mapped against the relevant SDG targets. Implementation will now begin," he says.
Officials say the selected villages face severe riverbank erosion, flash floods, isolation of char communities, high child marriage rate, high incidence of congenital disabilities, and inadequate access to healthcare and education.
Mitingachhari represents the challenges of remote hill communities, including difficult terrain, poor transport connectivity, limited maternal and child healthcare, low literacy, climate-induced landslides, heavy rainfall, and high youth unemployment.
Another village was chosen to address climate-related challenges in the coastal region, where salinity intrusion, prolonged waterlogging, and degradation of agricultural land have undermined livelihoods.
The village also faces climate-induced displacement, gender wage disparities, substance abuse, online gambling, and inadequate social services.
The development challenges of the villages have been mapped against relevant SDGs, including poverty eradication, health, education, gender equality, decent work, industry and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, and climate action.

jahid.rn@gmail.com