Poverty incidence down by 36pc in coastal belt

Poverty incidence has come down by 36 per cent in the cyclone affected areas of the coastal belt of Bangladesh after implementation of a livelihood and life restoration programme jointly by the government and World Bank (WB), said a project update Tuesday.
A recent survey by the WB showed 14 per cent of households in the project intervention area are now below poverty threshold against 50 per cent during a baseline survey in 2010 in the affected area.
 "The impacts of the project on the beneficiaries in the targeted area and the quality of agricultural technology interventions in the context of restoration of their livelihoods and in building resilience are encouraging," said the WB statement.
The WB is supporting the government through the Emergency Cyclone Recovery and Restoration Project (ECRRP) to help restore the lives and livelihoods of people in the coastal belt of Bangladesh affected by the Cyclone Sidr and Cyclone Aila in 2007 and 2009 respectively and build long-term disaster preparedness for the country.
The project has rehabilitated and improved 240 cyclone shelters in coastal areas that are now being used as schools or for other community purposes and are equipped with water supply, sanitation and electricity facilities. The project has also completed construction of another 42 new multi-purpose cyclone shelters, supported building polders and rehabilitation of embankments as a means of increasing security to at-risk livelihoods. So far 260 kms of embankments have been repaired, along with sluices in the polders.
The project started in December 2008 and the WB has so far contributed US$324 million in this project. In addition to WB financing, the project also received contributions from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery ($2.96 million), Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund ($25 million), and KfW (Euro 3.82 million). The total available funds for this project are now $356.9 million.
The project is also supporting the preparation and implementation of the first phase of a 15-year government programme for disaster risk reduction. The total fund available for this project includes recent World Bank approval of $140 million additional finance to support scaling up the construction and rehabilitation of critical infrastructures in the coastal areas.