Bangladesh signs $366,500 grant agreement with UNICEF

The Ministry of Finance’s Economic Relations Division (ERD) and UNICEF, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, also known as the United Nations Children’s Fund, have inked a grant agreement totaling $366,500 (Taka 439.80 Lakh).

The three-year project of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) under the Ministry of Planning will be implemented in part by the agreement named “Enhancing Evaluation Capacity for Development (EEC4D)” that was signed yesterday.

According to a press release issued by ERD today, the project’s ultimate goal is to strengthen government agencies’ evaluation capabilities in order to institutionalize evidence-based, economical, and successful investments for sustainable development.

On behalf of their respective parties, UNICEF Bangladesh’s country representative Rana Flowers and ERD secretary Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky signed the agreement.

The signing event was attended by representatives of the relevant government agencies as well as the UN Wing of ERD.
 
With its extensive history and emphasis on children’s rights, UNICEF has been a longstanding partner of Bangladesh. UNICEF has been funding development and humanitarian response initiatives around the country.

The most recent project helped create an assessment policy, and the next one aims to strengthen government agencies’ evaluation capabilities so they can institutionalize evidence-based, cost-effective, and efficient investments for sustainable development.

In order to increase the national assessment capability, the project is anticipated to provide an evaluation policy implementation framework, draft evaluation act, evaluation rules, evaluation training modules, and guidelines by the end of the next three years.

UNICEF backs the GoB’s strategic strategy and helps achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly the goals of promoting healthy lifestyles (Goal 3), ending poverty (Goal 1), and providing high-quality education (Goal 4).

Countries with robust national assessment systems are more likely to meet the development goals on schedule and within budget since evaluation is essential to creating successful development plans.

Bangladesh is clearing the path for more effective resource allocation, significant interventions, and achieving sustainable socioeconomic growth by investing in evaluation capacity.