Background Papers

The preparation of Eighth Five Year Plan (8FYP) was commissioned in 2019. Initially, a ‘National Steering Committee’ was formed under the chairmanship of the Hon’ble Minister of Planning to oversight the preparation of the plan. A Panel of Economists’, under the chairmanship of Dr. Wahiduddin Mahmud, was also formed comprising luminous Bangladeshi economists, sociologists, educationalists and experts on relevant filds, who gave continuous support in shaping the 8FYP. In this important initiative, General Economics Division (GED) ensured partnership of all the ministries/divisions/agencies, policy makers, academia, civil society organizations, NGOs, development partners, thinktanks and thought leaders in formulating this plan. A total of twenty (20) background studies were conducted with the help of the eminent experts in their respective filds. As GED is going to publish the background studies in 05 volumes, it would like to exert its gratitude to all the stakeholders involved.

The preparation of Eighth Five Year Plan (8FYP) was commissioned in 2019. Initially, a ‘National Steering Committee' was formed under the chairmanship of the Hon’ble Minister of Planning to oversight the preparation of the plan. A Panel of Economists’, under the chairmanship of Dr. Wahiduddin Mahmud, was also formed comprising luminous Bangladeshi economists, sociologists, educationalists and experts on relevant filds, who gave continuous support in shaping the 8FYP. In this important initiative, General Economics Division (GED) ensured partnership of all the inistries/divisions/agencies, policymakers, academia, civil society organizations, NGOs, development partners, thinktanks and thought leaders in formulating this plan. A total of twenty (20) background studies were conducted with the help of the eminent experts in their respective filds. As GED is going to publish the background studies in 05 volumes, it would like to exert its gratitude to all the stakeholders involved.

Bangladesh has achieved impressive success in many developmental indicators in the recent past. The country has already achieved the status of a lower middle-income country and set an ambitious goal of reaching the upper middle-income status by 2030. Endowed with young demography, children aged 0-17 constitute 36 percent of the total population in Bangladesh. According to BBS (2015), the share of children (0-14) accounts for about 30 percent of the total population in 2018. This large number of children will join the workforce in the coming decades and play a vital role in the country’s achievement of its national goals, such as Vision 2041. Therefore, ensuring children’s well-being and upholding their rights must be considered national priorities in Bangladesh. The country’s commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and various national development strategies such as the five-year plans also require that attention is given to preserving child rights and ensuring their security and protection from all forms of violence, disease, and abuse.

The present paper examines this positive poverty reduction experience and points to the need for undertaking further action to ending extreme poverty forever. Accordingly, the paper is structured in nine sections.

The concern with equity has emerged strongly in recent global debates on economic progress. This has happened partly in recognition of the fact that in spite of great strides made by the world in recent times in promoting growth of incomes and ensuring higher standards of living across the globe (the setback caused by the recent financial crisis notwithstanding), inequality between and within nations has not diminished.

This paper was prepared with significant contributions from Dr. AM Zakir Hussain, Professor MQK Talukder *, Dr. Tahmeed Ahmed in close consultations with representatives of the Institute of Public Health Nutrition, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit of the Ministry of Food, development partner representatives including the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFTD), the Delegation of the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom Department of International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, and the United Nations Renewed Efforts Against Child Hunger and Undernutrition (UN REACH) agencies FAO, Unicef, WFP and WHO.”

This paper is a highly condensed summary of an earlier more elaborate draft titled “The Impact of Demographic Trends on Socioeconomic Development in Bangladesh: Future Prospects and Implications for Public Policy,” prepared for the UNFPA Bangladesh Country Office and the Genera Economics Division of the Planning Commission of the Government of Bangladesh.

To see Bangladeshi people healthier, happier and economically productive to make the country a middle income country by 2021, despite many challenges to overcome, based on impressive gains achieved in health outcomes in past together with further consolidation of past efforts, new and innovative strategies need to pursue; doing more of the same may not be effective, rather exploration of new ways of doing business is the demand.

South-South cooperation is initiated, organized and managed by developing countries themselves; often, Governments play a lead role, with active participation from public- and private-sector institutions, non-governmental organizations and individuals. It involves different and evolving forms, including sharing of knowledge and experience, training, technology transfer, financial and monetary cooperation and in-kind contributions.

This tracer study is part of 7th Five Year Plan background study series. It focuses on the implementation of Digital Bangladesh vision. The document reviews the progress made in this regard during the 6th Five Year Plan period and recommends specific priorities as well as recommendations to be considered for 7th Five Year Plan.

The purpose of this paper is to (i) make an objective assessment of the nature of performance of the agriculture sector during the 6th Plan period, (ii) identify the factors contributing to the nature of performance, (iii) identify the opportunities and challenges for the future, especially for the 7th Plan period and (iv) propose policies and strategies to address the challenges and opportunities.

The present paper reviews progress on gender equality under the SFYP, recommends priority issues to be addressed, and suggests strategies for consideration while preparing the 7FYP. Section 2 of the report sets the situation of Bangladesh within the current global and Asia-Pacific regional context. Section 3 reviews the progress of the SFYP in line with the strategy for gender equality and women’s empowerment and Section 4 provides an analysis of the challenges and limitation of achieving the targets of the SFYP.

Most of the papers concentrating on the regional disparity of Bangladesh have analyzed the hypothesis of inequality from the perspective of greater districts. Either they took East and West as two broad districts or the comparison has been made among the seven divisions of Bangladesh. This approach actually misses the relative micro picture of the economy which is essential to address the lagging districts more precisely. It has been seen in recent data that some districts in the west have done better than to that of some districts in the east. For that reason this paper will analyze the whole issue from the district level development.

The purpose of this paper is to review progress of the detailed dimensions of food security under the 6th Five Year Plan and set the food security goal, objectives, targets and implementation strategy under the new 7th Five Year Plan (FYP). Attempt is also made to make an outline of the new National Food Policy, to be aligned with the 7th FYP, in line with the terms of reference for preparing the paper.

The 7th Five Year Plan offers a unique opportunity to build a fresh approach to the decentralization and local governance agenda for Bangladesh. At one level, there will have to be a large and obvious element of continuity of priorities from earlier planning documents. At another level, however, there is an opportunity for re-thinking that lies in factoring in the new realities and challenges and thereby engage all relevant stakeholders in a compelling process of re-thinking on why and how decentralization and local governance is critical to ensuring Bangladesh’s ambitions of inclusive prosperity

The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance to the 7th Five Year Plan (FYP) on governance, including justice. Governance has become as a major public priority in Bangladesh. Strengthening the institutional framework for sustainable development at all levels has emerged as one of the crucial areas to be addressed in the 7th FYP.

The objective of the study is to explore environmental sustainability activities, review past policies, strategies & plans, asses Bangladesh’s stance with regard to MEAs, review the priorities outlined in the 6FYP, analyze progress towards the targeted benchmarks, review achievement/ failures of national sustainable development strategies, governance issues etc with a view to ensure inclusive and equitable economic growth and environment, forestry and biodiversity conservation.