World Bank To Assess Impact Of Bangladesh's RELI Project

A World Bank mission will visit Bangladesh from 9 to 16 August to assess the achievements and development impact of the Resilience, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Improvement (RELI) project and document lessons from its implementation.

According to a letter sent by World Bank Bangladesh and Bhutan Operations Manager Gayle H Martin to Economic Relations Division (ERD) Additional Secretary Mohammad Ahsan Kibria Siddiqui, the mission will conduct a Learning and Results Note review of the project.

The mission will assess the project's achievements, development impact, and financial and economic efficiency in line with World Bank guidelines. It will also document implementation experiences, successes and best practices, while collecting and verifying project data.

Samina Yasmin, the World Bank's task team leader and senior agriculture specialist, will lead the mission. The team will include experts in agriculture, economics, financial management, public procurement, environmental and social development, project evaluation and resilience analysis.

A specialist from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will also join the mission.

During the visit, the delegation will hold meetings with the Financial Institutions Division, implementing agencies and representatives of public and private organisations involved in the project.

Meanwhile, a separate World Bank Governance Global Practice mission will visit Dhaka from 9 to 13 August to review governance, financial management, procurement procedures and accountability in World Bank-funded projects in Bangladesh.

The governance mission will be led by Practice Manager Hisham Ahmed Wali and Senior Operations Officer Aleksandar Kochevski. It will meet officials from the Ministry of Finance, project implementation units and other stakeholders.

ERD officials said the two missions would help strengthen governance, financial discipline and accountability in development projects while providing independent assessments of major socioeconomic programmes.

They added that the missions' recommendations are expected to improve project implementation and enhance the effectiveness of future World Bank-funded programmes.