Better coordination – a key to maximise the impact of urban poverty

DHAKA, August 21, 2019: Members of the Project Steering Committee of Livelihoods Improvement of Urban Poor Communities Project (LIUPCP) have underscored the need for better coordination among all the development projects being implemented in different city corporations and paurashavas across the country for effective implementation of the projects and check misuse of funds.

Suggestions were made for a better coordination mechanism amongst the urban development projects both at Dhaka and city level involving the Project Directors, the Mayors and representative of development partners. A proposal also came to form a working group steered by the Head of Urban Wing at the LGD to provide oversight and coordination to avoid duplication and attain synergies in the development activities.

This was the first meeting of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) of LIUPCP that was held at the Conference Room of Local Government Division (LGD) under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development & Cooperatives (MoLGRD&C).

Helal Uddin Ahmed, Secretary, LGD of the MoLGRD&C and chair of the PSC presided over the meeting while Sudipto Mukherjee, Resident Representative of UNDP Bangladesh, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Van, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Bangladesh, John Warburton, Team Leader, Extreme Poverty, Resilience and Climate Change, DFID Bangladesh, and Abdul Mannan, National Project Director, LIUPCP, Nasir Uddin Ahamed, Mayor Chandpur Paurashava, Alhaj Md Abdul Gani, Mayor, Savar Paurashava, were present, among others.

Ashekur Rahman, Head of Poverty and Urbanization, UNDP Bangladesh, made a presentation on the project interventions. The presentation outlined progress on the preparatory and planned activities between July 2018 and June 2019 period.

The LGD Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed appreciated and thanked the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) for supporting urban poverty initiatives in Bangladesh and reaffirmed his support for the implementation of the project activities.

For the development of the standard of living of the city’s poverty-stricken populace of 4 million, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), with support from DFID has launched the LIUPC project along with the Bangladesh Government’s Local Government Division (LGD).

Initiated in 2018, LIUPC Project works in five major areas and the major activities in each area include: Climate resilient housing for low-income urban poor; Strengthen community organizations in informal settlements; Skills and employment generation for women and girls; Improve resilient infrastructure, and Strengthen pro-poor urban management, policy and planning.

The project is designed to reach initially the unserved and underserved urban population in Bangladesh. It aims to promote livelihoods and living conditions of four million poor people living in urban areas in up to 36 City Corporations and Paurashavas (12 City Corporations and 24 Class A Paurashavas) in phases. In project interventions, women and peoples with disabilities will get priority.