[{"bbox": [88, 106, 380, 136], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 1.2. Summary of the action"}, {"bbox": [83, 161, 1147, 322], "category": "Text", "text": "Despite significant progress in human development, a large share of the population in Bangladesh continues to face livelihood, food and nutrition insecurity. The majority of this group is engaged in vulnerable employment with low wages and limited protection against shocks/risks. The COVID-19 pandemic further impacted poverty and vulnerability levels. The SDGs, the 8th Five-Year Plan, the National Social Security Strategy (NSSS), the National Nutrition Policy and the National Plan of Action for Nutrition represent the commitment of the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) to address the interconnected challenges of reducing poverty, undernutrition and vulnerability."}, {"bbox": [83, 333, 1147, 441], "category": "Text", "text": "International experience confirms that social protection plays a key role to improve poverty outcomes and promote socio-economic rights. The NSSS includes significant areas of systematisation and improvement of the social protection framework: rationalisation of programmes based on core life-cycle categories; improved targeting, coverage and delivery; and robust systems of information, monitoring and evaluation."}, {"bbox": [83, 452, 1147, 664], "category": "Text", "text": "The action contributes to increase investment in human development in Bangladesh by supporting key areas of social security reforms with a focus on systemic changes to strengthen the national system at different levels, while also reinforcing impact on maternal and young child nutrition. The action particularly addresses (i) the effectiveness of social assistance on mothers and children under the national Child Benefit Programme; (ii) the direct impact of COVID-19 on the labour force, with the establishment of cash transfer mechanisms for workers in the export sector who lost their jobs and the longer-term objective to establish appropriate and permanent social security for this category of workers. The main partners are the Cabinet Division, the Finance Division of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs."}, {"bbox": [83, 676, 1147, 811], "category": "Text", "text": "With its focus on promoting social protection for all, the action is in line with priority 1 of the EU's Multi-Annual Indicative Programme for Bangladesh 2021-2027 (Human Capital Development) and is also relevant in the context of the Decent Work Agenda. It contributes primarily to the achievement of SDG 1 (no poverty) and also promotes progress towards SDGs 2 (zero hunger), 5 (gender equality), 8 (Decent work for all), 10 (equality) and indirectly 13 (climate change)."}, {"bbox": [83, 822, 1147, 902], "category": "Text", "text": "The action is implemented via a Sector Reform Performance Contract to lever the potential of reforms and position the EU at a higher level of policy engagement and dialogue. To complement the budget support, technical assistance is strengthening the capacities of selected institutions responsible for delivering NSSS reforms."}, {"bbox": [83, 913, 1147, 941], "category": "Text", "text": "This action continues to be implemented in the context of COVID-19 and adapted as necessary to ensure its success."}, {"bbox": [83, 952, 1147, 1059], "category": "Text", "text": "The commitment of the EU's contribution to the Team Europe Initiatives foreseen under this annual action plan will be complemented by other contributions from Team Europe partners. It is subject to the formal confirmation of each respective partners' meaningful contribution as early as possible. In the event that the TEIs and/or these contributions do not materialise the EU action may continue outside a TEI framework."}, {"bbox": [72, 1100, 301, 1132], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2. RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [87, 1163, 220, 1190], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1. Context"}, {"bbox": [83, 1219, 1147, 1326], "category": "Text", "text": "Bangladesh has made significant progress in human development, poverty reduction and sustained economic growth, qualifying it to graduate from Least Developed Country status by 2026. The country however continues to face development challenges notably due to its vulnerability to shocks and stresses. This includes climate induced and other natural hazards, as well as economic and political risks."}, {"bbox": [83, 1336, 1147, 1523], "category": "Text", "text": "The country remains one of the poorest in South Asia: in 2016 poverty stood at 24.3%.¹² This implies that one in four people live in poverty¹³ (est. 40 million). In addition, a significant proportion of the population (est. 30 million) may be considered vulnerable to poverty as their levels of consumption are close to the poverty line. The majority of these groups is engaged in vulnerable employment with low wages and limited protection against personal and covariate shocks, which can push households into poverty or prevent them from investing in their human or productive capital. Poverty is multi-faceted with deprivations in terms of income, food and nutrition, skills and access to basic services. Demographic changes, urbanisation and shocks can jeopardize recent gains or prevent further improvements. Despite"}, {"bbox": [72, 1590, 1158, 1640], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹² Latest official figures, 2016 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Estimates for 2019 stand at 20.5% (poverty) and 10.5% (extreme poverty)."}, {"bbox": [72, 1638, 653, 1664], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹³ *Using the international poverty line of less than 1.90 USD per day.*"}, {"bbox": [1051, 1663, 1158, 1687], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 4 of 27"}]