Policy paper

UK–Bangladesh development partnership summary, July 2023

Published 17 July 2023

Introduction

The Strategy for International Development (IDS) places development at the heart of the UK’s foreign policy. It sets out a new approach to development, anchored in patient, long-term partnerships tailored to the needs of the countries we work with, built on mutual accountability and transparency. This approach goes beyond aid and brings the combined power of the UK’s global economic, scientific, security and diplomatic strengths to our development partnerships. Our four priorities are to deliver honest, reliable investment, provide women and girls with the freedom they need to succeed, step up our life-saving humanitarian work, and take forward our work on climate change, nature and global health. The Integrated Review Refresh (IR23) reiterates that sustainable development is central to UK foreign policy and sets out how the UK will go further and faster on development to reduce poverty and reinvigorate progress towards the SDGs. This Country Development Partnership Summary details how the IDS and IR23 will be put into practice with Bangladesh.

Country context

Bangladesh is a Lower-Middle Income (L-MIC) country with aspirations to become an Upper Middle Income Country (U-MIC) by 2031. The United Kingdom and Bangladesh have a long-standing partnership built on our shared economic, security, development and people to people ties. The UK was one of the first countries to recognise Bangladesh and we celebrated 50 years of partnership in 2021. Bangladesh is an increasingly important strategic partner for the UK in the Indo-Pacific region and it is a key player in upholding the Rules-Based International System (RBIS).

Bangladesh has made significant progress on development and it will graduate from Least Developed Country status in 2026. It was the world’s second-poorest country at independence and had a Gross National Income (GNI) per person of $120 in 1973 and it is now the world’s 33rd largest economy with GNI per person of $2,570. Annual GDP growth has averaged about 6% since 2011, except in 2020 because of COVID-19. Growth has been fuelled by the expansion of garment exports, overseas remittances, external support, and domestic consumption.

Bangladesh has a strong record on poverty reduction and improvement in a range of social indicators. Extreme poverty has fallen from 41.9% in 1991 to 13.5% in 2016, with life expectancy rising from 54 to 72 years between 1991 and 2021. Infant mortality has reduced from 87 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1993 to 25 in 2022. Girls’ enrolment in secondary school has increased from 60% in 2011 to 79% in 2021.

Despite this progress, Bangladesh faces a range of development challenges as it strives to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to the impact of extreme weather events. The Global Climate Risk Index highlights that Bangladesh was the 7th most climate vulnerable country in the world in 2019. It is one of the world’s most densely populated countries with more than one third of the population living in urban areas. Decades of high growth and impressive human development gains in Bangladesh are set against governance and democracy challenges. The 2022 Democracy Index ranked Bangladesh 73rd out of 167 countries. On gender, the Global Gender Gap Index shows that Bangladesh slipped from a ranking of 50 in 2020 to 71 in 2022. In the same year, half of the women aged 20 to 24 years responded to a survey that they were married before they reached 18 years and rates of gender-based violence are high. Tax to GDP ratio (7.6% in 2021) remains low and significantly below the regional average (11.7% in South Asia in 2018). This is insufficient to fund essential public services. Bangladesh continues to generously host 960,000 Rohingya refugees in the south of the country.

To overcome these development challenges, a number of key economic and policy reforms have been identified by both the Government of Bangladesh and development partners. International Monetary Fund (IMF) analysis highlights the need to diversify manufacturing and exports and strengthen public and private sector institutions and related regulatory frameworks. The Government of Bangladesh has outlined rapid and transformational shifts in agriculture, trade, education, healthcare, transportation, communication and in conducting business in the 2021 to 2041 Perspective Plan. It also stressed the need for institutional and governance improvements to drive economic development.

Why and how: the UK’s development offer

The UK-Bangladesh relationship is transitioning to a deeper economic, migration and security partnership, while helping to protect Bangladesh’s development gains. The UK’s development offer in Bangladesh aligns with the UK Government’s IDS and Government of Bangladesh’s strategies and plans.

Given Bangladesh’s ability to increasingly self-finance its development, we have shifted the UK’s approach away from large scale Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) programmes. The UK is increasingly providing expertise and knowledge to support Bangladesh’s development. We will continue to prioritise areas where analysis shows this is key to systemic change, whether economic (e.g., promoting trade and investment), political (e.g., supporting peaceful politics) or social (e.g., women’s rights). A deeper and broader economic partnership will help Bangladesh access new sources of affordable finance for sustainable growth and build resilience against the impact of climate change. We will use technical and diplomatic expertise to support long term economic reforms and boost investment.

The UK’s new Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) will boost trade and British Investment International (BII) will expand its impact investment portfolio. We will aim to work closely with key multilateral partners (e.g., the WB, the Asian Development Bank) to enable sustained change. Our bilateral ODA programmes will be targeted where they are most needed e.g., economic reform, climate change, support for the Rohingya and host community, empowering and educating girls, and global health. All these areas are directly linked to the UK’s IDS themes and are UK Ministerial priorities.

The UK has six strategic goals in Bangladesh, as below. These goals bring together the strategic priorities and international objectives of the UK and Bangladesh to support progress on the SDGs. They also align with the UK’s IR23 and the IDS.

Goal 1: Foreign policy and security

We will develop and maintain a strong and productive network of contacts in Bangladesh to support a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific region, that upholds the RBIS. We will also support Bangladesh to remain a stable, reliable, and human rights compliant partner on UK national security interests and migration.

Goal 2: Democratic institutions and norms

We will work with Government, civil society, youth, political parties, and international partners to deliver this goal. We will support Bangladesh institutions become more open, democratic, and inclusive, with greater transparency and accountability, respect for human rights, gender equality and ability to resolve conflict.

Goal 3: Women and girls and global health

We will support Government’s efforts to help ensure Bangladesh has the systems, policies, and practices in place that educates and empowers its people, especially women and girls, to protect their rights, fulfil their potential, and live healthy lives. We will provide targeted technical assistance, combined with diplomatic lobbying, global, regional, and centrally managed programmes (CMP) and UK expertise to support this goal.

Goal 4: Economic reform, trade and investment

We will support Bangladesh to deliver key reforms to help it reach upper middle-income status whilst building a closer economic and investment partnership with the UK. We will deepen our bilateral trade and investment partnership through better market access for British firms and the DCTS.

Goal 5: Climate change and environment

We will ensure the UK-Bangladesh partnership delivers on climate change and environment commitments and contributes to Government’s efforts for a more climate resilient, less-carbon-intensive, and cleaner Bangladesh. We will use targeted ODA programming, political engagement, centrally and regionally managed programmes, and UK technical expertise to support people to better adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Goal 6: Rohingya and disaster preparedness

We will use our UN Security Council membership to continue to put pressure on Myanmar to resolve the crisis and call for accountability. We will also deliver large scale life-saving humanitarian support to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and advocate for a more sustainable response to the protracted crisis. We will also support Bangladesh to prepare and respond effectively to natural disasters across the country.

Who we work with

We have a strong development partnership with the Government of Bangladesh. This is delivered through a whole of UK Government approach, using the breadth of the development, diplomatic and economic assets we have. We will build a closer economic partnership with Bangladesh through a wide range of new UK supported instruments e.g., British International Investment (BII), Private Infrastructure Development Group, GuarantCo and UK Export Finance. We will deepen our engagement on trade via the new Developing Countries Trading Scheme. We work with arm-length bodies like the British Council to deliver a comprehensive development offer. We collaborate with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and other UK government departments to provide expertise to deliver our global health security and One Health objectives.

The strong track record of delivery, technical capabilities, and credibility with government makes multilateral agencies a preferred partner in the country. We will leverage the UK’s core contributions to key United Nations (UN) agencies to strengthen governance, improve the lives of women and girls, and support the economy. Our deep partnership with multilateral development banks (e.g., the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank) allow us to support work on climate and regional trade and deliver impact and results at scale. We will engage particularly closely with the IMF and other international financial institutions to support key economic reforms that Bangladesh has committed to. We will work with relevant UN agencies, e.g., UNHCR, WFP and the International Organisation for Migration, to respond to humanitarian crises.

At the bilateral level we work collaboratively with other likeminded partners, such as the US, Canada, EU, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Japan, and other regional donors. We jointly work on issues like climate change, economic stability, health security, and working together to deliver shared values of democracy, rule of law and human rights. We engage with civil society organisations, local and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), collaborate with think tanks and citizens network to advance key issues like voice and accountability and protect the most vulnerable.

Key programmes

The UK is a strong and committed partner on development in Bangladesh. Over the last 20 years, the UK has supported Bangladesh across several key policy areas. UK programmes have contributed to reducing poverty, health and education system strengthening, including a focus on quality as well as access to services, especially for girls and tackling climate change and responding to humanitarian crises. We have also contributed to improving transparency and accountability in the public sector, enhancing skills in the private sector, and ensured activities to tackle inequality and empower women and girls are embedded across all UK programming. 

Some of our key achievements since 2020 include:

• supported one million people (including over 315,000 women) to better adapt to the effects of climate change
• ensured catch-up education for 88,250 (54% girls) disadvantaged children.
• addressed the stagnation of maternal and new-born mortality rate by supporting the deployment of more than 2,500 midwives across the country
• led efforts to keep the Rohingya crisis in the international spotlight, helping to secure a UN Security Council Resolution on Myanmar in December 2022
• we have been the second largest bilateral donor since 2017 providing lifesaving humanitarian support through provision of food, shelter, protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities for 960,000 Rohingya refugees

Our work in Bangladesh contributes to the SDGs – particularly climate, economic development, health, education, gender, and governance. Our bilateral ODA funds are targeted to meet the needs and support sustained system-level change.

In 2023 and 2024 our key programmes and approaches are:

Rohingya Response and National Resilience Programme

Up to £200 million (2021 to 2025). This programme provides humanitarian support to the Rohingya population living in refugee camps in south-eastern Bangladesh, and helps Bangladesh prepare and respond to disasters across the country.

Bangladesh Climate Change and Environment Programme

Up to £120 million (2022 to 2027). This programme aims to address the effects of climate change and to reduce environmental degradation in Bangladesh.

Better Health in Bangladesh Programme

Up to £84 million (2018 to 2025). This programme aims to deliver higher quality health services to women and young children and supports system-level improvement by providing technical assistance to the government of Bangladesh’s health sector programme.

British Investment Partnerships

The partnerships will be delivered through a combination of bilateral programmes and impact investment. Our bilateral programmes will focus on economic and investment policy reform and modernising the finance sector and reaching underserved customers. Our most important impact investment instruments are run through British Investment International which has an investment target of $455 million (2022 to 2026) in Bangladesh.

In addition, we have 6 other bilateral ODA programmes and a financial guarantees instrument delivered through the Private Sector Development Group (PIDG). Through these we aim to protect civic space, foster collaboration, and mitigate tensions that lead to violence; support inclusive and climate resilient urban development; educate the most disadvantaged, especially girls and improve the education system to ensure learning; and modernise the economy and supportive inclusive growth and job creation. We generate evidence to support and strengthen policies to ensure an effective and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19.

Complementing our bilateral efforts, we will deepen our engagements with major CMPs like Ending Preventable Deaths and 2 UK FCDO Centres of Expertise focused on trading standards and urban planning and management. Other CMPs operating in Bangladesh work in key IDS sectors including economic development, governance, climate change, women and girls. The UK also works in partnership with Bangladesh to achieve progress on regional and cross-border development priorities, for example building regional resilience to climate change through the Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) programme and strengthening cross-border transport, trade and energy infrastructure through the Asia Regional Trade and Connectivity Programme (ARTCP).

Finally, we will leverage UK contributions to key Global Funds like Global Partnership for Education, Education Cannot Wait, GAVI and the Global Fund.

Approach to monitoring and evaluation

All development programmes follow monitoring, evaluation and learning guidance and best practice, as per FCDO rules. This includes utilisation of results framework tools (eg theory of change, logframes). All programmes undergo formal progress and effectiveness reviews once a year. Programme teams conduct periodic field visits to verify the results reported by implementing partners. A continuous emphasis on gender sensitive and socially inclusive delivery is ensured, including disaggregated data by age, gender, and disability as part of the results frameworks. The British High Commission Dhaka has nine evaluations planned in the coming three years, ranging from mixed methods, impact, and process type evaluations across the portfolio. These will assess interventions and provide evidence for strategic learning and support adaptive programming. All FCDO funded evaluation products are quality assured independently to ensure that high quality evaluations are produced.

Financial information

Initial allocations have been set internally to deliver the priorities set out in the International Development Strategy (May 2022) and the Integrated Review Refresh 2023, based on the FCDO’s Spending Review 2021 settlement.

The department’s spending plans for the period 2022-2023 to 2024-2025 have been revisited to ensure His Majesty’s Government continues to spend around 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI) on ODA. This was in the context of the significant and unexpected costs incurred to support the people of Ukraine and Afghanistan escape oppression and conflict and find refuge in the UK, and others seeking asylum. The Government provided additional resources of £1 billion in 2022 to 2023 and £1.5 billion in 2023 to 2024 to help meet these unanticipated costs. The Government remains committed to returning ODA spending to 0.7% of GNI when the fiscal situation allows, in line with the approach confirmed by the House of Commons in July 2021.

The country development partnership summariess include the breakdown of programme budgets allocated to individual countries for 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. These allocations are indicative and subject to revision as, by its nature, the department’s work is dynamic. Programme allocations are continually reviewed to respond to changing global needs, including humanitarian crises, fluctuations in GNI and other ODA allocation decisions.

It should be noted that these figures do not reflect the full range of UK ODA spending in these individual countries as they do not include spend delivered via core contributions to multilateral organisations, or regional programmes delivered by the FCDO’s central departments. Other UK Government departments also spend a large amount of ODA overseas. Details of ODA spent by other UK government departments can be found in their annual report and accounts and the Statistics for International Development.

FCDO Official Development Assistance allocation

Of ODA spend in Bangladesh in 2022 to 2023, 88% is marked as being principally or significantly focused on promoting gender equality. 69% is marked as being principally or significantly focused on disability inclusion.

Figure 1. British High Commission Dhaka Bilateral ODA Budget Sector Share, 2022 to 2023: Humanitarian, 46%; Climate Change, Nature and Global Health, 21%; Women and Girls, 20%; British Investment Partnerships, 5%; Other Themes, 8%.

Figure 2. British High Commission Dhaka Bilateral ODA Budget Sector Share 2023 to 2024 (Estimate): Humanitarian, 45%; Climate Change, Nature and Global Health, 16%; Women and Girls, 22%; British Investment Partnerships, 9%; Other Themes, 8%.

Allocated ODA budget financial year 2023 to 2024	Indicative ODA budget financial year 2024 to 2025
£45.3 million	£49 million

Supporting information sources

• Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys 2022
• Bangladesh Education Statistics 2021
• Integrated Review Refresh 2023. His Majesty’s Government
• The UK Government’s Strategy for International Development 2022. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
• United Nations Population Division report 2018
• Violence Against Women Prevalence and Estimates, 2018. World Health Organization
• World Bank World Development Indicators (WDI) database