Bangladesh disability program threatened by government mismanagement

From The Daily Star in Bangladesh:

The fate of $35 million donor-funded project for the welfare of the persons with disability (PWDs) and disadvantaged children is uncertain due to negligence of the government in launching it formally within the timeframe, which has already expired.

The World Bank and Bangladesh government signed an agreement on December 28 last year for the five-year term project titled "Disability & Children-At-Risk".

As per the deal, the project will be implemented through the independent Jatiya Protibondhi Unnayan Foundation (JPUF), the apex body working on disability issue, and Department of Social Service (DSS) using the fund given by the World Bank.

The government has already crossed the deadline of launching the project and appointing its project director officially by April 21 for which the project money may go back to the World Bank, sources said.

World Bank Country Director Xian Zhu in a letter on April 15 to M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, secretary of Economic Relations Division (ERD) says "The government has recently reassigned the project director for "Services to Children-At-Risk" being implemented by the Department of Social Services (DSS) and new appointment for the position has yet to be made," adding, "This is a crucial next step towards commencing project staffing and set-up of project offices."

It says the "Promotion of Services and Opportunities to the Disabled Persons of Bangladesh", which is being implemented by JPUF, also requires urgent personnel recruitment to commence its planned activities.

The letter says "Deviations could result in the World Bank reconsidering its support for the whole project." Higher officials of the social welfare ministry, including its secretary Quomaran Nessa Khanam, could not be contacted after repeated attempts. It also urges the government to take necessary action to launch the project formally to provide services and better prospect for the millions of persons with disabilities as well as disadvantaged children in the country. Pointing out the reason behind the negligence of government official, JPUF governing body member Zahirul Alam said the WB gave a condition before the government that an independent body would be able to implement the project. He said some progress have already been made to launch the programme, including recruitment of project staff, approved by the planning commission on behalf of JPUF.

But the project money remains unused, as the government officials are reluctant to play their roles in starting the project activities, sources said. Though Social Welfare Ministry Secretary Quomaran Nessa in a report published in The Daily Star on April 1 claimed that they are trying to rehabilitate PWDs with trainings, assistance and development programmes through JPUF but the ministry is yet to take any initiative to launch the project formally.

The project has two components. One involving $ 13 million under the project has been taken for welfare of disadvantaged children while another is involving $ 22 million for the PWDs who represent 10 percent of the country's population.

The project titled 'Promotion of Services and Opportunities to the Disabled Persons of Bangladesh', has been taken to treat disability as a development issue, raise awareness about it among policymakers and legislators and make existing laws and policies friendly to PWDs.

This programme would also provide services to PWDs, especially rehabilitation to disabled women, and education for them. The WB is providing the project money with a condition of making the project implementing organisation JPUF an independent body to deal with the programme. JPUF, worked earlier under the social welfare ministry, has been made an independent body after restructuring. -Edited by Mahamudul Haque