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| TA Name | Second Chittagong Hill Tracts Rural Development Project | |||||
| Country | Bangladesh | |||||
| Project Number | 42248- 01 | |||||
| Fund Source/Amount[Proposed] |
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| Thematic Classification |
Social Development
Gender Equity Capacity Development |
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| Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy | The TA will support ADB's Country Strategy and Program for Bangladesh, 2006¿2010 by contributing to: (i) helping the rural poor, especially women and excluded groups by expanding their access to markets, and services and increasing their livelihood options; (ii) community participation (especially by women and disadvantaged groups) in designing and implementing projects; (iii) progressive devolution of responsibilities to local governments and communities to build capacity to plan, operate and maintain social and economic services; (iv) intensification, diversification, and value addition of crops to boost agricultural productivity and improve food security; and (v) strengthening farm-to-market linkages to raise rural incomes. The TA is also consistent with the Government of Bangladesh's (GOB) National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction goal of accelerated poverty reduction by supporting rural development, participation and empowerment of the poor, especially women, and other marginalized groups such as indigenous people and human development of the poor. | |||||
| Impact | Improved rural livelihoods to reduce poverty and vulnerability amongst the rural population of CHT. | |||||
| Outcome | A project proposal that GOB and ADB have agreed upon for financing will: (i) improve rural infrastructure and sustainable natural resources management and monitoring; (ii) increase rural incomes, including those of remote rural women and disadvantaged groups, through increased economic opportunities and activities; and (iii) support institutional strengthening of MOCHTA, CHTRC and HDC to plan, implement and monitor sustainable rural development in CHT. | |||||
| Outputs and Timeframe |
Output 1: Institutional Strengthening. The TA will define and assess options which support strengthening of MOCHTA, CHTRC and HDC to undertake their mandated roles. The TA will also review strengthening requirements of MOCHTA to fully undertake its role, including operational and capacity building. The TA will make recommendations on capacity building and institutional arrangements for ensuing loan Project implementation. This will include defining key areas of weakness, identifying constraints for developments and recommending options like strengthening HDC (through provision of skilled staff and allocation of financial resources using development budget) to undertake its mandated role within an enabling policy and institutional framework. Achieved by June 2009.
Output 2: Participatory Community Development for which the TA will identify beneficiary communities (including women and other disadvantaged groups) based on the needs assessment and socio-economic baseline survey. The TA will recommend capacity building, organizational structure and participatory processes for rural development and community empowerment and develop appropriate rural livelihood activities to compliment infrastructure development. Gender targeted rural livelihood interventions (through women's groups) will be developed to ensure women are not only mainstreamed in the subproject development process but are also able to maximize their organizational potential for income generation and empowerment. The socio-economic baseline survey will also guide the development of subproject selection criteria, including for rural (village) access to ensure inclusiveness, equitable distribution of benefits and maximize project outreach to poor, remote and disadvantaged communities. Target date is July 2010; Output 3: Integrated Rural Infrastructure under which the TA will develop sample subproject feasibility reports including interventions such as rural (village) access, small-scale water resources systems (such as irrigation systems and village water supply), watershed management and village access (including tracks and trails) which would be socially, environmentally and economically viable and in accordance with relevant ADB policies and guidelines and CHTRDP II developed subproject selection criteria. Specifically, the TA will be required to comply with ADB's policies for environment, involuntary resettlement and indigenous peoples' policies and Safeguard Policy Update which will be effective from January 2010. Recommendations for suitable natural resources planning and project performance monitoring tools including a resource and management information systems database will be formulated for further development and implementation under the ensuing loan project. Target date is Auhgust 2010. Output 4: Project Investment Plan including cost and financing plans, procurement plan, and institutional arrangements (including advance actions for recruiting consultants, procurement and financial management assessment) to facilitate timely planning and implementation of rural development activities. Target date is September 2010. |
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| Geographical Location | Three districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts (Rangamati, Khagracchari and Banderban) | |||||
Safeguard Categories
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| Environment | B | |||||
| Resettlement | B | |||||
| Indigenous People | A | |||||
| Summary of Environmental and Social Issues |
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is a geographically isolated and ethno-culturally unique area situated in south-east Bangladesh, bordering India and Myanmar. The largest natural resource in the CHT is forest, about 325,000 ha (about 25% of the total CHT area) is exclusively controlled by the Department of Forest. Shifting cultivation (jhum) is the dominant farming system in the lower and upper hills of CHT. Pressures on land during the past two to three decades have forced jhum farmers to reduce the fallow period. As a result of land degradation caused by reduced fallow periods, deforestation, loss of topsoil, and increased water runoff has serious implications on food security and environmental sustainability. There is an observed deterioration of spring flows over the past several years. The main causes are: (i) widespread degradation of natural dense forests which have drastically reduced in recent years. Between 1989 and 2003, an estimated 170,000 ha of dense forest, (approximately 50% of total forest area) was lost in CHT ; (ii) large changes in land use; and (iii) changes in climate including reduced precipitation.
The area's population comprises indigenous peoples (IP) from 11 distinct ethnic groups and Bengalis most of who were more settled under a Government of Bangladesh (GOB)-sponsored trans-migration program. According to the most recent Population Census (undertaken in 1991) of CHT, the population was 974,447 of which about half were indigenous people and the rest Bengali inhabitants. The three largest IP groups are Chakma, Marma and Tripura. The incidence of hard-core poor is 44% for the IPs, which is 13% higher than for non IPs, average annual household income is 30% lower than that of the national average (of Tk84,000). Less than half of the population has access to tube well water and to potable water. Water resources are generally scarce, on average 0.5 kilometer (km) from villages and of variable quality. Literacy rates are significantly lower than the rest of the country (60% of woman are illiterate). In addition, CHT also has the lowest access to electricity at 13%. Communities are remote and mainly dependednt on shifting cultivation. |
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| Stakeholder Participation and Consultation |
Recognizing sensitivites of the area and to facilitate confidence building, consultations commenced upfront under the preceding (ADB funded) Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Study for Potential for Integrated Small-Scale Water Resources. The three-month study was undertaken between June and September 2009 during which consultations, wrap-up meetings and and milestone workshops were held with MOCHTA, Ministry of Land, CHTRC, HDC, Circle Chiefs, district administration (for Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Banderban), local government, ministries and line departments (including Ministry of Land, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Local Government Engineering Department and Departments of Environment, Forests, Agriculture Extension and Fisheries), locally-based NGOs including, those experienced in natural resources management activities and those previously engaged under CHTRDP, local leaders and beneficiary communities of CHTRDP, CHTDF and other development partners' initiatives. The PPTA will also undertake further consultations as required including:
(i) TA Team and MOCHTA/CHTRC/HDC brainstorming session to develop the design and monitoring framework (DMF): 3 weeks after TA commencement; (ii) TA Inception report and workshop: 1 month after TA commencement; (iii) Consultation meetings with local NGOs involved in rural development to facilitate socio-economic survey: 5 weeks after TA commencement; (iv) Mid term report and workshop: 4 months after TA commencement; (v) Draft final report and workshop: 6.5 months from TA commencement; (vi) Monthly coordination meeting of TA and CHTRC/HDC (Regional Coordination Committee); (vii) Steering Committee Meeting for milestone workshops and key decisions (to be scheduled as required). |
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| Procurement | ||||||
| Consulting Services | A total of 61staff-months of consulting services including 29 months of international and 32 months of national consultants will be required for the Project. A consulting firm will be recruited for a total of 21 staff-months (international), while individual consultants will be recruited for 8 staff-months (international) and 32 staff-months (national). | |||||
| Responsible ADB Officer |
Yasmin Sadia Siddiqi |
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| Responsible ADB Department |
South Asia Department |
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| Responsible ADB Division |
Agriculture, Natural Resources and Social Services Div, SARD |
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| Executing Agencies |
Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Banglad |
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| Timetable | ||||||
| Concept Clearance | 04 Sep 2009 | |||||
| Fact-finding | 05 Sep 2009 to 16 Sep 2009 | |||||
| Approval | 19 Dec 2009 | |||||
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