America Week 2006

Remarks by Gene George, USAID Mission Director at America Week Newsmaker

March 15, 2006

Members of the Press, NGO Leaders, citizens of Chittagong, and USAID partners, associates and fellow staff members: Asalaem-uwalekum, namoskar, and good afternoon.

I am pleased to be here with you again in Chittagong as we celebrate the fifth annual America Week event.  The idea of America Week initially began as a way to promote better interaction between representatives of the United States Government and the people of Bangladesh living outside of Dhaka.  With the motto “Working Together for a Brighter Future,” this year’s America Week seeks to highlight the successful partnership between Americans and Bangladeshis that will constructively contribute to improving the socio-economic well being of the general populace. 

This partnership between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Bangladesh is not new.  Since independence in 1971, USAID has provided over $5 billion in assistance to Bangladesh, with over half of that amount in the form of food aid.  The USAID program utilizes local expertise and works closely with Bangladeshi NGOs, private firms and the Government.  All of the groups, both U.S. and Bangladeshi, you see here at America Week are funded by USAID or other USG departments through the generous support of the American people and if you haven’t done so yet, please visit the booths and talk to the people about what they are doing for the most needy.

This partnership has contributed to healthier families and better access to family planning.  USAID directly supports more than 300 NGO operated health clinics around the country which provide basic family planning and health services through more than 26 million client visits per year. In addition, USAID supports the Social Marketing Company, a Bangladeshi entity with one of the most successful social marketing activities in the world, which markets family planning methods through 210,000 outlets nationwide. In addition, we are working with the Government to improve their capacity to distribute contraceptives and assure that supplies are available throughout the country when needed.  The impacts of these family planning programs have been impressive - 58% of married couples now use contraceptives, compared to 8% in the 1970s. We are also proud of our association with the Bangladesh Center for Communications Programs, a group of Bangladeshi professionals that has also been extremely effective with innovative media and behavior change communication strategies in the areas of family planning, adolescent reproductive health and HIV/AIDS matters.

Social marketing of Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) for the treatment of diarrhea helps to improve the overall health of children and prevents millions of deaths.  In 2005, 144 million sachets of ORS were sold – 19 million more than the previous year. While impressive, there is another part of the story. Bangladesh was at the center of ORS development and its worldwide use is credited with saving millions of children’s lives each year.

USAID has in the past and will continue to support food security programs in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management and the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives.  A network of more than 80 NGOs and international organizations are involved with meeting the needs of some of the most vulnerable populations and reaching more than 4 million people in 21 districts, including Chittagong.

One thing we can predict with a degree of certainty is Bangladesh will be exposed to flooding during the monsoons. To address the results of severe flooding, USAID has helped to build nearly 250 multi-purpose shelters operated by local communities located in the most disaster-prone areas. USAID also helps these communities develop contingency plans which ensure access to emergency supplies within 72 hours for more than 25 million people.  The value of all of this effort was demonstrated during the extensive 2004 floods.  Credit must go to the different Government ministries, local government disaster management committees and the network of international and local NGOs for their work in minimizing the suffering. Other countries, including our own, can learn from the experiences of Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Rural Electrification Program remains one of the most successful development efforts in the country.  With USAID assistance more than 39 million people living in rural areas have been connected to the power grid; and that number continues to grow by more than 2,000 new connections each day.  The success of the rural electrification program is largely due to the efforts of Bangladeshis and demonstrates a system can be developed that is open and transparent. On the other hand, the pace of increasing generation capacity has not kept up with the expansion of the rural electric connections. While not a focus of our efforts, we urge the Government to be more aggressive in providing the needed power as little can be gained by connections without energy.

Promoting good governance at the grassroots level will help instill democratic practices and contribute to economic growth in Bangladesh.  USAID programs have had success working with locally-elected governments and citizens’ committees in 50 Union Parishads to improve their capacity to provide services and increase public participation in decision making.  A similar approach is also used in tropical forest and wetland conservation activities.   Major inroads have been realized by moving away from the traditional command and control approach to one of having community groups and local governments working together to take ownership in managing these natural resources.  The Nishorgo Support Project is using this management technique to conserve the environment in 17 National Parks and forests throughout the country, including the Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary and Teknaf Game Reserve near Chittagong.

USAID works with NGOs and the GOB to combat the terrible scourge of human trafficking.  Since 2000, more than 220 trafficking victims have been rescued and repatriated. Over the past year, 279 traffickers and their collaborators were arrested and 75 persons were convicted for trafficking.  With USAID assistance, the International Organization for Migration is collaborating with the Ministry of Home Affairs to implement a comprehensive anti-trafficking program in 18 districts.

One unique aspect of our program is a particular anti-trafficking initiative in the Cox’s Bazar district involving the Chakoria Imam Association.  For two years, Moulana Ruhul, chair of the association, and 1,600 imams in surrounding communities have been fighting human trafficking as part of USAID’s Bangladesh Human Rights Advocacy Program.  In Chittagong, our partnership with the Bangladesh Institute of Theater Arts (BITA) works in communities to prevent violence against women and trains journalists to improve the quality of reporting on human rights issues. I personally would like to congratulate the BITA management and staff for its exceptional work.

We have an exciting outreach program dedicated to generating interest and promoting development among influential leaders in Bangladesh.  Journalists, university students, religious and community leaders are introduced to development activities and become advocates for issues dealing with improving education through early childhood learning, increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS, and potential income generating and nutrition schemes.  More than 2,700 imams have participated in training courses in the Islamic Foundation’s training academies throughout the country. In Chittagong alone 300 imams have been through the program, with 300 more to receive training this year.

In small business development, the USAID “Shrimp Seal of Quality” program works with small-scale shrimp farmers to improve their production techniques for healthier, higher quality shrimp for export.  This program also complements the Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association’s five year plan to increase annual shrimp exports from $300 million to $1.5 billion. 

We are supporting local NGO efforts in rural communities to better prepare children before they enroll in school. The aim is to improve performance and reduce the dropout rate. The creativity of the Bangladeshi society is renowned and we capitalized on this with the introduction of Sisimpur, a Sesame Workshop-Bangladesh joint production of a children’s television show in Bangladesh. In just one short season, the Sisimpur program has gained international recognition for innovation and quality. In Bangladesh, studies indicate that children who watch Sisimpur show remarkable improvements in vocabulary, counting skills and cultural knowledge.

While the USAID program in Bangladesh has made considerable achievements over the past 35 years, we live in a changing world and we must be responsive to the current conditions.  We have to address the emerging needs of the country and focus on development challenges that are relevant to Bangladesh now, and in the future.  We can no longer avoid talking about the impact of corruption, the implications of the lack of good governance and transparency, the need to ensure the gains of economic growth are more equitably distributed, and that elements of extremism have planted their roots in the Bangladeshi society. All of these aspects hinder poverty reduction efforts overall and in general affect virtually every aspect of a person’s life.

I applaud the Government of Bangladesh for their recent approval of the country’s poverty reduction strategy paper.  We are pleased with the leadership role the Government has taken in the dialogue with the development partners last November that resulted in their forming joint groups under their chair to work on key development issues. This framework provides an opportunity to strengthen the partnership between donors and the government for greater poverty reduction.  With this in mind, USAID created a revised strategy that will promote good governance to deal with corruption through strengthened democratic institutions, make sure more people benefit from economic growth, invest in Bangladesh’s human capital and support food security for the most disadvantaged while continuing efforts in disaster preparedness.

We firmly believe the way to promote better governance is with a functioning democracy, and our program will work with local government bodies to improve service delivery and involve community members in decision making.  The program will also continue with our work with NGOs to ensure transparent elections and promote human rights.

Economic growth must provide income and employment opportunities for a wide spectrum of the populace. Our programs will concentrate on income and job creation in a select number of underserved geographic areas. This will occur by working with small private sector businesses and individual entrepreneurs in selected value chains to improve their products and services.

We must not forget one of Bangladesh’s most cherished resources is its people. USAID will develop human capital in Bangladesh by working closely with NGOs and the GOB to ensure a healthier and better educated populace.  Our efforts will concentrate on improving and expanding health care services for the poor.  We will continue to improve family nutrition in the poorest areas and help people better prepare for disasters.  The program will also improve the education of young children improving their ability to better read and count, which will form a solid foundation for their continuing education.

With a strong commitment to these goals, USAID will continue to work together with Bangladesh for a brighter future and improve the lives of the poor.

Thank you again for coming, and at this time, I would like to answer any questions you have about our program.