Two World Bank missions to visit Dhaka in August to review governance, project impact

The World Bank will send two high-level missions to Bangladesh in August to review governance, financial management, procurement and accountability in its ongoing projects, while also assessing the outcomes and development impact of a major World Bank-funded programme.

According to two letters sent by World Bank Bangladesh and Bhutan Operations Manager Gayle H Martin to ERD Additional Secretary Mohammad Ahsan Kibria Siddiqui on 21 July and 26 July, the Resilience, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Improvement (RELI) project evaluation mission will visit Dhaka from 9-16 August.

The Governance Global Practice mission will visit Bangladesh from 9-13 August to review governance, financial management, procurement and accountability issues related to the World Bank’s Bangladesh portfolio.

The 21 July letter said the World Bank’s Learning and Results Note (LeaRN) mission will assess the RELI project, evaluating its results, development impact, and financial and economic efficiency in line with World Bank policies. 

The team will also document implementation experience, lessons learned and good practices through data collection and verification. The LeaRN framework has replaced the former Implementation Completion and Results Report (ICR) process.

The RELI assessment mission will be led by Samina Yasmin, Task Team Leader and Senior Agriculture Specialist. The delegation will include World Bank specialists in agriculture, economics, financial management, public procurement, environment, social development, project evaluation and resilience index analysis, along with an expert from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The World Bank said the team will meet officials from the implementing agencies, the Financial Institutions Division (FID), financial institutions and other public and private organisations involved in the project.

In the 26 July letter, the World Bank said a Governance Global Practice mission, led by Practice Manager Hisham Ahmed Wali and Senior Operations Officer Aleksandar Kochevski, will review “key fiduciary, non-fiduciary and governance matters related to the Bangladesh portfolio.”

The delegation will meet officials from the Ministry of Finance, project implementation units (PIUs) and other stakeholders to discuss financial management, public procurement, accountability and ways to strengthen ongoing cooperation.

ERD officials said the two missions reflect the World Bank’s dual focus on strengthening governance, financial discipline and accountability across its Bangladesh portfolio while independently evaluating the effectiveness and development impact of a major socio-economic project.

Officials involved in the process said the findings and recommendations are expected to help improve project implementation and enhance the effectiveness of future World Bank-financed programmes in Bangladesh.