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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development

SDG SUMMIT 2023: BANGLADESH COUNTRY COMMITMENTS
Description of commitment

A. Social Protection and Jobs: Initiatives like the Universal Pension Scheme and Employment Injury Scheme aim to provide financial security to citizens. The government aims to send 5 million skilled workers abroad within 5 years. Bangladesh is dedicated to advancing UHC, expanding health services, improving quality, and providing financial protection for all citizens. The National Employment Policy 2022 addresses job creation, digital transformation and skills mismatch. Strategies include reducing youth NEET, promoting youth entrepreneurship, and providing skill development training to 0.8 million youths by 2024.
B. Essential Services and Transforming Education: Bangladesh aims to achieve universal literacy and primary education completion rates by 2030. The implementation of a competency-based curriculum promotes gender equality and quality education. Bangladesh plans to achieve a student-teacher ratio of 30:1 by 2030, focusing on teacher standards and professional development. Bangladesh is committed to gender parity in schools and inclusion of persons with disabilities. Strengthening industry linkages in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs aligns them with labor market demands. Initiatives aim to eliminate child marriage by 2041. Providing housing to landless and homeless people.
C. Energy for All and Shift to Renewables: Bangladesh seeks to enhance energy efficiency through modern and digital devices, reducing energy loss and optimizing consumption. The government aims to increase reliance on clean fuels and technology to 30% by 2025 and 35% by 2030. An updated Renewable Energy Policy will incentivize and accelerate the adoption of renewable energy technologies. Bangladesh targets a 20% reduction in primary energy consumption per GDP by 2030, emphasizing energy efficiency.
D. Securing Food, Water, and Sanitation Systems: Establishing a comprehensive database of food business operators enhances monitoring and regulation. Developing and implementing a national food safety policy aligned with the Food Safety Act aims to ensure safety standards. Initiatives include reducing post-harvest losses and waste and promoting sustainable practices among producers. Updating the Bangladesh Water Act to incorporate the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 supports water management. Expanding access to drinking water services and sanitation facilities, aiming for 100% coverage by 2030.
E. Digital Transformation: Bangladesh focuses on ethical AI, robotics, IoT, blockchain, and cybersecurity to augment human capacity. Transitioning social welfare programs to digital platforms enhances efficiency and accessibility. Registering beneficiaries digitally in food programs improves planning and programming. Transforming the migration process from analog to digital for efficiency and transparency. Encouraging digital commerce, ICT industry growth, and a conducive business environment. Enhancing cybersecurity and creating a digital platform for government agencies. Digitizing agriculture services to increase productivity, food security, and empower rural farmers. Promoting digital financial access through branchless banking and mobile financial services. Leveraging ICT for a digital health system, enabling oversight and governance by 2030.
F. Protecting Biodiversity and Nature: Drafting and implementing an act for the protection, development, and management of haors. Engaging local communities in the conservation of natural tourism destinations through Destination Management Organizations. Increasing forest coverage 16% by 2030, involving forest-dependent families, declaring protected areas, and species conservation.
G. Gender Equality: By 2030, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) envisions a female labour force participation rate of 50%. Increasing women’s participation in the ICT sector, including tech start-ups and e-commerce sector to 25% by 2026 and 50% by 2041. The Government is committed to train 75,000 women on various topics related to ICT by 2032. The National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women and Children (2018-2030) provides the strategic direction for planning, identifying resource gaps, and guiding resource allocations and implementation. The GoB emphasizes the importance of women’s participation in public life, including in public institutions, businesses, and trade unions, as well as in decision-making processes and leadership roles across sectors. By 2025, the gender budget allocation will be, at minimum, 35% of the national budget. The GoB extended the National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security (NAP WPS) 2019–2022 period until 2025 and has reiterated its firm commitment to fulfilling the WPS agenda.
H. Disaster Risk Reduction: The government is strongly committed to strengthening national disaster preparedness and response through the implementation of innovative strategies like Anticipatory Action, which ensures timely interventions to mitigate the consequences of imminent disasters. The GoB has also included the issue of establishing a Humanitarian Staging Area with due importance as part of strengthening the backbone of emergency response.

National benchmark for reducing poverty and inequality by 2027

Yes, lowering poverty and inequality by 2027 is a criterion included in the national commitments. Presently, 18.7% of people live in moderate poverty; this number is projected to drop to 11% in 2027 and 7.2% in 2030. 5.6% of the population lives in extreme poverty, which is predicted to drop to 3.2% and 2.6% in 2027 and 2030, respectively. In 2022, the income Gini coefficient was 0.499; it is predicted that by 2027 and 2030, it will be 0.490 and 0.485, respectively.

Strengthening of national planning and institutional frameworks to support commitment

A. Data Ecosystems for SDG Monitoring and Reporting: The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has developed a Monitoring & Evaluation Framework with a view to tracking the progress of SDGs implementation. The Government has also prepared SDG Action Plan aligning with the Five-Year Plans. Bangladesh participated in Voluntary National Reviews process twice in 2017 and 2020. Besides, National Conference on SDG Implementation Review were organized twice in 2018 and 2022 involving all national and local stakeholders. BGMEA is currently creating a web-based data platform so that member factories can share the ESG data to link the industry’s contributions to specific SDGs. The GoB is dedicated to improving its data collection infrastructure by adopting advanced methods and investing in modern technology such as big data, geospatial data, and real-time monitoring, as well as mobile surveys. Bangladesh is resolutely committed to bolstering data management efforts. This commitment entails targeted and strategic capacity-building endeavours of government officials and other relevant stakeholders. To streamline data generation, mitigate redundancy, and prioritize survey areas, the National Data Coordination Committee (NDCC) has been established incorporating all data producing agencies in the country.
B. Strengthening Public Sector Capabilities for Implementation: The GoB aims to enhance its public sector capabilities and effectively work towards the implementation of the SDGs, fostering sustainable development and improved quality of life for its citizens. It has taken several initiatives to strengthen public sector capacities to effectively implement the SDGs. These initiatives include developing policy frameworks, introducing capacity-building programs, and implementing institutional reforms aimed at enhancing coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of SDG-related activities across various government departments and agencies.
C. SDG Financing Needs and Mechanisms: In response to the evolving challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, and country’s trajectory towards LDC graduation, the government is firmly committed to implementing an integrated national financing framework under the 8th Five Year Plan (2021-2025). The Government of Bangladesh pledges to undertake the following measures: (a) Establishment and operationalization of a high-level governance and oversight mechanism, (b) Adoption of the updated development finance assessment and financing strategy, (c) Creating SDG-specific financing roadmaps, (d) Establishment and operationalization of an investment matchmaking platform, (e) Ensuring policy coherence between national development priorities, global commitments, and the financing framework.
D. SDG Awareness Raising and Localization Plans: To implement the SDGs at the local level, 39+1 National Priority Indicators have been identified where 39 indicators come from the 17 SDGs that were considered (a) critical to the local context and (b) could produce reinforcing effects on other targets. The remaining 1 (one) indicator selected by the local administrative unit based on workshops at the sub-district levels, was included to ensure the pledge of “leaving no one behind,” considering the unique circumstances of each district or sub-district and reflecting the ground realities of the specific geographic region. In order to increase awareness among the target stakeholders, particularly students, youth, and local government entities, the Government is in the process of devising an action-oriented National SDGs Communication Strategy.

Ares of strengthened institutional frameworks

Making SDG achievement a more central focus in national planning and oversight mechanisms, Aligning domestic budgets and financing with the SDGs, Strengthening the capacities of local and subnational governments to advance the SDGs , Rejuvenating and strengthening public sector institutions , Strengthening national statistical systems, Securing country-level data for the SDG targets

Additional information

Action Network
Type of initiative
National Commitment to SDG Transformation
Member State
Bangladesh
Geographic scope
National
Key priority transitions
Leaving no one behind, Investing in women and girls, Making the digital transformation work for everyone, Adopting a life course approach to essential services, Tackling the global crisis in education, Accelerating access to energy for all and the shift to renewables, Securing food, water and sanitation systems, Protecting biodiversity and natural resources , Preventing and/or reducing disaster risks
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