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Bangladesh + 1 more

WFP Bangladesh Country Brief, October 2024

Attachments

In Numbers

791 mt food distributed

US$15.15 million distributed in cash-based transfers

US$70.68 million net funding requirements under the country strategic plan (November 2024–April 2025)

1.2 million people assisted

Operational Updates

Emergency responses to cyclone and floods

• In Khulna, WFP continued with its cash-for-work activities, involving participants from 12,420 households benefiting 50,000 people, each receiving BDT 5,000 (US$43) for 10 days of labour. This provides the affected communities with a chance to earn an income while rebuilding their key infrastructure damaged by Cyclone Remal and the subsequent floods. Additionally, 100 women participated in a livelihood support programme, receiving BDT 10,000 (US$86) each to start incomegenerating activities benefiting 402 people, along with entrepreneurship and skills training to strengthen long-term financial stability.

• In response to the recent flooding, WFP also provided timely cash assistance to 12,300 households benefiting 61,300 people through unconditional cash transfers of BDT 6,000 (US$50) each, intended to help them meet their immediate needs. This was followed by cash-for-work activities that supported 2,256 households benefiting 11,300 people. Each participant will receive a total of BDT 10,000 (US$84) at the end of their 20-day commitment, contributing to their recovery and rebuilding efforts.

• Alongside these initiatives, WFP delivered awareness messages on entitlements, food, nutrition, gender-based violence (GBV), and complaint and feedback mechanisms (CFM), and WASH (in collaboration with UNICEF) through SMS and leaflets to ensure comprehensive outreach and community awareness.

Social Protection

• The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA) approved the circular for the upcoming Vulnerable Women Benefit cycle (2025-2026). This was developed by WFP to guide field-level Department of Women Affairs (DWA) officials in initiating the beneficiary enrolment process. Additionally, an intensive follow-up training focused on troubleshooting at the user level was conducted on the Investment Component for Vulnerable Group Development Programme (ICVGD) platform for eight non-government organizations to ensure monitoring and reporting data entry was completed by 31 October 2024.

• WFP organized an inter-ministerial policy discussion between MoWCA and the Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW) to explore programme consolidation of their respective programmes.

• WFP organized a policy-level meeting with the DWA Director General focusing on the progress updates from VWB's last Central Coordination Committee meeting, including the next cycles enrolment, VWB impact evaluation, piloting improvements, and OneTime Password (OTP) for enhanced beneficiary verification and security. A cost-benefit analysis of OTP for VWB self-enrolment was also shared to improve portal security and data protection.