Region:Asia Pacific
Current UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022
World Bank Income Classification:Low Income
The World Bank classifies economies for analytical purposes into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high income. For this purpose it uses gross national income (GNI) per capita data in U.S. dollars, converted from local currency using the World Bank Atlas method, which is applied to smooth exchange rate fluctuations.
Least Developed Country:Yes
Since 1971, the United Nations has recognized LDCs as a category of States that are deemed highly disadvantaged in their development process, for structural, historical and also geographical reasons. Three criteria are used: per capita income, human assets, and economic vulnerability.
Gender Inequality Index:0.575
GII is a composite metric of gender inequality using three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men, and vice-versa.
Gender Development Index:0.723
GDI measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, education, and command over economic resources.
Population:209,497,025
Source of population data: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision
Male:19,976,265 (9.5%)
Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)
outcome XM-DAC-41146-BGD_D_1.1
Government planning and budgeting process, Govt. accountability mechanism, including electoral management system are strengthened to achieve National GE priorities, aligning with international normative standards.
With a renewed commitment by the Government of Bangladesh to advance financing for gender equality as critical to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, the allocation of the Gender-Responsive Budget (GRB) for sectoral ministries and divisions has increased gradually. The country’s 8th Five Year Plan is projected to increase GRB allocation from 31 per cent in 2021 to 35 per cent by 2026. UN Women contributed to this through its project on gender-responsive planning and budgeting for the last three years jointly implemented with the National Women’s Machinery. In total, 25 gender focal points from relevant ministries and divisions have strengthened their capacity for effective gender-responsive planning and budgeting. An update of the National Action Plan for the National Women Development Policy has been undertaken through technical support of UN Women. Strong advocacy and effectiveness of the intervention to achieve national gender equality priorities have succeeded in the extension of the initiative on gender-responsive planning and budgeting until December 2023. Leadership and decision-making capacity on local economic development of 249 members of Local Government Institutes (LGIs), including 182 women from Women Development Forums (WDFs), have been enhanced to carry out gender-responsive planning and budgeting. Thirty-four representatives of LGIs, including WDFs, pursued and adopted nine new initiatives on women’s development on topics ranging from women’s capacity development in income generation, gender-friendly working environment, and women’s entrepreneurship development.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-BGD_D_1.2
Supportive and well-coordinated policy environment is in place to ensure gender-responsive localization and effective monitoring of the SDGs
The establishment of a well-coordinated mechanism for the generation, analysis, and dissemination of gender statistics in Bangladesh has started through the creation of a national inter-ministerial governing body for gender statistics, coordinated by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the National Statistical Office of the country. A gender statistics cell has been established within BBS to regularly collect gender statistics concerning requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with UN Women support. The capacity of BBS to design and implement surveys to collect and use quality gender statistics has been strengthened, which has highlighted gender statistics as a critical issue concerning generating quality data in the country. Knowledge and capacity of gender statistics cell to mainstream gender across all surveys of BBS has been enhanced. This included the Time Use Survey and a study on SDG indicators. UN Women has contributed to the production and dissemination of gender statistics in Bangladesh through its flagship Women Count project.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-BGD_D_1.3
Quality, comparable and regular gender statistics are available to address national data gaps and meet policy and reporting commitments under the SDGs, CEDAW and Beijing Platform for Action
There has been progress in this outcome during this reporting period. A national Time Use Survey was conducted for the first time in Bangladesh to generate quality gender statistics by the National Statistical Office, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). The Time Use Survey aimed to generate and analyze data to unveil new dimensions in the context of unpaid care work in Bangladesh. Data collection and fieldwork for the survey was completed in January – April 2021. A study on SDG indicators was conducted to understand and prioritize gender-related indicators of SDGs. This study further fed into mainstreaming gender equality in other surveys undertaken by BBS, in particular the Household Income Expenditure Survey (HIES) and Labor Force Survey (LFS). In addition, two policy briefs on gender-based employment and wage and gender-based education were produced by BBS to make quality gender statistics available that would inform advocacy, strengthen policy and programmes and enable reporting. A systematic process to generate gender statistics by BBS has been established. In addition, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs developed the Beijing+25 National Review report and the State Party report on CEDAW, which used reporting data from existing surveys of BBS. UN Women contributed to this process through its Women Count flagship project and strong partnership with the National Statistical Office (BBS) as well as strong coordination with the nodal ministry for gender equality and women’s empowerment (Ministry of Women and Children Affairs).
outcome XM-DAC-41146-BGD_D_1.4
Gender statistics are accessible to all users (including governments, civil society, academia and the private sector) and can be analysed to inform research, advocacy, policies and programmes, and to promote accountability
There was no progress in this outcome during the reporting period. A series of user-producer dialogues to disseminate findings and information on gender statistics were planned; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns, and heightened mobility restrictions, such dialogues could not take place in 2021.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-BGD_D_2.1
Appropriate policies, programmes and practices that promote and ensure women's economic empowerment at both national and local levels are adopted and implemented
There has been significant progress under this outcome. A strengthened environment to formulate a comprehensive national policy on socioeconomic reintegration of returnee migrant workers during COVID-19 by the Government of Bangladesh was established through evidence-based advocacy and knowledge sharing supported by UN Women in close collaboration with the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment. The joint programme of UN Women, UNICEF, ILO, and UNFPA on enhancing the social protection of female tea garden workers and their families strengthened the voice and leadership of 25 tea garden workers in Sylhet, to better negotiate with tea garden owners and local government authorities for ensuring basic services related to health, education and improved workplace conditions, including safe drinking water, sanitation, and menstrual health and hygiene. Coordination between UN agencies has been enhanced under the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022 – 2026 in Bangladesh, with a letter of collaboration signed between UN Women and ILO to cooperate in the area of Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) to support the government and civil society partners during the implementation period of the framework.
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References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).