Project profile — Fiduciary Risk Management for Education in Bangladesh

• Bangladesh (100.00%)

• Basic Education: Primary education (11220) (80.00%)
• Banking And Financial Services: Financial policy and administrative management (24010) (20.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (significant objective)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

The project aims to support improved financial and fiduciary risk management of the Government of Bangladesh’s Primary Education Development Program funds and strengthen the Government’s implementation capacity in primary education. The Primary Education Development Program’s goal is to provide efficient, inclusive and equitable primary education covering pre-primary through grade 5 for all school-age girls and boys in Bangladesh. By strengthening the Government’s capacity in public financial management, this project supports the efficient and effective delivery of public education services. Project activities include: (1) quarterly and annual fiduciary reviews; (2) public financial management (PFM) action plan implementation and capacity development in key PFM areas, including procurement; (3) a benchmarking study of PFM best practices (including gender-budgeting) that can be adopted in different social sectors, including health and skills; and (4) a study on gender disparity in drop-outs and out-of-school children.

The outcomes for this project include: (1) improved financial and fiduciary risk management; and (2) strengthened public financial management and procurement capacity in the primary education sector in Bangladesh.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2020) include: (1) completed the planned quarterly and annual fiduciary reviews of the Third Primary Education Development Program (PEDP3) for three fiscal years 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. The government and development partners endorsed the reviews, and they circulated in their respective year. These reviews provided timely information and feedback on special needs for fiduciary risk management; (2) recruited a senior financial management and accounts specialist and a procurement specialist to assist the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MOPME) with strengthening its public financial management and procurement capacity; (3) designed a social sector benchmarking report of public financial management and a study on the gender disparity of school drop-outs. Incorporated the benchmarking report and the study into MOPME implementation plans; and (4) conducted a study on disaster resilience for schools in close collaboration with the Directorate of Primary Education of MOPME and the Department of Public Health Engineering.

• Proactive disclosure