Danida projects

Over the last two decades Danida has remained the main foreign donor in the Noakhali region. The Danida-supported activities are listed in annex 1. Although the NADEP programme (third phase of NRDP) never materialised, Danida has supported an array of development activities, both implemented by government agencies and by NGOs.

Since around the termination of NRDP, Danida has funded activities by the NGO CODEC (Community Development Centre) in Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Patuakhali and Barguna districts, facilitating the socio-economic development of coastal and riverine fishermen communities. This has continued in three phases until today, based on grants totalling DKK 63 million (and a fourth phase is planned). A water supply and sanitation project, implemented through the Department of Public Health Engineering, was also started before the closure of NRDP. Several phases of that project have continued until today and are planned to continue until 2004. The total Danida grant for these water supply projects amounts to DKK 281 million, a figure which is only one third less than the total cost of NRDP. It must be added, however, that this project also covers two districts more than NRDP (Patuakhali and Barguna). Among other major projects may be mentioned a recent (2000-2005) rural infrastructure and maintenance programme in Lakshmipur and Feni districts (DKK 74 million) and a recent (2001-2006) smallholder livestock development project (DKK 68 million). The latter is implemented in the five coastal districts accorded priority by Danida (Feni, Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Pauakhali and Barguna). Finally it deserves mention that an aquaculture project (1998-2005) is implemented in greater Noakhali by CODEC (DKK 42 million). A number of minor NGO projects have also received support.

The total Danida grant for all the projects listed in annex 1 (1986-2005) is around DKK 625 million, a figure that is more than 11/2 times bigger than the total amount spent on NRDP. Several of the major projects in the list, however, cover Patuakhali and Barguna districts in addition to Feni, Noakhali and Lakshmipur. But it can be inferred that the amount granted by Danida for other projects in the greater Noakhali region has been roughly of the same order as the amount spent on NRDP (around DKK 400 million).

Other foreign donor projects

The other major bilateral donor in the region has been the Netherlands with its still ongoing Char Development and Settlement Project (CDSP). A forerunner of this project, a land reclamation project, started in 1978, that is at the same time as NRDP. Initially it focused on land reclamation, later on consolidation of existing young land. From 1993 the CDSP extended the activities to land settlement and land development, i.e. from a purely physical to a socio-economic development agenda (Wilde, 2000: xvii). It has concentrated on polder embankment and development of three chars of Noakhali district with a combined population of around 41,000 people (1999). The activities have included sluices, infrastructure, agriculture, aquaculture and community development. Thus, in spite of a different approach and location, there are some similarities to NRDP. The Dutch grant for the first phase of the project, 1994-99, was Dfl 18.8 million (roughly DKK 64 million), that is much less than for one of the NRDP phases (ibid.:64). However, the money was spent in a much more concentrated area. The second phase of CDSP, 1999-2004, has been budgeted to the equivalent of 30 million dollars, out of which the Dutch government will pay 75 per cent, i.e. the equivalent of DKK 180 million (Wilde, personal communication). The emphasis in this phase has been shifted from polder development to integrated coastal development.

The Swiss Development Corporation is funding the Noakhali Rural Infrastructure Development and Maintenance Project, 1998-2003, with a total grant of 16.2 million dollars (about DKK 130 million). This covers 73 per cent of the project budget and the rest is paid by the GoB. The project is implemented by the Local Government Engineering Department and includes planning, design and maintenance of rural roads with an emphasis on institutional strengthening (information from Mike Chauhan, consultant).

The World Bank – alone or together with the Asian Development Bank – has financed several large-scale projects in the region. The Chandpur and Muhuri Irrigation Projects have been mentioned earlier in the chapter. The World Bank has also played a leading role in the big Coastal Embankment Rehabilitation Project, 1985-99, which covered the coastal areas of greater Noakhali as well as other coastal areas in Bangladesh.

NGO activities

At the time of NRDP the NGO activities in the region were limited. The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), however, has been present in Noakhali since independence and had a few expatriate development workers in Maijdee before the massive influx of expatriates under NRDP. Among other things MCC provided agricultural extension and training with an emphasis on vegetable cultivation that preceded the NRDP activities in this area. MCC continues to operate in all three districts of greater Noakhali and remains one of the major NGOs in the region, today serving about 100,000 beneficiaries.

Annex 2 provides an overview of major – and some minor – NGO activities in the region today. It can be seen that besides MCC also the big Bangladshi NGO, Proshika, had activities at the time of NRDP, but of a rather limited nature. Gandhi Ashram is a local NGO, established in 1980 at the place Gandhi visited when the conflict between Muslims and Hindus was at its peak after partition. CARE, which is not in the list, was involved in road construction (‘food for work’) at the time of NRDP, and there was close collaboration between CARE and NRDP around road construction and maintenance. But at that time the relationship between the GoB and the NGOs was strained or directly hostile, and apart form the collaboration with CARE there was little cooperation between NRDP, which was implemented through government departments and agencies, and the NGOs.

Most NGOs have started their activities in the area after the mid-1980s. This is true two of the biggest NGOs in Noakhali, BRAC and ASA. Today they serve 26,000 and 56,000 people respectively, the vast majority women. The programmes they run focus on savings and credit coupled with training in income generating activities, health etc.

A number of the NGOs have received funding from Danida. CODEC has been mentioned above, but Danida has also supported ASA, Nijera Kori, Gandhi Ashram and the small local NGOs Tribedi and Bandhan. Of special interest is Noakhali Rural Development Society (NRDS), which was established by a former staff member of NRDP after the termination of the project. In some respects the activities of NRDS, which have also been partly funded by Danida, can be interpreted as a follow-up to NRDP, although the basic mechanism, based on savings and credit operations, is the same as in almost all other Bangladeshi NGOs. NRDS is dealt with in more detail in chapter 15.