URBAN




     Local Government COVID-19
     Response & Recovery Project


     BASIC         APPROVAL      END                 TOTAL                    IMPLEMENTING
     INFORMATION   DATE:         DATE:               COMMITMENT:              AGENCIES:
                   February 24   December 31         $300                     Local Government
                   2022          2025                million                  Engineering Department




     STRENGTHENING URBAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS’
     RESPONSE TO COVID-19 AND FUTURE SHOCKS
                                         OVERVIEW
                                         During the COVID-19 pandemic, communities around
                                         Bangladeshi cities and towns experienced highly negative
                                         health impacts, jobs and livelihood losses, and a deterioration
                                         of basic services. Urban local government institutions (ULGIs)
                                         are well-positioned to play an important role in responding to
                                         and recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and,
                                         especially, in supporting the urban poor. With Bangladesh being
                                         extremely vulnerable to climate change, ULGIs themselves need
                                         urgent support in order to strengthen climate resilience, and
                                         become better prepared to respond to future shocks, such as
                                         disease outbreaks and climate-induced disasters.

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                                                                                              LOCAL GOVERNMENT COVID-19
                                                                                            RESPONSE & RECOVERY PROJECT




CHALLENGE                                                      RESULTS
Similar to global trends, urban areas in Bangladesh             	Nearly 30 million people in urban areas will
have been much more affected by COVID-19 than rural              benefit directly or indirectly from project activities.
areas due to high density, challenges in practicing
social distancing, and the concentration of informal
settlements and informal economic activities. An urban          	   329 Pourashavas and 10 City Corporations will have
monitoring survey carried out in June 2022 estimated                a stronger capacity to respond to climate, disaster, and
that 93 percent of enterprises owned and operated by                health-related crises.
the poor reported lower revenues than before COVID-19.
These impacts are more severe for the poor living               	About 10,000 women will benefit from
in slum areas due to their limited coping strategies             employment under public works schemes.
and depleted savings and assets. Existing gender
inequalities in Bangladesh have also been exacerbated
due to COVID-19. Micro-surveys carried out after the
COVID-19 outbreak indicate that employment outcomes
for women are deteriorating to a greater degree
compared to men.




APPROACH
The Local Government COVID-19 Response and
Recovery Project (LCGRRP) aims to strengthen the
response of municipalities and the city corporations
to the COVID-19 pandemic and their preparedness for
future shocks. The project provides COVID 19 response
grants to ULGIs to effectively respond to and recover
from the pandemic in a coordinated manner, by
providing basic and climate resilient urban services,
ramping up local-level COVID-19 recovery measures
in services, health, jobs and livelihoods, carrying out
community outreach and raising awareness, and
promoting local economic development.

In the medium term, the project will also help to
strengthen ULGI capacity to better prepare for climate    TOWARDS THE FUTURE
change, disasters and health shocks, by providing
technical assistance to all ULGIs to prepare local        Multisectoral coordination and participatory preparation of
preparedness plans for future shocks, including health    local COVID-19 Response and Recovery Plans (CRRPs) by the
and climate crises. It will also support incorporation    ULGIs will ensure complementarity with ongoing sectoral
of climate considerations into municipal budgets,         COVID-19 response interventions targeting individuals
infrastructure, and services, and improve the climate     and households needs. ULGIs are working with already
resilience of local infrastructure.                       established Town-Level Coordination Committees (TLCCs)
                                                          and City Development Coordination Committees (CDCCs)
The project’s COVID 19 Response Grants (CRGs) will rely   to lead the preparation and implementation of local CRRPs.
on existing fiscal transfer systems to channel project    Guidelines have been developed and adopted to ensure
resources to ULGIs and monitor results on the ground.     that rehabilitation and development of essential services,
The CRGs will be provided to 329 municipalities and       infrastructure and economic assets will integrate resilience
10 City Corporations (all ULGIs except Dhaka North        designs to strengthen disaster and climate risk mitigation,
and Dhaka South City Corporations which are being         and will be implemented through labor-intensive works to
supported by other initiatives).                          promote local job creation and economic recovery.


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