11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 BANGLADESH: Sustainable Forests & Livelihoods (SUFAL) Project 11th Implementation Support Mission (ISM) December 8-17, 2024 Technical Note 1. A World Bank (WB) Team1 carried out the 11th ISM for the Sustainable Forests and Livelihoods (SUFAL) Project during the period of December 8-17, 2024. This Technical Note summarizes the project implementation status, discussions held during the mission and timeline for the actions agreed with the Government of Bangladesh. The team would like to thank the MOEFCC and all the officers and staff of Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) and Project Management Unit (PMU), Public Works Department (PWD), Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI) and project consultants for the cooperation extended during the mission. The mission visited the Tangail, Mymensingh and Dinajpur Forest divisions for community consultations and plantation visits. Key Project data Board approval October 05, 2018 Effectiveness November 21, 2018 Closing date Original September 2023 December 31, 2024 (after 2nd Restructuring) June 30, 2025 (after 3rd Restructuring) Financing amount US$175 million IDA, at the signing. US$ 161.33 million IDA after cancellation Cancellation SDR 10.35 million equivalent to US$ 13.67 million Total Disbursement US$146.12 million (93.6%, after cancellation) 2. Implementation Status: The project progress over the last six months has remained at an elevated pace. To fully achieve the project objectives and utilize the undisbursed balance in the remaining 6.5 months a further concentration of attempts will be needed, especially to complete all civil works with quality assured. The project is in Satisfactory status. The provisional approval of the Community Operations Manual and the issuance of a Governance order institutionalize Collaborative Forest Management and are crucial milestones for the project. However, approval of the draft National Forestry Policy, amendment of Forest Act, and Forest Manual are yet to be finished, and the bank mission wants to see the additional efforts from the department and the ministry to approve these essential documents. Implementation of the 2nd NFI through FAO is progressing well and 1,802 biophysical survey plots (97%); and 6,400 socioeconomic surveys (100%) completed. However, the Landuse and Landcover mapping exercise, which is an integral part of finalizing NFI is still lagging and needs extra effort to complete. The project remains a large flagship operation for the Bangladesh Forest Department. Not only because of its scale, but also because it has introduced major innovations to the forestry sector such as site-specific planning, collaborative forest management, promotion of alternative income 1 The World Bank mission team included Messrs. Md Istiak Sobhan (Senior Environmental Specialist and Task Team Leader), Shakil Ahmed Ferdausi (Senior Environmental Specialist), Kirti Nishan Chakma (Senior Social Development Specialist), Md. Didarul Islam (Financial Management Specialist), Mulugeta Dinka (Senior Procurement Specialist), Myles McDonagh (Forestry Consultant from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)), Mohammad Sayeed (Consultant), Reema Islam (Consultant), Ferdausi Mahojabin Sumana (Consultant), Sharlin Hossain (Consultant), Md. Rafiqul Islam (Consultant) and Ian Richie Paulson (Team Associate). 1 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 generating activities and a transition towards online payments. As a result, BFD has changed its approach to plantation using more indigenous species and mixture of species increasing the resilience of forests to climate impacts, while focusing on the natural re-generation of under-story species. The level of communication & interaction between BFD and local communities is seeing a transformation with local communities becoming an active actor in and benefiter of sustainable forest management. Although SUFAL, worked on more than 100,000 ha of forest land, however, the mission realized the shortage of funding for the maintenance of this huge endeavor and requested the department to raise the issue to the ministry for the provision of maintenance fund. 3. Just before the ISM on December 10, 2025, the project underwent level 2 restructuring with three changes: (a) Cancellation of Credit Amount: On July 10, 2024, ERD requested to reduce the total funding to SDR 114,546,057 by canceling SDR 10,353,942 (USD 13.67 million). This was possible due to the devaluation of the Bangladeshi Taka against the USD and savings from procured packages. (b) Reallocation Between Disbursement Categories: Revised allocations reflect current spending and savings from completed procurements. The Bank team and PMU discussed DPP changes, adjusting financial allocations accordingly. The cost table was fully revised (see annex II). (c) Extension of Closing Date: To account for delays from political changes, the project closing date is extended by six months to June 30, 2025. This extension allows for completion of civil works, the National Forestry Inventory field survey, and an additional maintenance season for new plantations. Component 1: Strengthening Institutions, Information Systems and Training 4. Strengthening Organizational Capacity: On March 20, 2024, the Ministry of Public Administration (MoPA) recommended filling 508 positions against BFD’s organizational reform proposal of 17,530 positions and this has been sent to the Ministry of Finance for further approval. A new National Forest Policy 2024, which forms the foundation for many of the reforms proposed under the project, was discussed at an inter-ministerial meeting held on June 25, 2024. The Ministerial Advisor at MOEFCC has requested the latest draft from BFD in order to review it. The Forest Manual contains the working rules followed by all BFD operations staff. As such, it needs to reflect the up-to-date position on policy and procedures, including changes to COM and the ongoing implementation of Collaborative Forest Management. Approval was expected in May 2024 but is still under review, with the latest meeting of the committee appointed by MOEFCC that is responsible for the adoption of this document taking place on December 1, 2024. The mission was informed that the document will be approved within 1 month. Once approved the manual will be available in digital form and accessible for all staff. 5. Plantation activities such as enrichment and underplanting with trees and shrubs that can yield Non- Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) are key to the successful demonstration of the new approach to Collaborative Forest Management with revenues from harvesting such products to be shared amongst community members. A number of tenders have already been organized for the harvest and sale of this produce and disbursement of the revenues to the relevant recipients and funds should be demonstrated before project close. During the mission, the department agreed to prepare an interim protocol for sharing these NTFP sells proceed to the community beneficiaries. 2 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 6. BFRI: Activities have further progressed. Training completed for 1,455 personnel on Nursery Development, Seed Collection & Storage and Bamboo Cultivation out of a target of 2,000. Training has been provided to 50 sawmill owners and staff on sawmill and wood processing. Ten training manuals prepared and printed on bamboo branch cutting, tissue culture, Goalpata nursery, nursery pest and disease management. Tissue culture protocol development initiated for 8 threatened species. The SFNTC site at Gazipur has been completed. At the previous mission the new facilities at Chattogram and Jessore were expected to be completed by June 2024, however this is delayed. Civil work of SFNTC in Jessore is completed and it is now ready for the handover, however, the lab setup is yet to be finished. The proposed handover date for the buildings of Chattogram SFNTC is January 15, 2025. The remaining training program for 2,070 individuals will still need to be implemented. BFD will provide a complete list for the remaining staff to be trained to enable BFRI to plan training locations efficiently. The tissue culture lab trainings for BFD will be conducted in the Gazipur SFNTC lab to avoid waiting for the other facilities to come online. To ensure the targets will be achieved implementation of BFRI will be extended to June 2025. 7. SUFAL Innovation Grants: 34 research studies (18 Forestry themed & 16 Wildlife themed) are in progress, while 1 final and 15 draft final research reports have been submitted. The dissemination of the results of these reports is being planned for January 2025, in the presence of the CCF & MOEFCC secretary. This special dissemination event was suggested in the previous mission by the WBG team, however, the PMU is yet to fix an exact date for the event. 8. Training: In total, 3,858 officers and staff were trained for knowledge and skill development including collaborative forest and PA management, smart patrolling, SSP, COM etc. Training progressed by NGO: Capacity Building (26,392 person) & Skill Development for AIGA (39,707 person). Other Training for Organizational Development includes Site Specific Planning (656 persons), Community Operations Manual (682 person), Accounts and Financial management (14 person), Safeguards (135 person), SSP (656 person) & Smart Patrolling (150 persons). 9. NFI: The contract with FAO for conducting the 2nd NFI was signed on 30th October 2023 and the second NFI was officially inaugurated on 25th February 2024. Progress has been impressive: with all relevant manuals for socio-economic and biophysical survey manuals updated; over 200 people trained in various aspects and 1,802 biophysical survey plots (97%); and 6,400 socioeconomic surveys (100%) completed. The remaining 3% of biophysical plots were inaccessible due to security issues in Chattogram Hill Tracts, representing a lower percentage of missed plots than registered during the 1st NFI. The agreement reached at the last mission for timely release of honorariums was implemented immediately after the mission and has flowed smoothly since then. Before analysis can commence data checking and cleaning is now underway, with draft results of the field survey available in January, 2025. The final NFI result is expected to be available by February 2025, However, taking indication of approval related delays in last NFI, mission expressed concerns and advice PMU to take early initiative to receive the government approval and subsequent publication prior the project closing. 10. Forest Management Plans (FMP): Since the last mission FAO has declined to take up the work in the second procurement package in the area of NFI/FMP, which covers FREL reference level, land cover mapping, and development of 8 forest management plans. A Finnish company ‘Arbonaut’ has been retained to deliver the FREL report while a contract was signed with CEGIS to conduct the land cover and FMP work and is expected to complete the LULC map for integration with NFI by end of February 2025. CEGIS informed the mission that they have received satellite images approximately 25% of the country coverage and expected to receive rest of the images by early January 2025. 3 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 Component 2: Strengthening Collaborative Forest and Protected Areas Management 11. Third-party monitoring of plantation sites. Since the last mission there has been regular communication between PMU and the Bank team on the progress of the third-party monitoring work by Samahar. On review by the Bank, the location of survey plots appeared to be purposive rather than random as proposed in the TOR and Samahar’s inception report. To obtain an unbiased assessment with which to compare the SSP plan and earlier Samahar results the Bank team provided a random sample of SSP Plan polygons and random XY sampling points to be resurveyed by Samahar. Following this, a sample of resurvey data received from the consultants raised some queries from the Bank, including how the survey points recorded by the company could match the planned points at the level of 6 decimal places (equivalent to 11cm accuracy) without the use of highly sophisticated differential GPS equipment. No satisfactory replies were received to the comments. Various Bank supervision and technical missions have visited plantation sites guided by BFD and PMU officials and seen good work with high survival rates. Given the obvious failings of the third-party monitoring process and once it was furnished with digital mapping for SSP sites (from 2023) the Bank team was better equipped to independently select sites for review. Based on a very limited number of these sites less satisfactory performance has been noted including where activity had not taken place; where the reported area planted was greater than physically feasible; where the target enrichment density was not achievable because of existing tree canopy; or where the plan prescription was not followed. Regarding the treated area, given that the project did not capture the actual area planted using the SSP digital platform (despite Bank advice to the contrary) the maps contained within Beat Journal represent the only other opportunity to capture what was actually achieved. Approximately 3,000 Journals have now been scanned by consultants IWM and are being georeferenced and the relevant activity area boundaries digitized in vector form. The mission agreed that April 30 will be the completion date for the delivery of an updated dataset of actual work, to include a) the original SSP plan map in polygon vector form; and b) the georeferenced journal map in polygon vector form 12. Restoration of Degraded and Denuded Forests and Coastal Greenbelt. The table presents the year- wise plantation progress with targets showing till December 2024. Plantation Types 2018- 2019- 2020- 2021- 2022- 2023- Total 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Reforestation (ha) 1,239 13,748 13,791 13,347 10,988 11,672 64,785 NTFP Underplanting (ha) 0 581.5 409 539.5 90 300 1,920 Mangrove afforestation (ha) 100 3,300 6,320 6,685 9,450 11,400 37,255 Golpata Plantation (seedling km) 100 520 650 60 350 625 2,305 Strip Plantation (seedling km) 175 1,321 895 1,069 491 875 4,826 Seedling distribution 0.37 4.87 0.21 0.15 0.56 0.17 6.33 (million seedlings) Total Re/Afforestation (ha) 1,339 17,629.5 20,520 20,571.5 20,528 23,372 103,960 13. Site-specific planning (SSP): To date, work across all 32 different field activity types used the SSP approach on a planned area of c. 80,000 and this is complete. The DPP under revision currently foresees further afforestation activity and will use the same approach. The raw spatial data was not handled in a consistent manner and so IWM was retained to clean and load the gathered data for 50,000 hectares. A further 15,000 hectares is expected under a new IWM contract. The balance will be handled by BFD directly. The third-party monitoring consultant has reported that to date, their fieldwork has been completed on c. 60,000 ha (all planting sites up to and including the 2021-2022 4 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 season). This involves checking the gross area of each site (as per the SSP plan) and measuring a number of sample plots for tree survival, etc. The third-party monitoring consultant has thus far submitted the first progress report, but this did not reflect the results of their monitoring of field activities. Since the last mission a number of reports have been submitted but have not yet been accepted by BFD. RIMS unit of the BFD are saying they cannot move forward without the good quality data from the project. Chief Conservator of Forest and other forest officials expressed the need to have all relevant modules included in a ‘how to guide’ (and youtube etc) documentation for field level implementation work forces. SSP adaptation needs to be driven from the top-down. Triggers/topological rules/real-time validation is needed. Data editing capability needs to be added so that e.g. at range level they should be able to correct their own mistakes (but with governance rules/tracing/audit trail) - could be a useful mitigation to incomplete/low quality data upload. Suggestion for rebrand, FMIS instead of SSP. SSP being used in “Host and Rohingya Enhancement of Lives Project (HELP)� 14. Public Works Department: PWD constructs infrastructure on behalf of BFD for improving forest management. In the current RDPP an amount of BDT 1,796 million was allocated for this work. A total number of 93 buildings (Range office, Beat office, Staff Barrak, camp office etc.) were planned to be constructed or renovated under 64 packages in 20 districts. Contracts have been signed for all 64 packages amounting to BDT 1,307 million and the revised contract amount including variation is BDT 1,524 million so far. The initial delay is due to complications with the design, preparation of bid documents and procurement. The delay is also caused by the changing locations of some buildings by BFD and review of the design by PWD and the Department of Architecture. The physical works of 31 buildings are completed 47 buildings work done above 80%. The remaining 15 buildings progress is above 30% and expected to be completed by March 2025. 15. Community-based benefit-sharing from NTFP harvest under Collaborative Forest Management (CFM): During this mission, the team visited Bashok (Justicia adhatoda) plantation site in Mymensingh and observed high demand among market buyers in response to the tender issued by the BFD under CFM. However, pertaining to the welfare objective of the communities, the mission team and PMU discussion the ideal option for the communities to take over NTFP harvest and 100 % collection of profits from selling NTFP in the market without BFD’s tendering process. In this line, BFD will provide necessary guidance to the communities for next step under CFM. Component 3: Increasing Access to Alternative Income- Generating Activities (AIGAs), Forest Extension Services & Trees outside Forest (TOF) 16. NGO progress: 40,264 members have been given financial assistance amounting BDT 16259.82 lac under Livelihood Development Fund-LDF (AIGA) program. BDT 2583.00 million has been distributed for community development works. Skill development training offered to 10,045 members. Provided capacity building training to 26,785 members. The disbursement of funds for LDF (96%), CDF (100%), Book Keeper (77%), Loan recovery status for the LDF is 55.11% (CRR). The NGOs completed their interventions in September 2024 and their final report is being edited by the PMU. A new scenario has emerged where the change of the regime caused some apprehension within the communities regarding loan repayments, where they assumed that the process was perhaps delayed or deferred somehow. Issues like this need to be resolved and a decision was made by the PMU during the mission to conduct monthly meetings with the resident beat officer and to also conduct some refresher courses on the mechanisms of the revolving loans. So far, 736 beneficiaries did not want the loan. Furthermore, receiving 3rd installments requires the beneficiaries to submit new proposals which 5 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 takes time to be approved as the Divisional Forest Officer is busy. The PMU is pushing for the registration of the Collaborative Forest Management committees. 17. Distribution of Improved Cookstoves: BFD signed an MoU with IDCOL for the distribution of improved cookstoves at a subsidized price in the beneficiary communities. The MoU does not include monetary obligations for BFD and IDCOL’s cookstove activities depended on project financing from GCF (part of RERED II project), which ended in December 2023. Only 450 cookstoves were distributed under the MoU. The PMU will prepare to utilize savings in the project to procure cookstoves directly from IDCOL to be distributed through the NGOs and follow up with MOEFCC to include this in the 2nd rDPP. Component 4: Project Management, Monitoring and Reporting: 18. Social Satisfaction Survey: A social satisfaction survey for midline and endline was carried out in 2023 and 2024 respectively. The survey has covered several dimensions of social satisfaction with the project interventions and was carried out in a rigorous manner. The final result is expected before end of December 2024. 19. Third party monitoring: The mission only covered the plantation monitoring part of the work of third- party monitoring consultants. Financial Management: 20. The project is on its way to revise the DPP after the approval of the six-month extension, where the tenure of FM staffing and other individual consultants were not proposed, despite having adequate funds. To ensure uninterrupted service of individual consultants till closure of the project, the mission advised PMU to add tenure provision of individual consultants in the DPP and obtain approval by January 15, 2025. 21. The total expenditure projection for FY25 till the project closure is BDT 2,360 (equivalent US$19.75m) while the funds available are BDT 2,420m (US$20.25m) (including the undisbursed balance and the balance in DA). The mission noted that BDT 1,980m (US$16.56m) has been approved for the FY25 ADP, and PMU has received fund authorization of BDT 880m (US$7.36m) for the current financial year. PMU has been advised to seek fund authorization and RADP approval for the remaining amounts by January 15, 2025, to ensure availability and reallocation of required funds before closing the project. There is an available balance of US$69,000 in UN commitments, the mission advised PMU to follow up with FAO to obtain expenditure reports on UN commitments. It was suggested to unblock the balance of UN commitments if no more funds are used under UN commitments. 22. The retention money of several contracts is yet to be released. As this is the last year of project implementation, the mission advised PIU PWD to release all retention money after obtaining bank guarantee by January 15, 2025, and share the updated status with the Bank task team. 23. PIU, BFD and PWD submitted IUFR for the quarter ending September 30, 2024, with a delay of 14 days and 25 days respectively. There are thirty (30) audit issues are still to be resolved. The Bank advised PIU to proactively engage with FAPAD to resolve audit issues. The mission advised the PMU to hold a tripartite meeting with auditors by January 31, 2025, where the bank team would also be present in the discussions so as to speed up the resolution process. The next audit report for FY24 is scheduled for submission on December 31, 2024. 6 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 24. Back up to handle financial management and disbursements during Grace Period: Consultants employed under the Project that are carrying out financial management and disbursement functions will not be available during the disbursements grace period of four months July-October 2025. As such it was advised that BFD would deploy its two mainstream accounting staff to the project soon for continuous on the job training so that they can handle all accounting and disbursement activities efficiently during the disbursement grace period. 25. Disbursement: As of December 15, 2024, SDR 107.16 (US$ 146.12 million, which is 93.6 % of the current total SDR 114.55 million after cancellation of SDR 10.35 million (US$ 13.67 million) from SDR 124.90 million has been disbursed. One withdrawal application of PWD for BDT 81.3 is under preparation and is expected to be submitted within this week. With only six months remaining of the project life, implementation needs to be geared up to utilize the undisbursed balance of SDR 7.18 plus total advances of SDR 12.41 equivalent to three Designated Account of the project. 26. Designated Account Advance Recovery: The Designated Account (DA) Recovery process has started before the recently agreed credit closing date extension to June 30, 2025. Meanwhile, BNH Designated Account is fully adjusted with a negative balance of SDR 15,946.05. The missions reiterated the policy regarding the Designated Account (DA) Advance Recovery process and advised the implementing agency to closely monitor the expenditures and submission of withdrawal applications on a regular basis. Further, the mission suggested that, especially for PWD, the Direct Payment option for individual withdrawal application exceeding the value of US$ 10,000 equivalent against individual payments by combining several bills of same beneficiary. 27. FM rating: The FM performance rating of the project remains Satisfactory. Procurement: 28. General: There are four implementing agencies at the national level and 31 cost centers at districts. Out of the total project allocation of US$175M, US$103M is non-procurable expenditure and only US$72M is procurable activities. Out of the US$72M, US$21M is procured at districts cost centers level in e-GP and not available in STEP. BFD has the largest share as an implementing agency with total of US$ 131M implemented under the BFD-PIU, out of which US$ 49M (32%) is disbursed through procurement (US$27M at BFD and US$21M procured at districts cost center). PWD is the second largest implementer with total value of US$ 21.7M almost all to be disbursed through procurement. BNH and BFRI are also implementing agencies, implementing relatively very small portion of the project procurement. 29. Procurement implementation status: [ to be updated] • BFD: BFD has the largest share implementing total of US$ 131M, out of which US$ 49M (32%) is disbursed through procurement (US$27M at BFD-PIU and US$21M procured at districts cost center). • PWD: Similarly, the STEP data under PWD is not up to date. Out of 116 procurement packages cleared in STEP under PWD (US$ 18.31M); there is only 5 completed contract, 87 signed, 2 under contract implementation and 22 packages are pending implementation. Although more than 30 buildings are already handed over to the BFD. • BFRI: BFRI has 24 procurement packages (US$ 354,069), with only 1 showing completed in STEP. 7 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 • BNH: Has only two procurement packages with US$ 43,396. Although completed and closed, but not showing as Completed in STEP. 30. Procurement rating: Despite lack of up-to-date procurement data in STEP, the actual procurement implementation status at all the implementing agencies is Satisfactory. Safeguards and GRM: 31. Status: The mission has conducted joint field visits and reviewed the progress of the safeguard implementation. Followed by the field visit, the mission had a detailed discussion with the PMU and followed up on the status and agreed actions from the last mission. Most of the agreed actions of the last mission have been completed. 32. GRM: The BFD has established a functional Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) that is integrated with the government’s central Grievance Redress System (GRS) and supplemented by site-level Grievance Redress Committees (GRCs). The GRM provides multiple grievance intake channels, including dedicated hotlines, as well as WhatsApp and Facebook Mesenger platforms. Since the last mission, the PMU has received seven grievance cases. Of these, two have been resolved, and inquiries into the remaining three complaints have been conducted, with reports submitted by the designated inquiry officers. Two more GRM reports will be sent to the PMU soon. 33. Status of NGOs and community level mobilization: Social and Environmental TOT for Community Members of FCV/VCF is under process; so far 25 batch including total participants of 800 have been completed. For dissemination of information regarding ES activities, 5 flyer/leaflets have been printed and distributed, and one is ready to be printed and go out for dissemination. 34. Gender Strategy of Forest Department: The PMU has prepared a draft Gender Strategy for Forest Department which will cover all gender mainstreaming activities of BFD moving forward. The Bank has provided comments on the draft during the mission and requested to finalize it within a reasonable time. During this mission, BFD has committed to finalizing the Gender Strategy of Forest Department by the end of December 2024 and share it with the Bank before presenting it to the responsible minister. 35. ESMP implementation at construction sites and Training to PWD: During the field visit, the ES team has reviewed the ESMP implementation at several construction sites in Cox Bazar both in the south and north region and provided recommendation to improve the site implementation of the ESMP. The ES team raised concern on the discrepancies at the site and conducted briefing session with PWD and Contractor’s site engineers for better implementation of the ESMP and make the necessary corrective actions as recommended. As part of the process, ESMP document is enclosed in each of the recent Tender Documents of PWD. There were no incidents reported during this period. ToT of Environmental and Social Safeguard for 100 FD Officials has been completed in one batch, and another batch of FD officials will also receive the training. 36. ES application in nursery, plantation and AIGA activities: In accordance with the safeguard clauses outlined in the CDF and LDF screening forms, BFD staff and officials are adhering to the environmental requirements at nurseries and plantations, ensuring the effective implementation of the ESMF in the field. The mission has recommended that the PMU continue integrating discussions on the project's safeguard framework into the COM implementation training program for FD staff. Additionally, 8 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 safeguard requirements are consistently emphasized during all meetings with NGOs and are regularly addressed in community meetings. 37. Staffing: The contract for the Environmental Special and Social Specialist in the PMU expired in September. BFD has decided not to extend their contract till the end of the project duration, June, 2025, as most of the activities are completed. However, according to paragraph 14, around 70% works of 15 buildings and around 20% of 31 buildings are remaining. Since the Environmental and Social Specialists are not available, the PMU will provide a plan the Bank by January 15, 2025 on environmental and social risks management of the remaining physical works. This will include the measures to improve the site implementation of the ESMP based on the mission recommendation. They need to assign staff to regular monitor the activities and provide periodical report. In addition to physical work, the plan should include the E&S risk management of other remaining works including GRM. 38. Disaggregated Data on Indigenous People, Gender, any other Marginalized Groups: The Project Management Unit (PMU) is requested to provide disaggregated data on the total number of beneficiaries, specifically highlighting those from indigenous communities, women, and, if applicable, other marginalized groups. Additionally, information on the total number of grievances received through the Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) since the project's inception is required. A comprehensive Environmental and Social (ES) report, including the status of the implementation of site-specific Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs), is also expected to be submitted to the Bank before the project closure. 39. Social and environmental safeguards rating: Both social and environmental safeguards implementation is rated satisfactory. Communications: 40. Book Launch ‘IUCN Red List of the Plants of Bangladesh’: On 11th November 2024, the MOEFCC hosted the Book launch of the National Plant Red List, a comprehensive assessment of over 1,000 plant species across the country. It was a collaborative effort involving the Forest Department, Bangladesh National Herbarium, and IUCN Bangladesh, executed under the project. This initiative aligns with global conservation priorities by following the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria to systematically document and classify plant species based on their conservation status. Additionally, it developed Management Strategies for Invasive Alien Species (IAS) of Plants in five protected areas, creating a dual approach to biodiversity preservation and ecosystem resilience. 41. Wildlife Olympiad: Bangladesh’s first Wildlife Olympiad engaged 107,000 school and college students from 64 districts and 285 institutions. 40 finalists arrived in Dhaka for the finals and the ultimate champions were 6 students, 3 from school and colleges respectively. The national closing event was hosted by the BFD on 9th Nov.24. This Olympiad was the first of its kind, to be held in all 64 districts of the country, contributing towards a large outreach, while creating a buzz of general awareness amongst adolescents regarding wildlife conservation and preservation. The Olympiad was promoted and supported by the Wildlife department of the BFD, the SUFAL team and the Chief Conservator of Forests, while The Advisor to the Interim Government and the Minister of MOEFCC attended the event and emphasized the vital role of youth in wildlife conservation and awareness efforts. Preparation of project closing and next step 9 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 42. Prepare for Implementation Completion Report: The mission emphasized the importance to include lessons learned from the project into the ICR to inform the design of future projects. For the economic analysis during ICR process, SSP site conditions will be evaluated in which a quantitative comparative case study between SSP-based plantation sites versus other sites will be useful. Thus, BFD was requested to engage academia and/or research organizations to conduct such study and submit to the Bank prior to project closing in June 30, 2025. 43. Public Outreach Forest Event: The ongoing implementation support and the event “Focus of Forests: Meeting our Challenges� which will support BFD to position the Forestry sector for the time following the end of the project. The event will allow BFD to highlight innovations from the project while also taking a forward look on emerging priorities, challenges, and potentials. It is expected that a range of development partners will participate in the event. BFD will plan the event in discussion with the MOEFCC and inform the Bank by early February 2025. 44. Re-organization and wider dissemination of SUFAL communication products: SUFAL’s produced more than 300 visuals (posters, messages, information sheets etc.) which will be shared by the BFD and beneficiaries in outreach events and day celebrations. Bank requested BFD to submit all products for wider dissemination and promotion. Audio-visuals products and short-documentaries will be edited by the production house based on Bank’s comments to improve key messaging. PMU requested the Bank to hire consultant/s for collection of case studies before the upcoming forest event. 45. Community-based NTFP Benefit-sharing: BFD to implement 100% collection and selling of NTFP products under SUFAL’s CFM program in presence of BFD for guidance. 46. Sustainable Community Engagement: A sustainability plan is being incorporated into the final report from the NGOs, which is currently under review by the PMU. Additionally, the NGOs will assist in categorizing the specific needs of each FCV/VCF, with this information either being updated in the report or used to enhance the PMU’s effectiveness during the upcoming monthly meetings, which will now be coordinated with the beat officer. The monthly meetings with the Beat Officer should be updated on a monthly basis A regular monitoring is required and the FD will have to formulate a plan or make the communities feel more involved. 10 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 47. Agreed Actions: The following table presents the agreed next steps and actions over the next reporting period: SL. Agreed Actions Responsibility Due by PMU Response No. 1 Proactively engage with FAPAD to resolve the PMU By May 30, 2024 SFMS is assigned to outstanding audit issues and assign the resolve the outstanding relevant person(s) of the PMU and PWD with audit issues. appropriate knowledge and skills along with the supporting documents while interacting with FAPAD. 2 Tissue Culture Technology transfer sessions – BFD/BFRI By February 28, 2025 due to incompletion of all SFNTCs, the training sessions will be held in Gazipur SFNTC 3 Result Dissemination Workshop for Innovation PMU By December 30, Grants 2024 4 Organize discussion with MOEFCC Advisor to PMU immediately CCF office sent final copy review and finalize approval of Forest Policy of National Forest Policy along with the Forest Manual 2024 to MoEFCC on 28/07/2024 after inter- ministerial meeting held on 25/06/2024. FD Committee for the Review of Updating Forest Manual held meeting on 01/12/2024. 5 Hire Communications consultant for Bank By January 30, 2025 photographs & case studies 6 CEGIS to complete landcover and natural CEGIS+PMU By February 28, capital maps and forest management plans and 2025 NFI integration 7 Deploy one competent accountant for PMU immediately Mr. Mozzamel and Mr. continuous job training Abul Hosain are deployed as mainstream accounting staff. PMU requested CCF to deploy a competent accounting staff. 8 Digitization of all data based on journals must IWM+PMU By April 30, 2025 be completed under SSP planting program survey and database 9 NGOs will provide sustainability plans to be NGOs+PMU Immediately incorporated within the Final report 10 BFD to submit a Sustainability Plan which PMU Immediately includes issues i.e. refreshers training for FCV/VCF committee members to go over revolving fund etc & a monthly meeting with the Beat Officer. 11 BFD to hold community consultations to BFD Immediately implement 100% NTFP harvest and collection of profits under CFM 11 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 12 Prepare to utilize project savings for the PMU Immediately Proposed to utilize procurement of cookstoves from IDCOL and project savings for the follow up with MOEFCC to include this in the procurement of 2nd rDPP cookstoves from IDCOL/Bandhu Foundation and followed up with MOEFCC to include this in the 3rd revised RDPP 13 Conduct re-survey of 5% of SSP sites in Samahar - Third By May 30, 2024 Re-survey is on-going. planting program up to 2022. Party Estimated work Progress Monitoring 70 %. Update field training to ensure any remaining fieldwork complies with manual Shared manual and all instructions with field team to comply with manual and instructions received from time to time. 14 Finalize Gender Action Plan with comments PMU By Dec. 31, 2024 from the Bank 15 All remaining buildings will be completed and PWD By March & April paid for by PWD, respectively 2025 16 Resolve PMU’s fund clearance issue with PMU January 15, 2025 MOEFCC 17 PMU to add tenure provision of individual PMU January 15, 2025 consultants in the DPP and obtain approval 18 PMU to seek fund authorization and RADP PMU January 15, 2025 approval for the remaining amounts 19 Release all retention money after obtaining PWD January 15, 2025 bank guarantee 20 PMU to hold a tripartite meeting with auditor PMU January 31, 2025 21 Submission of audit report for FY24 PMU December 31, 2024 22 CCF, BFD to send a request for extension to FAO PMU+CCF Immediately BFD letter must be for extension in NFI work completion with the issued to FAO prior to Bank’s Letter of Extension for SUFAL December 2024 ending. 23 Dissemination of Research Grant outcome PMU January 2025 BFD to discuss with MOEFCC to fix a date in January 2025 24 Dissemination of the work package “Valuation PMU January 2025 BFD to discuss with of Ecosystem Services (Wealth Accounting) MOEFCC to fix a date in and Assessment of Payment for Ecosystem January 2025 Services� 12 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 Annex -1: The proposed cancellation, reallocations between categories are presented below: Original Allocation Cancelled amount Re-allocation Disbursed Undisbursed Categories (In SDR) (In SDR) (In SDR) (In SDR) (In SDR) 1 84,236,147.00 2,356,444.80 83,737,843.03 71,666,071.06 12,071,771.97 1A 14,283,365.00 3,058,514.57 11,224,850.43 5,691,850.43 5,533,000.00 1B 593,523.00 82,996.81 510,526.19 360,526.19 150,000.00 1C 372,744.00 69,272.83 303,471.17 303,471.17 - 2 1,400,000.00 286,713.74 1,113,286.26 753,286.26 360,000.00 3 23,601,160.00 4,500,000.00 17,243,019.17 15,473,019.17 1,770,000.00 4 413,061.00 - 413,061.00 413,060.27 - Total 124,900,000.00 10,353,942.75 114,546,057.25 94,661,284.55 19,884,771.97 13 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 Annex – 2 Draft Mission Agenda Bangladesh: Sustainable Forest and Livelihood (SUFAL) Project Tentative Implementation Support Mission Schedule: Dec 8 – 17, 2024 Date & Time Description Status Sunday, Dec 8 2024 Field tour Day 1: Confirmed • Visit activities in Dhaka Division – plantation/restoration/SSP, civil works, community activity (LDF, CDF) etc. • Travel to Mymensingh • Overnight Stay at Hotel Silver castle, Mymensingh. Monday, Dec 9, 2024 Field tour Day 2: Confirmed • Visit activities in Sherpur, Mymensingh – plantation/restoration/SSP, civil works, community activity (LDF, CDF) etc. • Overnight stay in Tangail Resthouse Tuesday, Dec 10, 2024 Field tour Day 3: Confirmed • Visit Tangail activities - plantation/restoration/SSP, civil works, community activity (LDF, CDF) • Return to Dhaka [stop by Bhawal if time permits] Wednesday, Dec 11, 2024 09:00 am Team meeting at WBOD 10:00 am PMU - Meeting on overall implementation progress status and Confirmed stocktaking from last mission ICR/PCR preparation & timeline 02:30 pm Status of National Forest Policy, SRO and COM Confirmed 03:30 am- Meeting on Communication and Media Engagement Confirmed 04:30 pm 04:30 pm – Review of Environmental Safeguards Confirmed 05:00 pm Thursday, Dec 12, 2024 09:30 am- Progress review of civil construction with PWD Confirmed 11:00 pm 11:00 am- SSP discussion with IWM 12:00 pm 12:00 pm- Progress review Collaborative Forest Management with NGOs Confirmed 01:30 pm Presentations on Lessons learned 02:30 pm Progress review Collaborative Forest Management with NGOs Confirmed Presentation on Lessons learned 04:30 pm Meeting with CCF confirmed Friday, Dec 13, 2024 Field Tour Visit Dinajpur communities, Overnight stay at Parjatan Saturday, Dec 14, 2024 14 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 Field Tour Visit Thakurgaon communities. Sunday, Dec 15, 2024 09:00 am Review of Financial Management Confirmed 10:00 am Review of Procurement Status Confirmed 11:30 am Review of M&E, Indicators and Result Framework Confirmed 01:30 pm Review of Environmental and Social Safeguards Confirmed 02:30 pm – Progress review of NFI and management plans with FAO Confirmed 03:30 pm 03:30 am- Meeting with CEGIS on landcover and natural capital maps and Confirmed 04:30 pm forest management plans Monday Dec 16, 2024 National Holiday Tuesday Dec 17, 2024 10.00 am Checkout CMU Confirmed 12.30 pm Wrap up meeting with MOEFCC, with the Secretary and Additional Confirmed Secretary 15 11th ISM_Sufal_Draft Technical Note December 2024 Annex 3 List of people met Dr. Farhina Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) Mr. Tapan Kumar Biswas, Additional Secretary (EPC & Law Wing), MOEFCC Ms. Lubna Yasmine, Joint Secretary (Planning), MOEFCC Dr. Syed Shahjahan Ahmed, Deputy Secretary (Plan-5), MOEFCC Mr. Md. Amir Hosain Chowdhury, Chief Conservator of Forests, Bangladesh Forest Department Mr. Gobinda Roy, Project Director, SUFAL Project Mr. Md. Zaglul Hossain Ph.D, Deputy Chief Conservator of Forests, Planning Wing Mr. Md. Moyeenuddin Khan, Deputy Chief Conservator of Forests. Social Forestry Wing Mr. Hossain Mohammad Nishad, Conservator of Forest, Central Circle Mr. Mohammad Yousuf, Deputy Project Director, SUFAL Project Mr. Md. Mahbubur Rahman, Deputy Project Director, SUFAL Project Mr. Md. Abdullah Abraham Hossain, Deputy Project Director, SUFAL Project Mr. Hasnat Shabrina, Superintending Engineer, Public Works Department (PWD) Mr. A.N.M. Mazharul Islam, Executive Engineer, PWD Project Division-5, Dhaka Mr. Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad, Project Management Specialist/Chief Technical Advisor, SUFAL Project Mr. Yunus Ali, Regulation and Organizational Specialist, SUFAL Project Mr. Md. Abdul Mabud, Senior Collaborative Forest Management Specialist, SUFAL Project Dr. Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, Divisional Forest Officer, Social Forest Division, Tangail Md. Anowar Hossain Sarkar, Divisional Forest Officer, Social Forest Division, Dinajpur Mr. Md. Mehedi Hasan Khan, Assistant Project Director, SUFAL Project Mr. Md. Zaheer Iqbal, Deputy Conservator of Forests, RIMS Unit, BFD Dr. Mariam Akhter, Assistant Chief Conservator of Forests, Development Planning Unit, BFD FAO Mr. Simorangkir Dicky, Cluster Lead Environment, Forest & Climate Change at FAO Mr. Mahamud Rajib, Forest Inventory and Carbon Assessment Expert at FAO CEGIS Mr. Shahidul Islam, Director, Remote Sensing Unit 16