Little Ones to Get Better Care and Nutrition Here

Bangladesh is set to receive $210 million to fund a project to enhance investments that will benefit children in their early years and, by extension, mothers who will be in a better and stronger position to care for their families.

“Ensuring adequate nutrition prenatally and in the first 1000 days of life, and responsive caregiving throughout childhood, help maximize a child’s brain development and health,” explains Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan. “The project will help poor mothers be informed on timely and appropriate care for their children and provide income support to act on that learning to improve their children’s health and wellbeing.”

The Bangladesh Enhancing Investments and Benefits for Early Years (BEIBEY) Project will grant cash transfers and counselling services to some 1.7 million pregnant women and mothers of children under four years of age living in vulnerable households. The BEIBEY Project aims to contribute to early childhood development by expanding and strengthening the government’s existing social protection program, the Mother and Child Benefit Programme. The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) provides concessional financing with a 30-year term and a 5-year grace period. Since its independence in 1947, Bangladesh has benefitted from some $40 billion in grant, interest-free, and concessional credits from the World Bank. The South Asian country is home to the world’s most extensive IDA program, with a total commitment of $16.46 billion to 57 ongoing projects.