Bangladesh

During the past 40 years, this country's population has increased by 200 per cent, and today Bangladesh has more than 157 million inhabitants. Historically, the country has been among the five or six largest recipients of bilateral aid.

Shortly after independence in 1971, diplomatic relations were established between Norway and Bangladesh. Now Bangladesh is gradually becoming less dependent on foreign aid. During the past few years, cooperation between Bangladesh and Norway has undergone a change towards less focus on traditional project support and more focus on bilateral interests. According to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this change is a natural development as Bangladesh is becoming less dependent on foreign aid, and Norway and Bangladesh have a number of common points of reference far beyond development cooperation.

The present focus areas are:

• Private sector cooperation
• Institutional cooperation
• Climate
• Disaster risk prevention
• Good governance
• The rights of women and homosexuals

Today, international assistance accounts for approximately two per cent of the country's gross domestic product. An annual economic growth of five to six per cent for the past 20 years has brought about development, but poverty is still a major problem.

Disaster risk prevention

According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat), a greater part of the population in developing countries will live in cities than in rural areas by the year 2030. Climate changes influence global urbanisation trends. Areas and arable land change, peoples' living conditions change and many seek new opportunities to earn a living in urban areas. This is also the case in Bangladesh. The capital, Dhaka, is highly vulnerable to the consequences of climate changes, such as extreme weather and sea level rise. Estimates by the World Bank show that poverty decreases faster in rural areas than in urban areas, hence urban poverty becomes an increasing problem. Sustainable city planning provides scope for climate adaption considerations. The Norwegian contribution to the climate adaption efforts is therefore an integral part of Norwegian development policy in general. Still the Norwegian government seeks to underline the emphasis on climate adaption by strengthening support to particularly vulnerable sectors, primarily food security and disaster risk prevention.

Bangladesh is highly prone to natural disasters. Norway therefore signed an agreement on support to the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) - a joint initiative of the Government of Bangladesh and UNDP. The Norwegian contribution will be a total of NOK 100 million over five years.

The goal of the CDMP is to contribute to poverty alleviation through reducing the impact of natural disasters and other human-induced hazards. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry says this project represents a change of paradigm for disaster management in Bangladesh. This implies that the efforts are shifted from post-disaster rehabilitation to prevention of damage, vulnerability and risks.

The agreement is in line with Report No. 9 (2007–2008) to the Storting (the Norwegian Parliament): "Norwegian policy on the prevention of humanitarian crises".

Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen and Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies have also entered into an agreement focusing on capacity building and adaption to climate changes.

Grameen Bank

2010 became a dramatic year for the bank for the poor, Grameen Bank, and Professor Mohammad Yunus, also known as the father of microcredit. According to a documentary by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, in the middle of the 1990s, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus misappropriated Norwegian funds totalling NOK 608 million granted to Grameen Bank. The documentary claimed that the Norad funds were transferred from Grameen Bank to Grameen Kalyan, another company owned by Professor Yunus. Norad also received harsh criticism for not having disclosed the documents regarding the money transactions.

In response to the allegations, the Norwegian Minister of the Environment and International Development, Erik Solheim, asked Norad to prepare a report on the case.

"According to the report, there is no indication that Norwegian funds have been used for unintended purposes, or that Grameen Bank has engaged in corrupt practices or embezzled funds. The matter was concluded when the agreement concerning reimbursement of the funds was entered into in May 1998 under the government in office at the time," said Erik Solheim in a press release after completion of the Norad report.

In Bangladesh the media have been merciless in their treatment of Professor Mohammad Yunus, and the press coverage has left people with an impression that this case implied serious fraud. Subsequently, Professor Yunus chose to leave his position.

The rights of the homosexuals

The Norwegian National Association for Lesbians and Homosexuals supports the running of "The Gender and Sexuality Resource Center"; a newly founded coalition of organisations for lesbians, transgender people and homosexuals in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. This is a small centre where lesbians, homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people can meet and find understanding and information about their rights. The coalition also organises workshops, film festivals, and gatherings on the International Day of Homophobia and Human Rights Day. Homosexual acts between men are illegal in Bangladesh according to Section 377 of the Penal Code of 1860, and can be punished with up to 10 ten years' imprisonment.

Education

One of the largest education sector programmes in the world is being carried out in Bangladesh. Public primary education in Bangladesh encompasses 16 million children. In the past, Norway has allocated NOK 58.6 million to this programme that focuses on primary education.

Here are some of the results:

• 90 % of all children enrol in the five-year primary school, girls and boys are equally represented.
• So far, 79 000 have completed this course.
• 137 000 school administration employees have received training. The final target for this training is 186 000.
• 30 000 new classrooms have been constructed.
• 12 500 arsenic free wells have been constructed.
• 14 000 latrines have been constructed.
• In 2009 final examinations at the end of class 5 were introduced for all pupils across the country.
• 89 % of the 1.8 million pupils participating in the examinations passed in all subjects.

As a consequence of the restructuring of the bilateral cooperation, Norway withdrew from this programme with effect from the summer of 2010.