Formulation of the South-Western Bangladesh Rural Development Project

The objectives of this assignment were to verify the contents of the Feasibility Study Report for the South-western Bangladesh Rural Infrastructure Development Project (SWBRDP) prepared by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), and to recommend measures to enhance the effectiveness of rural infrastructure development. The objectives of the proposed project, implemented by the LGED, were to increase economic opportunities and to improve the accessibility to social services of the poor in rural areas in South-western Bangladesh through the construction and rehabilitation of basic rural infrastructure. The project was designed to help narrow the social gap, reduce poverty, and facilitate recovery from damage caused by natural disasters.

From June 2008 to  January of the following year, IC Net carried out the following: 1. Designed and conducted a socioeconomic survey to gather data for setting project indicators; 2. Reviewed and examined the benefit monitoring and evaluation indicators of past rural infrastructure development projects; 3. Set draft monitoring and evaluation indicators for the SWBRDP; 4. Confirmed the efficiency and relevance of the benefit monitoring and evaluation indicators through field surveys and interviews with beneficiaries by local consultants; 5. Set draft indicators of the impacts of rural infrastructure development and negotiated these with LGED and the Government of Bangladesh; 6. Designed the project log frame, which included the above-mentioned monitoring and evaluation indicators, and negotiated this with LGED and the Government of Bangladesh.