The  World Bank will provide USD 300 million to Bangladesh to help about 75,000  poor and extremely poor rural people across 20 districts come out of poverty and build resilience to the COVID 19 pandemic.
 

The World Bank financing under the Resilience, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Improvement (RELI) Project will help boost the rural economy in about 3,200 villages. The project will mobilize, develop, and strengthen community organizations, and finance their community plans, provide cash transfers and loans for income-generating activities.

World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Mercy Tembon said that 90 percent of the beneficiaries will be women.The project will also help with health and nutritional awareness.

The project will support rural entrepreneurs and producer groups with market linkages  including e-commerce platforms, partnerships with local governments, and promotional activities. It will also provide skills development training to the unemployed or under-employed youth and returnee migrants to increase their employability.

Close to 490,000 people  will receive training through the project on climate risk, adaptation, and resilience building. It will also build 5,120 climate-resilient small-scale infrastructures.