Progress Report on Supporting Local Development in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Publisher: UNDP
Author(s): Henrik F. Larsen
Date: 2014
Topics: Governance, Monitoring and Evaluation, Peace and Security Operations, Programming, Renewable Resources
Countries: Bangladesh
A Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord signed in December 1997 ended the decades-long insurgency, allowing for the recognition of the rights of the peoples and tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts region which is home to both 11 distinctive indigenous groups and Bengalis. Relevant government institutions have been established in the CHT, including the Regional Council and the three Hill District Councils (HDCs) to support this peace process, representing the interests of the ethnically diverse population and to adapt national policies and programmes to local conditions. However, the implementation of the Peace Accord has remained partial, and peace consolidation continues to be fragile in the CHT. CHT institutions still face enormous challenges in delivering services and development assistance to the CHT people. “Supporting Local Development in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)” has been initiated by the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility (CHTDF) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Bangladesh with principal financial support from the European Union (EU). The project implementation began in January 2011 with initial implementation timeframe up to September 2013. In November 2012, a 2-year no-cost-extension was granted in order to respond to the difficulty in operationalization of the originally proposed implementation modality. With this extension, the implementation timeframe was revised up to September 2015. The overall objective of the project is to promote an enabling environment for local development, contributing to the achievement of local Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets in the CHT. The project addresses capacity development of CHT government institutions to support local development and MDG acceleration, thereby addressing the ownership and sustainability of the CHT peace and development results. At the community level, community-based organizations, namely Para (village) Development Committees (PDCs) and Para Nari (women) Development Groups (PNDGs) which were formed and mobilized by the CHTDF in earlier periods are contributing to the local development in the CHT.