WFP's goal in Bangladesh is to help alleviate food insecurity in sustainable ways by using food aid as one input within the framework of larger interventions to make the poorest people self-reliant. WFP's strategy has a strong development focus, with only a fraction of resources going to emergency operations.

Because food insecurity is endemic in rural areas and because urban poverty is an extension of rural poverty through the process of migration, WFP centres its action on rural areas. WFP, as part of its commitment to the process of "Strengthening the Institutions for Food Assisted Development", is providing extensive training to Government officials and NGO staff in planning, management and monitoring of food-assisted development.

WFP helped the Government establish the Vulnerable Groups Development Project and the Rural Development Project, under which most food aid is utilised in Bangladesh. These projects were initially designed to provide relief following the famine of 1974, but since the 1980s their focus has shifted to supporting sustainable development.

In addition to the mainstream development projects, WFP, jointly with UNHCR, is providing food to refugees from Myanmar under a Protracted Refugee Operation. This relief operation is planned to end shortly.

WFP's multilateral resources have traditionally accounted for 30% of total food aid to Bangladesh. The VGD and RD projects have attracted significant contributions from bilateral donors and the Government of Bangladesh.

In October 1996, WFP's First Country Programme in Bangladesh was approved for the 1997-2000 period. Activities will have the following strategic priorities:

Increased targeting of resources to the most food-insecure areas of Bangladesh. For this, the Government and WFP have developed a Resource Allocation Map providing geographically disaggregated information on food insecurity.

Impact Evaluations, based on quantitative and qualitative longitudinal data, will become an integral component of WFP's activities, undertaken for every cycle of every major type of intervention. This will provide feedback from the beneficiaries for improved project design and accountability.

The Vulnerable Groups Development (VGD) Project aims to increase the earning potential and social empowerment of the most disadvantaged rural women through:

The Income Generation (IG) sub-project which provides wheat as a grant to give poor women a break from the struggle to find food, and allow them to attend courses on income-generating activities and functional skills. A total of 458,000 women receive food aid for a period of 18 months. In addition, 70% of these women become NGO members, a factor correlated with the likeliness of permanently moving out of poverty. NGO membership should cover 100% of VGD beneficiaries by the year 2000. The latest survey of the impact of the IG sub-project found that the income of women who were involved in a development package in 1992-94 has since doubled.

The Women's Training Centres (WTC) sub-project which provides food aid to approximately 35,000 women undergoing year-long training programmes in 600 centres operated by GOB's Department of Women's Affairs or NGOs.

The Group Leaders and Extension Workers (GLEW) sub-project which provides support to approximately 1,000 women, who organise self-help groups in areas where NGO and Government services are unavailable.

The Rural Development (RD) Project supports the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of rural assets, while generating considerable temporary employment. The RD project in 1996-97 generated about 30 million workdays for an estimated 450,000 partici-pants. In future WFP will ensure that the majority of work-ers are supported by NGOs in establishing sustainable year-round income generating activities. A combination of food and cash is used as wage for poor rural dwellers participating in labour-intensive activities in four sectors :

Water : for the protection of people, their assets and their land, construction and rehabilitation of flood-control embankments and drainage canals;

Roads : to improve rural dwellers' access to services and increase development opportunities in the community, rehabilitation and upgrade of rural roads;

Fisheries : to generate a sustainable income for poor beneficiaries and increase the production of protein-rich foods, development of inland fish ponds;

Forestry : to offer long-term returns to poor beneficiaries and improve the environment, tree and bamboo plantation and maintenance.