The government of Bangladesh today signed a $6.5 million financing agreement with the World Bank to enable around 39,000 slum children complete primary education as well as provide pre-vocational training to 8,500 school-dropped out youths in Cox’s Bazar. 

This additional financing to the Second Reaching Out of School Children (ROSC II) Project will support poor children aged between 8- to 14-years in eight city corporations to complete primary education cycle. This will also help vulnerable out-of-school local youth and adolescents in Cox’s Bazar to complete three-month courses in pre-vocational and enterprise development training.

“The pandemic has disproportionately impacted the education of children from poorer households,” said Mercy Tembon, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan. “The additional financing will help the slum children and the vulnerable youths build the foundations for better opportunities.”

“Bangladesh government is committed to ensuring education for all. Today, almost all children in Bangladesh step into a school,” said Fatima Yasmin, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Government of Bangladesh. 

About 690,000 children—almost half of them are girls—studied in the learning centers, known as Ananda Schools. The project has set up around 1,300 Learning Centres in slums of 8 city corporations, including Dhaka, where about 48,000 children are enrolled. At Ananda Schools, a single class teacher teaches the students until they are ready for the Grade 5 examination, allowing the poor children to proceed to the secondary schools. 

Since 2019, the ROSC II project expanded its coverage to provide learning opportunities and psycho-social support to about 350,000 Rohingya children in Teknaf and Ukhia Upazilla in Cox’s Bazar. Further, 16,500 Bangladeshi youths have received skills training and job placement support.

The agreement was signed by Fatima Yasmin and Mercy Tembon on behalf of the Government and the World Bank, respectively. 

The credit from the World Bank’s International Development Association, has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period. The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence. Since then, the World Bank has committed more than $33.5 billion in grants, interest-free, and concessional credits to the country. 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) today formed a new Clean and Sustainable Ocean Partnership to support initiatives in Asia and the Pacific to help meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate goals of the Paris Agreement.

The partnership will strengthen the capacity of ADB and EIB to support high-impact projects. Both institutions will finance activities aimed at promoting cleaner oceans through the reduction of land-based plastics and other pollutants discharged into the ocean, as well as projects to improve the sustainability of socioeconomic activities that take place in oceans or use ocean-based resources.

“Healthy oceans are critical to life across Asia and the Pacific, providing food security and climate resilience for hundreds of millions of people,” said ADB Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Bambang Susantono. “This Memorandum of Understanding between ADB and EIB will launch a framework for cooperation on clean and sustainable oceans, helping us to expand our pipeline of ocean projects in the region and widen their impacts.”

“Oceans play a vital role in the world economy and they are also the largest carbon sink on the planet, helping to regulate the global climate. But oceans are under enormous pressure, with implications for billions of people. The economic crisis caused by COVID-19 does not weaken our commitment to address global environmental and climate challenges,” said EIB Vice-President Christian Kettel Thomsen. “As the European Union (EU) climate bank, we are very proud to partner with ADB through this new Clean and Sustainable Ocean Partnership to further protect the oceans and preserve and promote the sustainable use of this precious natural resource.”

The partnership provides a framework for ADB and EIB to expand inter-institutional cooperation and investments in ocean health and sustainable blue economy. The following principles will guide the ADB and EIB cooperation in jointly selected areas, including: (i) alignment with the country partnership strategies of both ADB and EIB; (ii) support for the achievement of the  SDGs and the  Paris Agreement by countries in Asia and the Pacific; (iii) encouragement of stakeholder participation and mobilization of third-party finance; (iv) environmental and social sustainability; and (v) country ownership of investment policies and programs. ADB and EIB will mutually benefit from organizational expertise in key investment areas as well as pool resources in emerging ocean issues and solutions and accelerate growth in the oceans project pipeline and development impact.

The partnership will support projects that reduce marine plastic pollution including integrated solid waste management projects, such as recycling; circular economy principles, such as designing out plastic waste; and promoting clean rivers and waterways, including through improved wastewater management and inclusive sanitation.

The partnership will also focus on sustainable fisheries management and sustainable seafood supply chains; sustainable management, protection, and restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems and resources; integrated coastal protection activities; disaster risk preparedness; and green shipping, green ports, and maritime infrastructure, with a focus on increasing safety and environmental performance.

In addition, ADB and EIB will develop joint technical assistance programs and advisory support to help partners get sustainable blue economy and clean oceans projects off the ground.

Healthy oceans are a key priority of ADB’s Strategy 2030. In 2019, ADB launched a $5 billion Action Plan for Healthy Oceans and Sustainable Blue Economies (the Action Plan) to boost investment and technical assistance to protect and restore oceans in Asia and the Pacific. The Action Plan focuses on promoting action on ecosystem management, pollution control, and sustainable coastal and marine development, while supporting ADB’s developing members to catalyze blue finance for projects through the Oceans Financing Initiative.

EIB is the long-term lending institution of the EU owned by its Member States. As the EU climate bank, the EIB is investing in the sustainable blue economy and supporting initiatives aiming at reducing pollution and preserving the oceans. Under its Blue Sustainable Ocean Strategy, the EIB committed to double its lending to sustainable ocean projects to €2.5 billion (around $3 billion) over the period 2019–2023 and expects to mobilize at least €5 billion of investments that will contribute to improve the health of the oceans and their resources.

Global leaders are advocating for cooperation to be the new compass for international relations and have released a set of seven Principles for Strengthening Global Cooperation. The World Economic Forum’s Global Action Group, comprised of senior members of government, business, civil society, and the expert community, developed the principles.

Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum, convened the Global Action Group in virtual meetings beginning in June 2020. François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada; Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands; Tarō Kōno, Minister in charge of Administrative Reform of Japan; Tito Mboweni, Minister of Finance of South Africa; Dina Powell McCormick, Global Head, Sustainability and Inclusive Growth, Goldman Sachs; and Kent Walker, Senior Vice-President, Global Affairs, Google,co-chaired the group.

The seven principles call for prioritizing peace and security, equity, gender equality and sustainability because each of these is advanced by and is needed to advance global cooperation. Their absence can cause deep fractures as highlighted by the Global Risks Report 2021 released earlier this week by the Forum.

The seven Principles for Strengthening Global Cooperation:

• Strengthen global cooperation
• Advance peace and security
• Re-globalize equitably
• Promote gender equality
• Rebuild sustainably
• Deepen public-private partnerships
• Increase global resilience

“Having leaders articulate the importance of working with one another – at a moment that so clearly calls for greater unity but lacks it – can serve as a vital step in rechannelling momentum in the right direction,” said Børge

Brende, President of the World Economic Forum. “The direction we need to head is toward greater dialogue, coordination and collective action. Only in this way can we shape a more equitable and sustainable recovery and increase our future resilience.”

Members of the Global Action Group

Mohammed Alardhi, Executive Chairman, Investcorp Holding

John R. Allen, President, The Brookings Institution

Niels Annen, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany

Thomas Bagger, Head, Foreign Policy Division, Office of Presidential Affairs of Germany

Thomas Buberl, Chief Executive Officer, AXA

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey

Mathias Cormann, Candidate of the Government of Australia for Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Ivo Daalder, President, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Chairman, Dutch Safety Board

Jeffrey D. Feltman, Senior Fellow, United Nations Foundation

Fu Ying, Chairperson, Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University

Orit Gadiesh, Chairman, Bain & Company

Arancha González Laya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain

Samer Haj Yehia, Chairman of the Board, Bank Leumi Le-Israel

Jane Harman, Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Minister of Finance, Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia

Ann Linde, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden

Susana Malcorra, Dean, IE School of Global and Public Affairs, IE University

Luis Alberto Moreno, Member of the Board of Trustees, World Economic Forum

Vali R. Nasr, Professor of International Relations, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University

Patrick Odier, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Bank Lombard Odier & Co.

Maxim Oreshkin, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation

Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Indian Prime Minister’s G20 Sherpa

Ayman Al Safadi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Kevin Sneader, Global Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company

Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)