As many rural landless poor continue to move to cities to escape harsh climates, looking for jobs, trying to access to education and healthcare, the price they pay is hefty because of population increase and unplanned development. Poor women and children are often the worst victims for expensive but poor-quality housing, little to no security, and limited and unreliable water and power supplies. Notable advances have been made in strengthening urban governance and management but much remains to be done. Bangladesh’s smooth transition from ‘low-income’ to ‘middle-income’ country status is not possible if the large numbers of urban poor are overlooked. This 6-year project by UNDP addresses the challenges of urban poverty.

What we do

The project aims to contribute to balanced, sustainable growth by reducing urban poverty in Bangladesh and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 that call for ‘leaving no one behind’. The major objectives of the project are:

• Facilitate climate resilient housing and basic services for the low-income households    
• Build community organisation  
• Skills and enterprise development for women and girls 
• Enhancing climate adaptive capacity of the low-income community through resilient infrastructure
• Strengthening municipal capacity for improved urban management, policy and planning.