Our Work

USAID supports Bangladesh’s Vision 2021 strategy for a country that is “a knowledge-based, healthy, food-secure and climate resilient middle-income democracy.”  

Past U.S. assistance has created broad-based benefits to the country and its citizens. USAID’s new Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) for Bangladesh builds on this legacy of partnership.

Through its strategy in Bangladesh, over the next five years USAID hopes to address key issues, including:

• Increasing citizen confidence in key governance institutions;
• Improving food security by:
  • Significantly increasing the incomes of roughly 1 million beneficiaries (including nearly half a million people currently living on less than $1.25 a day);
  • Decreasing the proportion of underweight and stunted children--each by 25 percent;
  • Increasing non-rice agricultural production by 20 percent;
  • Improving private-sector investment by $1 billion;
• Improving health status by:
  • Reducing the total fertility rate from 2.5 to 2.2 children per woman;
  • Reducing under-5 mortality from 56 to 48 per 1000 live births;
  • Reducing maternal mortality from 194 to 143 per 100,000 live births; and
• Improving responsiveness to climate change.

Given the significant challenges facing the country, Bangladesh has been selected as a priority country for the U.S. Government’s Global Health Initiative (GHI), Feed the Future (FTF) and Global Climate Change (GCC) Initiative.  

Agriculture and Food Security

Bangladesh is a focus country under the Feed the Future Initiative, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security effort. USAID’s objective is to improve the agricultural diversity and productivity of food and cash crops, while increasing incomes and nutrition among farmers and their families. USAID helps farmers increase their incomes by reducing post-harvest losses and strengthening linkages between small farms and regional markets. In addition, USAID supports agricultural research and extension services to develop and distribute improved seed varieties and modern production techniques.

USAID works in southern Bangladesh to increase the production of staples and high-value crops, improve nutrition, build up the business-enabling environment, rebuild agricultural research capacities, and strengthen services for farmers. Targeting small-scale farmers in the southern coastal delta of Bangladesh, USAID promotes the efficient use of agricultural inputs, emphasizing good-quality seeds, fertilizer and water management.

Democracy, Human Rights and Governance

USAID promotes pluralistic and responsive governance in Bangladesh by helping to develop representative political institutions, combat corruption, improve citizens’ access to justice and increase local-level authority through decentralization. USAID supports credible elections, broader citizen participation in political processes, and effective functioning of political parties, and we provide assistance to improve overall transparency within Bangladesh by supporting government oversight institutions. USAID also works to reduce the prevalence of domestic violence and human trafficking and to increase respect for workers’ rights.

Environment and Global Climate Change

Bangladesh is a focus country under the Global Climate Change Initiative, the U.S. Government’s commitment to integrate climate change considerations into foreign assistance. As climate change is a major development challenge for Bangladesh, USAID works to improve Bangladesh’s ability to respond and adapt to environmental changes and to mitigate their effects on the most vulnerable populations. USAID promotes renewable energy and energy efficiency, encourages low-carbon development, and seeks to preserve the country’s biodiversity. For example, USAID brought over 780,000 hectares of biologically significant forest and wetlands under improved natural resource management.

USAID strengthens Bangladesh’s resilience to natural disasters through disaster preparedness and mitigation programs that benefit nearly three million poor and extremely poor people, providing them with earthen embankments to reduce flooding and erosion by wave surges, as well as other long-term solutions to improve livelihoods. USAID also supports the construction of more than 100 multi-purpose cyclone shelters in communities in disaster-prone areas. 

Global Health

USAID implements a broad range of projects to deliver health services and strengthen health systems as part of the Global Health Initiative, the U.S. Government’s portfolio of health programs and investments. USAID helps the Government of Bangladesh adopt and scale up proven interventions that increase access to voluntary family planning, reduce maternal and child mortality, and improve nutrition. Our projects also work to reduce the burden of tuberculosis, human and avian influenza, and other infectious diseases, and to keep HIV/AIDS prevalence below 1 percent. USAID funds non-governmental organizations and government programs to improve and expand health care services for Bangladesh’s poorest communities. Approximately 20 million Bangladeshis receive basic health care services every year through USAID health programs.