Experts for building data bank for women dev

Experts at a project evaluation program, on Monday at a city hotel in Dhaka, emphasized building an integrated data bank for women development.

The program was organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) where its Country Director Kazuhiko Higuchi, Director General of Independent Evaluation Marvin Taylor Dormond, Principal Evaluation Specialist Hyun H Son, Program Director of BRACK Anna Minj, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Woman and Children Affairs Mahmuda Sharmin Benu, Senior Research Fellow at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and Ramendra Nath Biswas of Finance Ministry among others were present.

The program was titled as "What works and doesn't work and why."  Representatives from NGOs, professors from universities were present too and made their opinions on women development in Bangladesh.

Professor Sadeka Halim, Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka, said, there is no integrated data on women development and monitory program in Bangladesh. She urged the related government department and ADB on building a data bank and proper monitoring of women development.

One of the Program Directors of BRACK Anna Minj said, well educated women have value in marriage market. So women should have education. She emphasized investment in women education for reducing early marriage. She also said, Bangladesh has done a great job in women development and empowerment.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been financing for infrastructural development which can be a powerful driver of gender equality in the country.

Infrastructure projects have significant potentials to increase the economic empowerment of women in Bangladesh and contribute to the government's efforts to promote gender equality, says an evaluation of the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) support for gender and development in the country by ADB's Independent Evaluation Department. "Women must be given a seat at the table in infrastructure-building," says Marvin-Taylor Dormond, Director General of Independent Evaluation at ADB.

The evaluation assessed ADB's support for gender and development in its Bangladesh operations during 2005-15. The period saw a marked increase in infrastructure projects in ADB's $9 billion portfolio for the country, of which infrastructure accounted for $5 billion.

Both the Government of Bangladesh, in its Seventh Five Year Plan 2016-2021, and ADB are committed to promoting gender equality.

-Roton Malo