DHAKA, June 25, 2021 (BSS) - The government and the development partners have decided to extend the Local Government Initiative on Climate Change (LoGIC) project for two more years for delivering adaptation benefit to the most vulnerable coastal people of the country.

On June 24 (yesterday), the decision came at a virtual meeting attended by  Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Md Tazul Islam, a press release said.

Ambassador and the Head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh  Rensje Teerink, Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Sweden Christine Johansson, representatives from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) also attended the meeting.  

Local Government Initiative on Climate Change, (LoGIC) project, led by the Local Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives, is a joint initiative of the Government of Bangladesh, EU, Sweden, UNCDF and UNDP.

The project initiated in 2016 with an aim to deliver climate finance to the most vulnerable households and the local government institutions in 72 unions of Khulna, Sunamganj, Kurigram, Bagerhat, Barguna, Patuakhali and Bhola districts.

The project is designed to roughly support 400,000 most climate-vulnerable people under its Performance-Based Climate Resilience Grants (PBCRG) and Community Resilience Fund (CRF) schemes.

While addressing at the meeting, Tazul said, “LoGIC project is proven as a good system to deliver climate finance through local government institutions directly reaching the climate vulnerable people to invest on local adaptation.”

 He also thanked all the development partners for standing beside the most climate-vulnerable people of Bangladesh to supplement the efforts of the government.   

Rensje Teerink highlighted European Union’s decade long support to Bangladesh in combating climate change.

She said, “As EU, we are supporting the government to create a system to bring climate finance to most climate- and economic- vulnerable households. The recent addition of approximately 7 million EUROS goes in the right direction and brings innovation for climate finance in Bangladesh."

Christine Johansson said, “Bangladesh is not just a victim of climate change; the country has also become a global leader on adaptation. LoGIC is one example. Sweden is proud to be part of the solutions with the people of Bangladesh.”

Van Nguyen, the Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Bangladesh, stressed the importance of a collaborative approach like LoGIC to deal with the greatest threat to mankind, climate change.

She said, “UNDP is committed to transcend the knowledge from LoGIC project across global networks. We hope to continue our global cooperation by working collaboratively with development partners and the government to help attain the LDC graduation and Sustainable Development Goals by 2030."

Earlier, Saila Farzana, Joint Secretary, Local Government Division & the National Project Director, LoGIC Project, gave the overview of the project.

 Among others, Helal Uddin Ahmed, Senior Secretary, Local Government Division, and Jesmul Hasan, Country Focal Point, UNCDF, also spoke at the virtual event.