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          Bangladesh: National Strategy for the Development of Statistics Implementation
                                     Support Project

                                      Implementation Support Mission
                                               June 24-28, 2018



I.    Introduction

        A World Bank (WB) team1 carried out a mission to conduct an implementation support review of
 the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics Implementation Support Project (Project). The
 mission took place from June 24-28, 2018.

        The main objectives of the mission were: i) participate in the signing of the Project; ii) follow up
on the activities for Project Effectiveness; and (iii) follow up on the release of the 2016/17 Household
Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) microdata.

       The WB team would like to express its appreciation to the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) for the
excellent collaboration and hospitality extended during the mission. A list of people met during the mission
is presented in Annex 1.

      A series of meetings were held between the officials of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS)
and the WB team during this mission, including a wrap-up meeting with the Secretary, Statistics and
Information Division (SID), on July 28, 2018. This Aide Memoire summarizes the main discussion points
and agreements reached between the GoB and the WB team in these meetings, which have been endorsed
by the WB management. It was agreed that this Aide Memoire will be classified as ‘public’ under the WB’s
Access to Information Policy.


II.   Key points discussed and agreed next steps

Steps for Project effectiveness. The NSDS Project was signed. The WB team discussed the key steps the
BBS will need to take to meet the effectiveness conditions namely, (i) appointment of the Project Director
(PD) and (ii) Finalization of the Project Operations Manual (POM). The Director General of BBS informed
the WB team that the process of appointing the PD has started and that both the effectiveness conditions
will be met by July 15, 2018.

Opening Designated Account (DA) and hiring consultants for the Project Implementation Unit (PIU).
The teams agreed that BBS will initiate the necessary steps for opening the DA and hiring consultants for

1
  The Mission included Messrs./Mmes. Ruth Hill (Senior Economist), Urmila Chatterjee (Economist), Wameq A.
Raza (Economist), Arafat Istiaque (Procurement Specialist), Mohammed Atikuzzaman (Senior Financial Management
Specialist), Faizuddin Ahmed (Senior Technical Advisor) and Shegufta Shahriar (Team Associate).
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the PIU, specially the Financial Management Specialist (FMS) and the Procurement Specialist, as priority
actions immediately after the appointment of the PD.

Release of Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2016/17 microdata. One important
objective of the NSDS Project is the timely release of the BBS data. In that regard, the WB team stressed
that the delay in releasing the microdata of the HIES 2016/17 is causing concern about the quality of the
data and preventing others from using this rich source of information for policy dialogue in Bangladesh.
There no compelling reason that justifies the delay in sharing the microdata to users. Thus, WB has asked
the BBS to make every effort so that the microdata is released at the earliest.

The WB and BBS agreed on the following next steps:
   i. BBS will appoint the PD and finalize the POM for the NSDS project by July 15, 2018.
  ii. BBS will initiate the steps needed to open the DA and seek no objection from the Bank for the
      terms of reference of key PIU staff immediately after the PD is appointed.
 iii. BBS will issue the advertisement for hiring the PIU consultants no later than July 30, 2018.
 iv.  BBS will organize a launch workshop for the NSDS Project with participation from all BBS wings
      in August 2018.
  v.  The next mission is planned for August 2018.
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                               Annex 1. People consulted during mission

Mr. Kazi Shofiqul Azam, Secretary, Economic Relations Division

Ms. Mahmuda Begum, Additional Secretary, Economic Relations Division

Mr. Sarwar Mahmud, Joint Secretary, Economic Relations Division

Mr. Saurendra Nath Chakrabhartty, Secretary (in-charge), Statistics and Informatics Division, Ministry of
Planning

Mr. Bikash Kishore Das, Additional Secretary, Statistics and Informatics Division, Ministry of Planning

Mr. Amir Hossain, Additional Secretary, Director General, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics

Mr. Md. Dilder Hossain, Project Director NSDS, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics

Dr. Dipankar Roy, Deputy Secretary and Project Director HIES, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics

Mr. Abdul Latif, Deputy Project Director HIES, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics