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Copenhagen Consensus Center

Smart Solutions for Bangladesh

Bangladesh Priorities research explored 76 solutions to help Bangladesh, covering themes from poverty and health to education, infrastructure and gender equality. Download our project brochure for complete breakdown...

    Top Priorities for Bangladesh

    One-in-Eleven Death Could Be Averted; Billions of Lives Saved

    Our Eminent Panel, including a Nobel laureate economist and Bangladeshi economic experts, announced a prioritized list of investments that would produce phenomenal benefits for Bangladesh, saving billions of takas and averting one-in-eleven deaths.

    Following the Copenhagen Consensus framework, the panel’s top priorities for Bangladesh were investment in tuberculosis (TB) treatment, infant nutrition, and e-government.

    A Pioneering Project

    For more than a decade, the Copenhagen Consensus approach has been applied at a global level – most recently to provide an economic input to the United Nations’ ‘Sustainable Development Goals’. This collaboration with BRAC is the first time it has been used at a national level.

    "Bangladesh has a proud tradition for trailblazing ideas, distributing innovative BRAC solutions to many nations, and making microfinance a solution across the world. This project is a global first, and this once again makes Bangladesh a pioneer.”  
    - Bjorn Lomborg

    Compelling New Economic Research

    After public engagement and roundtables held with government, NGOs, and universities, seventy-six policy options were selected for analysis. More than 60% of the researchers in the project were Bangladeshi. The entire volume of new policy research has been placed in the public domain

    The Eminent Panel considered the entire volume of research, well over 1,000 pages of new evidence on the costs and benefits of Bangladeshi policy options and prioritized the following list of investments.

    This list will help both government and donors to prioritize future policy choices for Bangladesh. By encapsulating the social, environmental, and economic returns on cost, this provides us with a very valuable insight.”  
    - Dr. Kas Murshid, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies Director General

    Click here to learn more about the top three investmetns or download the Eminent Panel’s full findings. Scroll down to view the full eminent panel ranking.

     

    Rank Intervention
    1 TB treatment
    2 e-procurement across government
    3 Nutrition & micronutrients, ½-5 year olds
    4 Land records digitization
    5 Bus Priority for Dhaka
    6 Increase secondary education for girls
    7 Iron and folic acid in pregnancy
    8 Psycho-social stimulation for stunting
    9 Immunize children in urban slums
    10 Hypertension medication
    11 Union Digital Center migration services
    12 Retrofit kilns, outdoor air pollution
    13 More services at Union Digital Centers
    14 Treat arsenic for 20% worst affected
    15 Newborn homecare by health workers
    16 Reform VAT and automate collection
    17 Access to contraception
    18 Golden Rice R&D
    19 Expand village courts
    20 RMG factory compliance
    21 Balanced protein energy in pregnancy
    22 Solid waste management in Dhaka
    23 Multi-drug resistant TB treatment
    24 Tobacco tax
    25 Immunize children in remote areas
    26 Facility births with skilled attendant
    27 Shared diesel to replace kerosene
    28 Import coal for more power
    29 Calcium in pregnancy
    30 RMG Palli special zone
    31 Gasifier stove
    32 Ultra-poor graduation programs
    33 Skills training for migrants
    34 Expand broadband
    35 Diabetes treatment
    36 Trade liberalization
    37 Household solar to replace kerosene
    38 Sanitation
    39 Group and teach according to ability
    40 Biomass cookstoves, indoor air pollution
    41 Hand-washing promotion
    42 Stormwater drainage in Dhaka
    43 Transport infrastructure for Dhaka
    44 Treat arsenic for all affected
    45 Boost agricultural productivity
    46 Early warning systems and shelters
    47 Restoration of Buriganga river system
    48 On-the-job management training
    49 Smokeless tobacco cessation
    50 Resettlement to manufacturing cities
    51 Improve teacher accountability
    52 Polders, flood level less than 3m
    53 Padma Bridge
    54 Improve school management
    55 New hybrid kilns, outdoor air pollution
    56 Trade facilitation
    57 Treat and immunize cervical cancer
    58 Seasonal migration stipends
    59 Mangrove protection in Sundarbans
    60 Livelihood programs
    61 Flexible microfinance
    62 Traditional microfinance
    63 Vocational training
    64 Provide BAU inputs like textbooks
    65 LPG cookstoves, indoor air pollution
    66 Unrestricted roads to North East India
    67 Unconditional cash transfers
    68 Unrestricted roads to Bhutan and Nepal
    69 Import and domestic coal for more power
    70 Computer assisted learning
    71 Bond market
    72 Polders, flood level more than 3m