After visiting the communities and laying the foundation stone of a climate-resilient infrastructure scheme, the High Commissioner said, I have had a wonderful introduction to Chandpur with the LIUPC Project. I was very impressed by the power of community-led development processes facilitated by the project. It was also very good to see women and girls empowered to lead local development planning and implementation in urban poor communities. And I have seen great examples of locally led adaptation, which has the potential to be replicated elsewhere in Bangladesh and beyond in communities affected by climate change. The UK Government is proud to be partnering with UNDP and the Government of Bangladesh.”

Van Nguyen in her remarks, said, “The urban poor communities we met here were mostly climate displaced from various parts of the country, and unfortunately, continue to be victims of the effects of climate crisis when living in poor urban areas. The growing number of poor urban communities without access to basic services is a matter of concern in Bangladesh, and we are pleased to be working to reduce their vulnerabilities with a multifaceted approach through the LIUPC Project. Overall, it is in UNDP’s strong interest to ensure sustainable urbanisation efforts in Bangladesh. There are good learnings from several key models experimented with the LIUPCP, which have been immensely successful and offer strong potential for scale-up. I want to thank the Governments of the UK and Bangladesh for their excellent ongoing partnership with us through the project.”

The LIUPC Project is jointly implemented by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the UNDP on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh, and has activities across 19 towns and cities nationwide. It is considered a product of the largest partnership between FCDO and UNDP globally, in an urban context.