WOMEN,S DEVELOPMENT POLICY BEING IMPLEMENTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 001040

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/PB, USAID, AND IO
DEPT ALSO FOR OFFICE OF WOMEN'S ISSUES ABOTTNER AND LBLOOM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/04/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM KWMN SOCI KPAO EAID UN BG
SUBJECT: WOMEN,S DEVELOPMENT POLICY BEING IMPLEMENTED

REF: DHAKA 00436

Classified By: Ambassador James Moriarty, Reasons 1.4(b),(d)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) The Government of Bangladesh (GOB) plans to implement
its Women's Development Policy quietly, according to the
Adviser for the Ministries of Primary and Mass Education,
Women and Children Affairs, and Cultural Affairs. Adviser
Rasheda K. Chowdhury told the Ambassador on September 30 that
the GOB remained committed to the policy but wanted to avoid
disruptive protests like the ones that followed the unveiling
of the policy earlier this year (reftel). The Adviser also
touched on the donor coordination process and reactions to a
decision to give the domestic NGO Bangladesh Rural
Advancement Committee (BRAC) some control over primary
education.

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FUTURE OF WOMEN,S POLICY
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2. (C) Chowdhury explained to the Ambassador that the GOB had
recently been silent on the Bangladesh National Policy of
Advancement of Women to avoid disruptive protests before the
upcoming national parliamentary elections slated for December

2008. The Chief Adviser had launched the policy on March 8,
sparking fierce protests from conservative Muslim groups
(reftel). Chowdhury promised, however, that the GOB had
incorporated the policy's tenets into its Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper (PRSP) and would implement them.


3. (C) According to the Adviser, a new Parliament would need
to handle two important outstanding women's issues:
ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) (which had stalled due to conflicts
between inheritance standards in the Convention and sharia
law),and direct elections for designated women's seats in
Parliament. (NOTE: The parties currently select members for
the reserved seats on a proportional representation basis.
END NOTE.) Chowdhury said a misperception that the Women's
Development Policy dealt with inheritance rights had caused
the protests earlier this year. According to Chowdhury, the
only portion of the policy relevant to inheritance was the
mention of the CEDAW, which had not been ratified due to the
conflicts outlined above.

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DONOR COORDINATION HEADACHES
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4. (C) Chowdhury complained about the cumbersome process for
receiving foreign aid that had come out of the Second Primary
Education Development Program (PEDP II). (NOTE: PEDP II is
an approximately $1.8 billion program with funds pooled from
eight different donors. The USG does not participate in the
pooled fund. END NOTE.) She claimed the process created by
PEDP II delayed fund disbursements and funding approvals.
She expressed frustration that new World Bank-funded
textbooks were not reaching often-needy madrassas; Chowdhury
said she was considering using GOB money for this project
instead. Her complaints focused not on the good intentions
of donors but again on the process for disbursing assistance.

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SHAPING EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH
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5. (C) The Ambassador asked about recent criticism of steps
to grant NGOs a role in primary education. Chowdhury replied
that the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC),a
renowned domestic NGO that has branches in several developing
countries, but recently formed a public-private partnership
with the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education to train
teachers, raise enrollment rates through social mobilization,
and perform surveys of education. The teachers,
associations had opposed this, ostensibly because they
believed these should be government functions. Chowdhury
opined that the teachers and their associations did not want
increased monitoring of their work. She said that the
politically neutral Caretaker Government did a poor job
communicating with the partisan teachers, associations, as
it was uncomfortable dealing with these politicized groups.

DHAKA 00001040 002 OF 002




6. (C) Chowdhury praised the USG-supported Bangladeshi Sesame
Street program, Sisimpur, and requested it be distributed
more widely on additional television channels and through
DVDs. She suggested that BRAC use it in education work.
(NOTE: USAID/Bangladesh is already in discussions with BRAC
along these lines. END NOTE.)

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COMMENT
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7. (C) Chowdhury has been persistent in her support of the
National Women's Policy in the face of vehement protests from
a small but vocal segment of the population, including calls
for her resignation. She has continued work on the policy's
implementation, albeit quietly, given the delicate political
balance in the lead-up to the December parliamentary
elections. Chowdhury has long been a vocal advocate for
improved primary education in Bangladesh. Prior to joining
the Caretaker Government in January, Chowdhury ran an
education NGO; she said she planned to return to this work on
leaving the Caretaker Government after the December elections.
Moriarty