CONTENTS

Serial Title Page

No
01 Introduction
02 About CIP3
03 Formulation and characteristics of the CIP3
04 CIP3 guiding principles
05 Institutional arrangements for coordination and
monitoring the CIP3 and PoA
06 CIP3 structure
07 Conclusion

1
Introduction
Bangladesh has witnessed tremendous advances in recent years with
substantial economic growth, which has translated into food and
nutrition security (FNS) improvements. Agriculture has managed to
keep up with the needs of an ever-growing population. Bangladesh is
now the fourth largest rice producer in the world and the third largest
vegetable producer in the world after China and India. Food self-
sufficiency in terms of per capita calorie availability has thus been
achieved at national level. Over the last decade, the country has been
among the fastest growing economies in the world thanks to a
demographic dividend, strong ready-made garment exports and stable
macroeconomic conditions. It reached lower-middle-income status in
2015 and is now on track to graduate from the UN’s Least Developed
Countries list in 2026. This translated into a halving of poverty and
extreme poverty down to 20.5% and 10.5%, respectively, between 2005
and 2019 although the COVID-19 pandemic will have side-tracked this
progress and will require adjusting antipoverty strategies. Child
stunting has demonstrated a sustained decline over the last 30 years
from around 55 % in the mid-90s to around 28% at the present time.
Amidst these gains, more efforts are needed with regards to dietary
diversity, as consumption of good quality protein and bioavailable
micronutrient-rich foods is still limited.

These achievements have been supported by strong investments in

nutrition sensitive food systems among other initiatives of pro poor
policies, health care and nutrition services, access to hygiene and
sanitation and education, as documented by the monitoring of the
Second Bangladesh Country Investment Plan – Nutrition Sensitive
Food Systems (CIP2, 2016-2020). Substantial§ challenges to FNS
remain however, some of which will have been exacerbated by the
pandemic. This includes rising income inequality in a country where
still about half of the population consumes inadequate diets and suffers
from hidden hunger and micronutrient deficiencies. Concurrently, the
rise in obesity is leading to a sharp increase in non-communicable
diseases. With a continuous move towards urbanization and increasing
industrialization, agricultural labour is becoming increasingly scarce

2
which, together with the effects of climate change, affects food
production and availability. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the need
to build a resilient and sustainable recovery at global level strongly
emerged. Against this backdrop, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB)
has proactively engaged in realizing its vision of a resilient, nutrition
sensitive and sustainable food system, able to deliver safe and
diversified diets to all, and contributing to enhance nutrition outcomes
and the livelihoods of rural communities, marginalized and fragile
groups. In this context, a new National Food and Nutrition Security
Policy (NFNSP, 2020) was approved by the Cabinet in August 2020.

To translate this vision into actionable interventions, the Plan of Action

of the National Food and Nutrition Security Policy (PoA, 2021-2030)
was formulated by the Government. It is anchored on the 8 th Five Year
Plan 2021-2025 (8FYP) and is to contribute to fulfilling national
commitments lay down in other relevant strategic national policies and
sectoral planning documents such as the Second National Plan of
Action for Nutrition (NPAN2, 2016-2025). It is aligned with the
National Pathway Document for the UN Food System Summit –
Towards Sustainable Food Systems in Bangladesh (September 2021).

The execution of the PoA requires strong consensus among all the
stakeholders including development partners (DPs), and adequate
resource allocation to ensure that the required interventions in sectors
and cross sectors, institutions, infrastructure, regulations, and markets
are effectively implemented. To this effect, Bangladesh has joined
efforts with initiatives such as Nutrition for Growth (N4G) and Scaling
Up Nutrition. The Bangladesh Third Country Investment Plan –
Sustainable, Nutrition Sensitive and Resilient Food Systems (CIP3,
2021-2025) will guide the level of commitment and financial resources
generated by the GoB and DPs to support the PoA implementation. The
CIP3 will work as a reference tool to guide and track progress of
regional, local and sectoral investment plans and programmes. The
CIP3 has been prepared by the GoB under the coordination of the Food
Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) of the Ministry of Food
(MoFood), in collaboration with a wide range of ministries,
government agencies and departments, and contributions from donors,
civil society, the private sector and NGOs, all stakeholders in the food
system.
3
About CIP3
An effective guide to orient sustainable, nutrition sensitive and resilient
investments within food systems in support of SDGs.
Achieving the goal and objectives of the NFNSP 2020, its PoA and
those of the 8FYP and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals
(SGDs) requires well-targeted financial resources. Finance is one the
means of implementation of the SDGs which in addition to technology
development and transfer, capacity‐building, inclusive and equitable
globalization and trade, regional integration, as well as the creation of a
national enabling environment is required to implement the sustainable
development agenda. Thus, SDG 17 endeavours to ‘strengthen the
means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for
sustainable development’ which the CIP3 contributes to.

The CIP3 is a powerful tool that can help mobilise and orient funds
towards sustainable, nutrition sensitive and resilient investments. Its
yearly monitoring gauges the ongoing and planned efforts towards
reaching the outcome of each programme. This enables the government
and DPs to direct financing where priorities lie and to identify gaps in a
coordinated manner across sectors, ministries, GoB and DPs in order to
avoid duplications and leverage synergies. This is in keeping with the
‘whole of society approach’ adopted by the GoB for the SDGs
implementation, which seeks to include all segments of society in
planning and implementing the SDGs.

The CIP3 is expected to significantly contribute to meeting the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2 ‘End hunger, achieve food
security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’
but it is also expected to play a significant role for most other SDGs,
namely:
• SDG1 ‘End poverty in all its forms everywhere’ through
increasing incomes from farmers from diversification into more
profitable crops for example (Programmes I.6.), value addition
from more efficient agro-processing (Pillar II) and social
protection for the most vulnerable so as to reduce extreme
poverty (Programmes IV.5. in particular).
4
• SDG3 ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all
ages’ through its Pillar III.
• SDG5 ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and
girls. The inclusion of a gender marker in the CIP3 reflects the
role that it plays in ensuring FNS. Promoting the role of women
in agriculture through more adapted extension services
(Programme I.2) or increased access to inputs for example
((Programme I.4), as well as in the agro processing industry
(Pillar II), or targeting them specifically in safety nets (Pillar III)
will contribute to gender equality.
• SDG6 ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water
and sanitation for all’ through Programme I.3 that promotes
efficient and environmentally friendly irrigation technology and
Programme III.7. that aims to enhance the supply of safe water
for consumption and domestic use and improve sanitary facilities
and hygiene practices to better impact food utilization and
nutrition outcomes.
• SDG8 ‘Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic
growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all’
through strengthening post-harvest value chains with particular
focus on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) (Pillar
II).
• SDG9 ‘Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and
sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation’ through Pillar
II which endeavours to strengthen post-harvest value chain with
particular focus on MSMEs, improve physical access to markets,
facilities and information and create an enabling environment in
which the food industry can thrive. Programme V.5. also holds an
important role in creating the right conditions for participation of
on State actors in the development of food value chains.
• SDG10 ‘Reduce inequality within and among countries’ through
the opportunities provided to participate in agriculture (Pillar I),
food processing (Pillar II) and other economic activities along the
food value chain, as well as the safety nets (Pillar IV) which
increases households’ resilience and protects their living
standards. Pillar III will also impact inequality through its
interventions on the health of women of reproductive age and
awareness of adequate infant and young child nutrition.

5
 Unhealthy and malnourished women often given birth to low-
birth weight whose poor growth in early life, worsened by poor
feeding practices reduces educational progress thereby
reproducing the poverty level of the household.
• SDG12 ‘Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns’
though the efficient use of natural resources for agriculture
(Programme I.4 in particular), the rationalisation of subsidies on
resources such as water and electricity (Programme II.3) and
sustainable consumption (Programme III.4). The FWL marker
has been integrated to the CIP3 framework to ensure that the
focus on reduces losses and waste prevails throughout the value
chain also contributing to her sustainability of food production
and consumption.
• SDG13 ‘Take urgent action to combat climate change and its
impacts’. While Pillar IV specifically emphasizes the need to
increase the resilience of agricultural systems (Programme IV.1.)
and the disaster coping ability of vulnerable families (Programme
IV.2.), and the need to facilitate and coordinate disaster response,
mitigation and rehabilitation (Programme IV.4.), the marker on
climate resilience also translates the emphasis that the CIP3
places on integrating this issue across the food system.
• SDG14 ‘Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and
marine resources for sustainable development’ through
Programme I.7 on developing the Blue Economy.
• SDG15 ‘Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial
ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification,
and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss’
also relates to resilient food systems and sustainability of natural
resource utilization which is accounted for in the CIP3 through
the introduction of a climate resilience marker.
• SDG17 ‘Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise
the global partnership for sustainable development’ through the
operationalization of NFNSP, its PoA and CIP3’s implementation
(Programme V.2), strengthened policy uptake at national and
subnational level (Programme V.4) and strengthened FNS
governance through enhanced participation of private sector and
non-state actors (Programme V.5).

6
The fact that the CIP3 can contribute to 13 out of the 17 SDGs speaks
of its multisectorality.

While the FNS Country Investment Plans developed so far by

Bangladesh establish backward linkages with existing policy
frameworks and strategic documents, they also facilitate forward
linkages notably through the lessons learnt through the annual
monitoring process: investment plans are set up as ‘living documents’
that evolve during their lifetime and feed into new frameworks. This,
for example, has been the case of the NFNSP which was designed
through a thorough consultative process but also by incorporating
knowledge acquired through the monitoring of the CIP2 and the Plan of
Action of the National Food Policy 2006. Emerging priorities such as
the response to the COVID-19 pandemic will also be incorporated as
they arise.

The General Economics Division of the Planning Commission has

estimated the cost of implementing SDGs at annual cost of USD 66.32
billion at constant 2015-16 currency. It identifies the potential sources
for financing the resource gap as the private sector, the public sector,
public-private partnership, and external financing, and NGOs. While
the CIP3 only includes funding from the GoB and DPs for projects
included in the national Annual Development Programme (ADP), it is
clear that realising FNS for all will be achieved through efforts that also
figure outside this framework. This stresses the need for involving the
private sector, in particular in the CIP3 monitoring and implementation.

A sustainable, nutrition-sensitive and resilient food system

This investment plan seeks to generate a sustainable and nutrition
sensitive food system that is resilient to shocks and crises. Figure 1
illustrates the food system which gathers ‘all the elements
(environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructures, institutions,
etc.) and activities that relate to the production, storage, processing,
distribution, preparation and consumption of food and the outputs of
these activities, including socio-economic and environmental
outcomes. A sustainable food system is a system that delivers FNS for
all such that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate
food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised.

7
Given the extent of FLW in Bangladesh, attempts to tackle this problem
can significantly contribute to creating a sustainable food system, hence
the focus on this issue throughout the CIP3.

Figure 1. The food system

Source. WorldLink. 2014. Food system tools. Map. Nourish

A resilient food system has the capacity to deliver desired outcomes in

the face of shocks and stressors. A marker for climate resilience inbuilt
in the CIP3 ensures a systematic consideration and inclusion for FNS
projects contributing to adaptation to and mitigation of climate change
for a resilient food system. Programmes such as IV.3. Disaster copying
abilities of vulnerable families and IV.4. Facilitation and coordination
of disaster response, mitigation
and rehabilitation’ also ensure that resilience to diverse types of shocks,
such as COVID-19, can be ensured.

In consonance with the Second Country Investment Plan for Nutrition-

Sensitive Food Systems (CIP2, 2016-2020), the CIP3 promotes the use
of a “nutrition lens” to assess and prioritise various options for
designing multi-sectoral inter-linked interventions that are centred
around shaping food systems for improving diets and the nutritional
outcomes. The issue of food safety is also given particular attention by

8
including a marker to this effect (see Section 9). Food safety is a
necessary condition to ensure that food value chains can adequately
contribute to positive nutritional outcomes. The CIP3 introduces this
new element in a context of increasingly complex food system as the
country becomes wealthier and more urban (with for example the
existence of multiple stages and actors and longer distances from farm
to fork, and increased processing).

Formulation and characteristics of the CIP3

The CIP3 formulation process took place of a period of seven months

beginning with the preparation of a CIP3 Roadmap. This working
document provides operational reference to all actors involved in the
development of the CIP3 by describing the steps and roles of all
contributors. The formulation of the CIP3 built on the previous CIPs’
methodological approach and the NFNSP PoA but it also introduced
new features and modifications as explained below. Once the structure
of the CIP3 was developed, a total of 1,019 projects/project
components relevant to the CIP3, ongoing and pipeline, were identified
through a thorough review of the Government’s Annual Development
Plan and in close consultation with Thematic Team (TT) members.

The next step consisted in assigning each relevant project/project

component to CIP3 Investment Pillars and Programmes with accurate
apportionment. Indeed, different components of a project may fall
under different Programmes and some may not be relevant to the CIP3
at all. Their portion of the budget should therefore not be accounted for
in the CIP3 budget. Subsequently, a Food system (FS) weight and a
nutrition weight were applied as explained below.

Concurrently, a results framework was designed to assess the impact of

the CIP3. This will serve as a reference for the monitoring of the
progress of each Pillar and Investment Programme over the life of the
CIP3. Following logical checks on the CIP3 financial database to
ensure its robustness and consistency, a draft CIP3 was produced and
extensive national and regional level consultations carried out in order
to finalise the document: four TT workshops, meetings with individual
or subgroups of TTs (for example all the agencies from the MoA), three

9
regional consultations that brought together a total of 335 stakeholders,
a workshop with Development Partners and a national validation
workshop.

The CIP3 shares a number of key characteristics with the CIP2,

namely:
• It is a five-year investment framework.
• Its budgeting is based on financed expenditure and commitments
(pipeline projects).
• In order to prioritize interventions according to their contribution to
nutrition outcomes, a nutrition weight was attributed to each project.
• The main sources of information are the Planning Commission
financial documents and TT meetings.
• It adopts a results-based management approach and provides a
results framework with proxy indicators that will serve to monitor
each Investment Programme.

However, this document also introduces new key elements:

• A simplified investment framework with only two tiers: Pillars and
Investment Programmes (no subprogrammes). The project
classification and apportionment is based on this simplified
framework.
• For projects which benefit sectors of the economy and society other
than FNS (such as road infrastructure development, building of
power plants and large data gathering projects such as the census),
the estimation of projects’ contribution to the food systems and to
the objectives of the CIP3 by applying a FS weight (see Annex 2).
• The concept of markers which are issues, such as gender sensitivity
or climate resilience, that cut across all Programmes. This method
allows to understand the extent to which these issues are accounted
for in the CIP3 (see Section 9).

CIP3 guiding principles

 A food system’s approach

In continuity with the CIP2, the NFNSP, its PoA and this investment
plan adopt a food system’s approach. ‘Food systems encompass the
entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities
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involved in the production, aggregation, processing, distribution,
consumption and disposal of food products that originate from
agriculture, forestry or fisheries, and parts of the broader economic,
societal and natural environments in which they are embedded. The
food system is composed of subsystems (e.g. farming system, waste
management system, input supply system, etc.) and interacts with other
key systems (e.g. energy system, trade system, health system, etc.)
(FAO, 2018). Such holistic approach is essential to expand
opportunities to strengthen nutrition access, enhance the capabilities of
individuals to make nutritionally balanced healthy dietary choices and
ensure the sustainability of nutritional outcomes. The approach also
facilitates the identification and prioritisation of multi-sectoral
interventions for synergistic impact.

 Policy consistency
The cross sectoral nature of the NFNSP means it encompasses the
strategies and actions proposed in a number of other national policies
and sectoral planning documents. The NFNSP and the CIP3 require
complete alignment and consistency in what they propose with the
contents of these documents. For this, an exhaustive review of relevant
documents is carried out in the PoA which the CIP3 is based in, in
order to avoid duplication and rather reinforce and build on existing
initiatives. Thus, relevant actions proposed in documents such as the
NPAN2 or the National Agricultural Policy Plan of Action 2018 (NAP
PoA) which will contribute to achieving the goals of the NFNSP are
covered by the CIP3.

 Consultative process
The MoFood’s FPMU has a lead role in processes such as the
development of the NFNSP or its action and investment plans. This is
done in consultation with other relevant government units through the
institutional setup in place. In particular, the Thematic Teams (TTs)
bring together assigned officials from all relevant government
ministries and agencies who, through regular meetings, participate and
contribute to these processes. Consultations are not limited to
Government but other stakeholders – DPs, civil society organizations,
academia and the private sector- are also consulted as these documents
are formulated. These consultations take place both at national and

11
subnational levels. This dialogue between stakeholders continues
throughout the life of these documents with, for example, their
continued involvement in monitoring activities.

 Focus on gender
In order to achieve the goal of the NFNSP, the fact that women and
men often have different, if complementary, roles to play needs to be
acknowledged and due attention given to the role of women. In
Bangladesh, women exceed 50% of the agricultural labour force and
they are mostly responsible for producing food on homestead premises.
Through their reproductive work, they also influence nutrition of
household members and they are responsible for the processing and
food preparation as well as the hygiene and health of the family,
children and the elderly in particular. Their own health and nutritional
status have an intergenerational impact on nutrition in that it affects that
of the babies they bear. Empowering women is key to tackling
malnutrition through the many roles that they hold. Their contribution
to their local economies, to global trade, to agro processing and post-
production as smallholder farmers, entrepreneurs, and labourers needs
to be promoted. Gender-based discrimination on control over land and
access to inputs and services such as credit, irrigation, rural advisory
and extension services needs to be tackled and specific needs
addressed. Evidence shows that women are more likely than men to use
their incomes to improve their children's nutrition, health care and
schooling. Easy access to safe food and water needs to be ensured, as
well as access to health services, especially for women of reproductive
age, pregnant and lactating women. Information on and sensitisation to
adequate nutrition is also key across the board, and not just for women
as is traditionally the case. While the NFNSP PoA has incorporated
these considerations throughout the actions proposed under each
strategy, investments need to reflect this. The gender marker (see
Section 9) allows to understand the extent to which each Programme
and the CIP3 as a whole are sensitive to gender issues.

 Role of the private sector

The private sector plays a key role in the path towards achieving the
goals of the NFNSP because Bangladesh is market-oriented, with food
production, processing and marketing largely in the domain of the

12
private sector. Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), which Bangladesh
pioneered PPPs in South Asia in the 1990s, is an effective mechanism
for public and private sector collaboration and a means to overcome
financial constraints in certain sectors. While the actual PPP budgets
are not included in the CIP3 as such, projects working to develop
concepts, policies, design, technically assist and generally facilitate and
promote PPPs are, and must be encouraged. Policy instruments such as
incentives and regulations can also encourage private sector
participation. Laws, rules and regulations may be reviewed to create an
environment that is conducive to investment in the agri-food sector,
including foreign investment. Public investment in research and
development (R&D) and subsequent transfer of technology and
knowledge to private actors is essential where it is likely to produce
public benefits and where private agents may not be able or willing to
take on such investments because costs outweigh their potential benefit.

Institutional arrangements for coordination and monitoring the CIP3

and PoA

The institutional arrangements to monitor the CIP3 and PoA are

described in Figure 2. The institutions involved are:
• The Cabinet-level Food Planning and Monitoring Committee
(FPMC) chaired by the Minister of Food and which includes
ministers and secretaries from other key ministries. The FPMC
delivers strategic guidance on FNS-related issues and establishes a
high-level commitment to inter-sectoral collaboration. It provides
leadership and oversight in the formulation of food policy strategic
documents developed by the institutions it oversees. It also relies on
the technical support provided by these same instances which
provide feedback based on their monitoring activities.
• The National Committee (NC) chaired by the Minister of Food
which comprises the secretaries of key ministries and divisions,
heads of universities/research institutions, DPs, private sector
representatives and other NGOs. The NC oversees the CIP3
implementation and monitoring process.
• The Food Policy Working Group (FPWG) chaired by the Food
Secretary which performs the task of coordination and collaboration
at both technical and operational level. A particularly important role

13
 is played by the Ministry of Finance and the Implementation
Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning
Commission (Ministry of Planning), and the Economic Relations
Division (ERD) to provide feedback on the financial section of the
CIP3.
• The five Thematic Teams (TTs) corresponding to the five Pillars of
the NFNSP which carry out the monitoring activities.
• The FPMU of the MoFood which provides technical, operational
and secretarial support with inputs from the Thematic Working
Groups.
• The Local Consultative Group on Agriculture, Food Security and
Rural Development (LCG ARDFS) which is the venue for dialogue
between GoB and DPs. LCGs are designed to contribute towards
effective and coordinated implementation of national policies,
strategies, plans and programmes.

Figure 2. Institutional set-up for CIP3 monitoring

This structure coexists with another central coordination and

governance body specifically for nutrition, namely the Bangladesh
National Nutrition Council (BNNC), chaired by the Honourable Prime
Minister. Close linkages between the two institutional setups must be
ensured and exploited as possible. For actions directly relating to
nutrition, field level interventions must be implemented through the

14
Upazila and District Nutrition Coordination Committees (UNCCs and
DNCCs) which are the multi-sectoral coordination and governance
structures for nutrition at sub-national level and are considered
extended bodies of BNNC. In fact, the PoA recommends that the
institutional capacity of BNNC be strengthened for effective
implementation of NPAN2, CIP3 and NFNSP.

CIP3 structure
The CIP3 has five Pillars -which correspond
with those of the PoA:
I. Availability of safe and nutritious food
for healthy diets
II. Access to safe and nutritious food at an affordable price
III. Consumption and utilization of healthy and diversified diets for
achieving nutrition improvements
IV. Access to nutrition-sensitive social protection and safety nets
across life cycle with a focus on vulnerable groups and regions
V. Cross- sectoral/cross cutting issues which are relevant across the
different elements of the food system.

Table 1 lists the 35 CIP3 programmes of the CIP3. These programmes

are based on the Areas of Intervention (AoI) described in the PoA and
have been designed to take into account the reality of investments. As
such, CIP3 Programmes reduce overlaps that exist in the PoA to make a
consistent investment framework. This is followed by a brief
description of each programme.

Table 1. CIP3 Programmes

Pillar CIP3 Programme
PILLAR I: I.1. R&D and improved technology for more
Availability of 1 productive nutrient-rich and sustainable agriculture
safe and in rural and urban areas
nutritious 2 I.2. Gender, climate and nutrition sensitive extension
food for services
healthy diets 3 I.3. Efficient and environmentally friendly irrigation
technology

15
 4 I.4. Improved efficiency of agricultural inputs
5 I.5. Enhanced role of Producers’ Organisations (POs)
and cooperatives
I.6. Promotion of agricultural diversification into
6 high nutrient content and market value commodities,
including animal-source, regional and ethnic foods
7 I.7. Developed Blue economy
8 II.1. Efficient Food Value Chains (FVCs) through
transport infrastructure
II.2. Efficient FVCs through innovation and
improvements in post-harvest management and
9
marketing, improved infrastructure, reduced FLW
and enhanced cooperation among agents
II.3. Orderly market management by securing
10 property rights, regulating competition and
stabilizing prices
11 II.4. Trade liberalisation and facilitation to support
the supply of quality food at all times
PILLAR II:
II.5. Availability of financial intermediation, ICT
Access to safe
market information systems and other
and
nutritious 12 complementary services for agro-processors
food at an including for the most vulnerable sections of the
affordable population
price II.6. Enabling environment to enhance infrastructure,
13 processing, value addition, marketing and eliminate
business barriers
14 II.7. Promotion of inclusive cooperative/group-based
processing and marketing
II.8. Preservation and promotion of food safety and
15 nutrients along the value chain including though
fortification
II.9. Promotion of agriculture-driven, off-farm
employment and other employment along the food
16
chain particularly for rural youth, women and
disabled people

16
 III.1. Development of a national-level food
17 production, supply and consumption plan based on a
nutrient gap analysis
18 III.2. Operationalization of healthy diets for nutrition
outcomes
PILLAR III:
III.3. Expanded human resources and strengthened
Consumption
institutional arrangements to improve performance
and
19 of nutrition services with special emphasis on
utilization of
enhancing child nutrition outcomes at sub national
healthy
levels
and
III.4. Enhanced nutrition knowledge, good dietary
diversified
practices and consumption of safe and nutritious
diets for 20
diets for the prevention and control of malnutrition
achieving
and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
nutrition
improvement III.5. Expansion of programmes for immunization,
s control of Acute Respiratory
21
Infections (ARI), prevention of cholera and
diarrhoeal diseases and NCDs
III.6. National Nutrition Services (NNS) delivery
22 and early childcare practices to promote maternal
and child nutrition
III.7. Supply of safe water for consumption and
domestic use enhanced, improved sanitary facilities
23
and hygiene practices to better impact food
utilization and nutrition outcomes
PILLAR IV: 24 IV.1. Improved management of the public food stock
Access and distribution system
to nutrition- 25 IV.2. Increased resilience of agriculture systems
sensitive 26 IV.3. Disaster-coping ability of vulnerable families
social
protection and 27 IV.4. Facilitation and coordination of disaster
safety nets response, mitigation and rehabilitation
across life IV.5. Strengthened social protection in
cycle with a 28 disadvantaged areas and for disadvantaged groups
focus on with particular attention to nutrition sensitivity
vulnerable 29 IV.6. Safety nets in place during periods of seasonal

17
 groups and crises and food shortages
regions IV.7. Coordination and co-operation to integrate
social protection with agricultural development,
30
income generation, and micro-entrepreneurship
development
V.1. Generation, dissemination and access to reliable
31 and timely FNS data and information including Big
Data
V.2. Operationalisation of the implementation of the
NFNSP, its Plan of Action and Country Investment
32
Plan and integration with other FNS development
PILLAR V: efforts
Cross sectoral
33 V.3. Effective regulatory instruments and guidelines
issues
V.4 Strengthened policy uptake, nutrition leadership
34 and institutional capacity at national and subnational
level of government
V.5. Strengthened FNS governance through
35 enhanced participation of private sector and other
non-State actors

The CIP3 introduces the concept of markers which are used to ‘mark’
projects by signalling to what extent they support a certain desired
outcome. The OECD-DAC pioneered this approach and this is now
used by many bilateral aid and UN agencies for gender equality. Such
markers can be used to document trends in budget allocations and to
help raise awareness on particular issues. CIP3 markers are designed to
assess how investments towards improving the food system in
Bangladesh are able to achieve important outcomes: improved food
safety, reduced food loss and waste (FLW), mainstreamed gender
within the food system, and climate resilience (Figure 3). These key
outcomes are aligned with the follow-up actions to the 2021 Food
Systems Summit identified to achieve the 2030 Agenda.

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 Figure 3. CIP3 Pillars and Markers

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Bangladesh offers significant investment potential for third-

country investors, driven by its strategic location, favourable
demographics, and growing economy. The country’s expanding
manufacturing sector, particularly in textiles and garments, coupled with
ongoing infrastructure development and a young, increasingly skilled
workforce, creates a strong foundation for sustained economic growth.
Moreover, the government’s proactive stance on improving the business
climate, through reforms and incentives, further enhances the investment
appeal.

However, investors must also consider challenges such as regulatory

complexities, political stability, and infrastructure gaps. A thorough
understanding of the local market, coupled with a tailored risk
management strategy, will be key to navigating these challenges
successfully. By strategically engaging with Bangladesh, third-country
investors can capitalize on emerging opportunities, especially in sectors

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like textiles, technology and renewable energy, while contributing to the
country’s long-term development goals.

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