Summary of publication
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 Bangladesh struggled to contain transmissions, while also balancing the need to preserve access to essential livelihoods for a large population of daily wage earners, and the continued functioning of industries central to the national economy. In April and May 2021, the Delta Wave of COVID-19 cases swept through neighbouring India, with the case load reaching almost 400,000 cases per week. It was anticipated that Bangladesh would experience something similar.
This investment was activated in anticipation of such a crisis, as a contribution to a global appeal by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). In June 2021, the Australian government provided AUD 5 million to the Australian Red Cross (ARC) to on-grant to IFRC and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS), to bolster Bangladesh’s preparedness for a COVID-19 crisis and to provide critical lifesaving assistance should health systems fail. Bangladesh ultimately did not face a wave of infections like India, and the investment was used for health and livelihoods support, a portion was also used to strengthen Bangladesh’s health systems in anticipation of future public health crises.
The purpose of this evaluation was to assess the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the investment. The evaluation explored how well IFRC and the BDRCS leveraged this investment towards COVID-19 response and management in Bangladesh, especially in light of the country not experiencing a wave of infections similar to its neighbour, India.
It was confirmed that despite IFRC/BDRCS having some initial problems in collecting data and mobilisation, the grant was effective in contributing to a Bangladesh wide response to COVID-19, that coordinated and worked with government’s response plans. Australia’s contribution was effective in leveraging other resources. DFAT’s pledge was one of 13 such contributions from other donors. The support provided by BDRCS volunteers was critical to the implementation of the government’s vaccination program and other COVID-19 related services. The funding of ARC to on-grant at no cost to IFRC and BDRCS was an efficient arrangement. The arrangement took advantage of DFAT’s existing relationship with ARC and provided fiduciary, risk management and safeguard assurances which would otherwise have been difficult to put in place quickly. However, the contracting arrangements could have included better reporting requirements, including on the provision of gender and disability disaggregated data.
The management response outlines planned actions in response to the end of program evaluation of the investment.
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- End of Program Evaluation – Australia’s COVID-19 Response in Bangladesh [PDF 2 MB]
- End of Program Evaluation – Australia’s COVID-19 Response in Bangladesh [DOCX 7.8 MB]