R 050954Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 7182
AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 
AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 
AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 
AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 
AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 
AMCONSUL KOLKATA

UNCLAS DHAKA 000833 
 
 
STATE FOR F, SCA/FO, SCA/PB, SCA/RA 
USAID FOR ADMINISTRATOR HENRIETTA FORE; ASIA FOR AA MARK WARD; 
ASIA/SCAA FOR RENEE HOWELL 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ELAB EAGR ETRD SOCI PGOV BG
SUBJECT: THE BANGLADESH PARADOX AT THE LOCAL LEVEL: SOME GOOD 
THINGS ARE HAPPENING 
 
REF: DHAKA 00770 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  The USG is contributing to the development of Bangladesh and 
finds many outstanding, willing partners. On a recent trip to 
CoxQs Bazaar and Teknaf in south eastern Bangladesh, the 
Ambassador and other Embassy officers observed several USAID 
projects which are helping to modernize energy use, protect 
precious bio-diversity areas, and train women to build solar power 
units, among other activities.  Despite substantial challenges-- 
including world-wide increases in the cost of food and fuel, local 
government inefficiencies and corruption, and the devastation 
caused by natural disasters-- Bangladesh shows an admirable 
ability to achieve positive results in the face of adversity. 
 
INAUGURATION OF A BIOGAS PLANT AT THE AL JAMIATUL ISLAMIA DARUS- 
SUNNA MADRASSAH AT HNILLA, SOUTH OF COXQS BAZAR 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶2.  Southeastern Bangladesh contains some of the last remaining 
forest and bio-diverse areas in the country.  Illegal hunting and 
rampant tree-cutting for local fuel needs provide two major 
challenges to the longevity of these nature areas.  USAIDQs 
Nishorgo project, followed this year by its new Integrated 
Protected Area Co-Management (IPAC) project, focus on conserving 
biological diversity and building technical capacity for the 
management of protected areas.  One key objective is to reduce 
dependency on firewood obtained from protected areas. 
 
¶3.  At the Al Jamiatul Madrassah, a co-educational residential 
religious school for more than 700 boys and girls, the Nishorgo 
project installed a human-waste biogas plant and improved stoves 
through USAIDQs Nishorgo project.  This madrassah, one of many 
surrounding the Teknaf Nature Reserve that has exclusively used 
wood from the reserve as fuel, is now taking a leading role in 
adopting this technology to reduce the exploitation of forest 
resources, lower operating costs and provide a healthier 
environment for the students. 
 
¶4.  At the madrassah the Ambassador met with cooks and observed 
the operation of two improved stoves that save an estimated 78 
tons of wood fuel annually.  Introduction of this technology will 
save the madrassah 75 percent of its energy costs. Moreover, these 
steps will save 288 mature trees per year, preventing 50 tons of 
green house gases from entering into the atmosphere.  This will 
help mitigate the impact of climate change. Through Nishorgo, 878 
households near the Teknaf Game Reserve have purchased and are 
using the environmentally friendly stoves which generate more heat 
with less fuel. Another 2,859 of these stoves are in use around 
other environmentally protected areas in the country. 
 
¶5.  At the same madrassah, the Ambassador visited a human waste 
biogas plant, the first of its kind in the area and the first in a 
madrassah.  The students produce 300 kg. of human waste a day. 
The biogas plant uses human waste as raw material to produce 425 
cubic feet of biogas each day, enough to cook 36,500 kg of rice 
per year.  The madrassah is the first educational institution in 
the greater CoxQs Bazaar area to adopt this improved energy 
technology.  The gas will replace 7.5 tons of fuel wood per year. 
 
 
INAUGURATION OF A TOURIST WELCOME CENTER AT THE MOCHONI NATURE 
PARK AT TEKNAF 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶6.  The Ambassador inaugurated a community-managed Nature Tourist 
Center at the Mochoni Nature Park located within the Teknaf Game 
Reserve south of CoxQs Bazaar.  Developed with support from the 
Nishorgo project, the new Mochoni Nature Park has substantial 
potential for nature tourism, given its lush and mountainous 
scenery.   The Mochoni complex also houses student and staff 
dormitories. The eco-friendly architecture marks a departure from 
common local building designs. A new Nishorgo eco-cottage recently 
opened adjacent to the Mochoni Nature Park, the first of several 
small lodges designed to encourage local tourism, thus 
demonstrating the nature reserve is a community asset which should 
be protected. 
 
¶7.  With technical assistance from the Nishorgo project, the 
Mochoni reserve utilizes a co-management system which brings 
together representatives from local government, business, NGOs and 
local community groups to jointly manage issues of common interest 
in and around the park.  This co-management system, implemented 
around several parks and reserves in the country, has proven to be 
an effective method of bringing stake-holders interested in all 
aspects of the parks and its resources together, helping ensure 
the agreed-upon objectives are sustained. 
 
SOLAR POWER TAPS THE LOCAL SUNSHINE AND TRAINS YOUNG WOMEN IN A 
NEW HI-TECH ENERGY EFFICIENT RESOURCE 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶8.  The Embassy team visited the Grameen Shakti Technology Center 
in CoxQs Bazar. The center is one of twenty established in rural 
Bangladesh by Grameen Shakti, an affiliate of Grameen Bank, with 
funding under USAIDQs Rural Empowerment through Renewable Energy 
activity.  The activity focuses on empowering rural women and 
youth by training them as technicians in the solar renewable 
energy sector.  Over 1000 rural women have been trained to provide 
technical support to this on-going and rapidly expanding program. 
The USAID-funded activity has trained 15,000 women and young 
people on the advantages, use and maintenance of renewable energy 
resources. The Ambassador observed a training program for women 
users of solar home systems, and exchanged views on the benefits 
of solar energy and the usefulness of the training led by women 
engineers at the technology center. The Ambassador observed women 
entrepreneurs trained at the center use their newly acquired 
skills to assemble solar home system components through which they 
earn about $80 per month, locally considered a good wage. Grameen 
Shakti plans to continue training women technicians with a target 
of 100,000 over the next five years. In addition, they aim to 
install one million solar home systems by 2015. 
 
BANGLADESHQS SHRIMP FARMS IMPROVE THEIR PRODUCTIVITY UNDER CAARP 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶9.  Shrimp exports are the second largest revenue earner in 
Bangladesh, after textiles.  The shrimp industry was badly 
decimated as a result of Cyclone Sidr in November 2007, when 
shrimp farms in southern Bangladesh were nearly totally destroyed 
by the storm.  USAIDQs Cyclone Affected Aquaculture Rehabilitation 
Project (CAARP) is designed to re-establish and enhance the 
productive capacity of fish resources in the south and southeast 
of the country, thus contributing to the livelihoods of poor 
families in rural areas. 
 
¶10.  The Embassy team visited the Niribili shrimp hatchery in 
CoxQs Bazar, supported by a USAID World Fish Center project. The 
shrimp hatchery is part of a program to improve the quality and 
quantity of BangladeshQs shrimp for the export market in socially 
and environmentally acceptable ways. Shrimp post-larvae are the 
most important input for producing and raising the yield and 
quality of shrimp sold to farmers, who then raise the shrimp to 
full size before export. 
 
¶11. The Niribili hatchery is an industry pioneer in terms of 
improved productivity and quality. The Niribili hatchery, with US 
support, has developed and expanded its business network from the 
southeast of Bangladesh to the southwest where the shrimp farmers 
are concentrated. A commitment to quality has helped shrimp 
farmers grow shrimp with a  substantially reduced incidence of 
disease. Hatcheries like Niribili are part of the local shrimp 
production chain leading to annual shrimp exports of $455 million. 
 
¶12.  In addition to seeing shrimp larvae raised from eggs, the 
Embassy team also visited the USAID-developed Pranti laboratory in 
CoxQs Bazaar, responsible for testing shrimp larvae for disease. 
The future of the shrimp industry here depends on quality control, 
and this state of the art laboratory will help Bangladesh increase 
the quantity and quality of their shrimp.  We observed shrimp 
being screened for various viruses which can infect and wipe out a 
shrimp farmerQs entire crop, resulting in huge losses and 
financial ruin. After being screened, shrimp larvae are available 
for sale to shrimp farmers who are assured that the larvae are 
healthy and will not infect the rest of their crop. 
 
RURAL ELECTRIC POWER ON THE US COOPERATIVE MODEL 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶13.  Energy shortage is a major impediment to economic growth in 
Bangladesh, especially in rural areas.  The Increased Capacity for 
Energy Access project of USAID is designed to improve the 
management of rural electric cooperatives and to strengthen the 
local governance over the electricity sector. USAIDQs prime 
implementing partner for this activity is the National Rural 
Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) which is comprised of 
electric cooperatives in the US. 
 
¶14.  In CoxQs Bazar we visited a rural electric cooperative (known 
locally as a Pally Bidyut Shomity or PBS). This PBS, like the 
other 69 PBSs in Bangladesh, receives assistance from the U.S. 
Government through USAID to expand access to electricity in rural 
areas. The Ambassador met with the local PBS management and 
congratulated them for a well-managed cooperative. He also met 
with beneficiaries who were waiting for new connections and to pay 
bills. The Ambassador asked customers if they were satisfied with 
the electric cooperativeQs services. While customers were pleased 
with the service orientation of the PBS, they expressed 
dissatisfaction with the frequent disruption in the supply of 
electricity, a widespread problem in Bangladesh, particularly in 
rural areas. The USG has supported rural electrification in 
Bangladesh since 1977, providing more than $220 million since the 
programQs inception. 
 
 
QUALITY MEDICAL SERVICES IN A POOR RURAL SETTING, COURTESY OF A US 
FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATION, WITH USAID TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶15. The Memorial Christian Hospital at Malumghat, Chakaria, CoxQs 
Bazar, provides both outpatient and inpatient medical treatment 
and care to over 35,000 patients per year.  The purpose of the 
visit was to observe the USAID supported obstetric fistula 
treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention activities implemented 
by EngenderHealth in partnership with this hospital.  (Note: 
Fistula is a condition caused by prolonged labor that leads to a 
hole between the birth canal and the intestine, with the result 
that fecal matter and bodily fluids pass into the birth canal. 
Women with this condition are often abandoned by their husbands 
and ostracized because of their inability to have children and the 
foul smell). After a briefing on the fistula program and other 
hospital activities, the Ambassador and team members walked 
through different sections of the hospital including the fistula 
ward set up with USAID support. 
 
¶16.  Since July 2005, the hospital has repaired 72 fistula cases, 
sometimes involving complicated and multiple surgeries in 
individual cases, and has raised awareness of health workers and 
key community members in the district on the causes, prevention, 
treatment, and rehabilitation of fistula cases. The program has 
effectively integrated fistula repair and rehabilitation services 
at the hospital and coordinated clinical and outreach programs. In 
addition, Memorial Christian Hospital offers primary health care, 
emergency care, labor and delivery care, gynecological, general 
surgery, orthopedics care, and outpatient care for people in the 
southern part of Chittagong district and in CoxQs Bazar district. 
The hospital treats an average of 32,000 outpatients and 3,500 
inpatients annually, performs 1,200 surgical operations and 
approximately 1,000 deliveries annually. 
 
¶17.  The hospital is renowned for its dedication and commitment. 
 The exceptional commitment of the staff in delivering health 
services to the community, key to the success of the fistula 
program, is very impressive. The staff at the hospital includes 
American surgeons who spend years in residence.  Given the 
isolated venue of this hospital, this island of American medical 
excellence is a proud achievement.  The USGQs partnership with 
this hospital has created a wonderful opportunity for poor women 
to access fistula and other medical services and permitted them to 
return to their normal lives. 
 
 
PASI