Rapid Country Assessment: Bangladesh

COVID-19 measures, such as mobility restrictions and social-distancing, create major food system challenges in Bangladesh that affect food security. A study by Wageningen University & Research and partners revealed this deep immediate impact.

This rapid country assessment was set out to synthesise available secondary data in relation to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and prioritise short-term challenges and actions required in Bangladesh.

Collaboration

This work is part of a collaborative effort between the Community of Practice (CoP) on Knowledge in relation to the COVID-19 crisis in low- and middle-income countries - an initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) - and related CoPs to support joint Dutch responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

The rapid country assessment in Bangladesh was written by Emma Termeer (Wageningen Economic Research), Inge Brouwer (Wageningen University) and Walter de Boef (Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation).

The rapid country assessment involved the following organisations and their representatives. They provided secondary data, participated in the expert panel, and/or reviewed draft versions of the assessment:

  • Bangladesh Agricultural University (Professor Dr M.A. Sattar Mandal; Dr A.H. Saiful Islam)
  • University of Dhaka/Institute of Nutrition and Food Science (Dr Md Asaduzzaman; Professor Dr Nazma Shaheen)
  • Dr Wais Kabir
  • ICCO/Woord en Daad (Shakeb Nabi)
  • IFPRI (Dr. Akhter Ahmed)
  • ICDDR (Dr. Sabrina Rasheed; Dr. Sadika Akhter)
  • Innovision Consulting Private Ltd (Rubayat Sarwar)
  • Bangladesh National Nutrition Council/Ministry of Health (Dr Md Akhter Imam)
  • Food Planning and Monitoring Unit/Ministry of Food (Mostafa Faruq al Banna)
  • Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (Dr Ranjan Roy)
  • Solidaridad (Selim Reza Hasan)
  • GAIN (Dr Rudaba Khondker, Dr Sabiha Sultana; Syed Muntasir Ridwan)
  • Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (Dr Md Abdul Alim; Dr Abu Shahed Zubery)
  • Durham University (Dr Hanna Ruszczyk; Dr Md Feisal Rahman)
  • BRAC (Anisur Rahman)
  • CGIAR-A4NHR (Nazmul Alam)