1. Embed demographic issues across Ministries and policy agendas
One major factor in Bangladesh’s success is attributed to the government’s prioritization and commitment to demographics in the national policy agenda, adopting a whole-of-government approach. The government prioritized demographics in the country’s first Five-Year Plan in 1971, recognizing that high fertility not only jeopardized the health of both the woman and her children but also represented a major constraint to the country’s economic development.
The widely respected National Planning Commission provided leadership, coordination, and oversight over the development of the Five-Year Plan. Numerous ministries including health, education and religious affairs, then integrated these issues into their planning, resulting in a multi-sectoral coalition.
2. Invest in research that translates into policy actions
Early on in its efforts, Bangladesh invested in rigorous research and evaluation, which was essential to enable evidence-based program design and implementation. Academic institutions, NGOs, development partners, and the government collaborated on the research and in scaling-up innovative solutions.
A key such effort was in 1977, when the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh initiated an experimental Family Planning and Maternal and Child Health (FPMCH) program in the religiously conservative area of Matlab. Under the program, community health workers made regular home visits to married women in the villages and offered them a choice of family planning methods.
Evaluations showed that families living in the program intervention area became healthier and wealthier compared to those in a comparison area. Incorporating results of the research from Matlab into the design of Bangladesh’s national Family Planning Program was vital to improving its impact.
The use of evidence-based approaches went further. In the mid-1990s the Ministry of Education started the Female Secondary School Stipend Program, which provided free tuition and stipends universally to eligible girls from grade 6 to 10, conditional on school attendance, maintaining exam scores, and remaining unmarried until age 18 or completing secondary school. Evaluations showed the program resulted in a tripling of the number of girls enrolled in secondary school and a decline in early marriage.