Bangladesh: Small community grants with big, green effects in growing cities
In Bangladesh, rapid and largely unplanned urbanisation has reduced critical green spaces in cities, leaving communities with fewer public recreational areas and increasing their vulnerability to flooding and other environmental challenges. The population increase in smaller municipalities, known as pourashavas, comes with many challenges that demand urgent investment in climate- and water-resilient urban infrastructure. In the expanding pourashavas of Keshabpur and Raozan, severe flooding has occurred, and water management challenges have worsened. Poor drainage, sanitation and waste disposal practices are now major problems that could lead to water insecurity and reduced quality of life.
Large-scale infrastructural delays
Addressing these interconnected challenges is important for the well-being of Bangladeshis living in these areas and the long-term sustainability of the environment. Yet, many local governments don’t have the financial resources and community engagement needed to readily fix these problems, so they often turn to donors for support. However, securing the large amounts of funding needed for large-scale urban infrastructure projects is a slow and difficult process for smaller municipalities. Few succeed in raising the money needed.
Projects at this scale, while vital, often take years to get approved and even longer to implement, said Sami Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi lawyer involved in a project to bring swifter progress.
“In our country, these large-scale infrastructure projects are subject to extensive bureaucratic procedures, which can significantly delay their implementation. The approval process is complex, requiring multiple stages of review and authorisation, resulting in a lengthy timeline before projects can commence,” he said.
Infrastructure improvements therefore don’t happen as quickly as they are needed. In some cases, more than a decade passes before the pourashavas see meaningful change. Meanwhile, residents suffer from inadequate urban services for water and waste management, and the lack of parks and other green natural areas in their neighbourhoods.
"In our country, these large-scale infrastructure projects are subject to extensive bureaucratic procedures, which can significantly delay their implementation."
Community-driven interventions
In 2023, Urban Demonstrators—a project supported by the Water and Development Partnership Programme with funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs—introduced a different, complementary financing approach aimed at restoring and safeguarding public green spaces in Bangladesh. The project coordinator, Chris Zevenbergen, IHE Delft Professor of Flood Resilience of Urban Systems, said: “This funding model challenges the idea that only large sums of money are needed to improve urban environments. Instead, it empowers local communities to take ownership and participate in the development process by co-designing, co-financing and implementing small-scale, climate-resilient infrastructural improvements.”
Urban Demonstrators initiated a pilot programme that engaged the local governments and residents in Keshabpur and Raozan in implementing two small-scale, community-driven interventions.
"This funding model challenges the idea that only large sums of money are needed to improve urban environments."
“To better understand the community's needs, we engaged directly with local residents, hosting multiple town hall meetings and conducting individual interviews. Through these conversations, we discovered a strong desire among the community to restore and protect urban green spaces. Community members consider sustainable, accessible and healthy environments in the city important,” said Sami Chowdhury, the project leader from Bangladesh.
Urban Demonstrators then provided small grants of only tens of thousands of euros to the communities—far smaller than the millions typically needed for larger and more comprehensive grey infrastructure projects. This initial, essential funding came with one key condition: the communities must be willing and able to also contribute their time, money and local resources to enhance and protect these public green spaces. The goal was to bring rapid, visible improvements for the residents to enjoy within a relatively short timeframe of about one to two years.
Pilot projects
In the first pilot project, a polluted river that flows through the Keshabpur centre was cleaned of the dense water hyacinth and solid waste that blocked the water flow and caused flooding during rainy periods. Residents worked together to transform the area into a multifunctional green waterfront where families gather to relax, have fun and socialise. With an improved water flow and a functioning floodplain, the risk of flooding has been reduced.
The second pilot intervention protected a hilly forest in Raozan from further urbanisation, which threatened the freshwater supply for local farmers downstream and increased the risks of flash floods. The Urban Demonstrators supported the community as it transformed the area into a multipurpose recreational park with water retention properties that prevent flooding. The park features seating, walkways and bridges and a design that also suits the needs of visually impaired children who attend a nearby school. A shed offers shade for community youth to meet and take part in learning activities.
Community members involved in the project found the hands-on infrastructural work challenging, but they gained new skills along the way, and the experience will help them manage similar projects in the future. The project also included workshops and training to enable local residents and officials to maintain the project’s successes.
Intense rainfall during July and August 2024 led to landslides and flooding, which damaged sections of the newly constructed infrastructure and delayed project completion beyond the initial target of September 2024.
Easily scalable
Urban Demonstrators hope that the successful pilots will inspire the same financing approach and collaborative efforts in neighbouring municipalities.
“This pilot programme is easily scalable and can be replicated in other pourashavas. It shows how communities can achieve meaningful change by starting with small initiatives and developing their own capacity at the same time, without waiting for the big money,” said Farhana Ahmed, an urban planning specialist at the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services, and partner of the project.
In doing so, this can also attract more investment opportunities, she said, noting that donors such as the Asian Development Bank has expressed interest in applying Urban Demonstrators in pourashavas with similar needs.
"Communities can achieve meaningful change by starting with small initiatives and developing their own capacity at the same time, without waiting for the big money"
Learn more about Urban Demonstrators
About the programme
The Water and Development Partnership Programme envisions a world where inclusive and diverse partnerships and marginalised knowledges transform the ways we know, use, share and care for water. To achieve this, the programme funds bold, creative and transdisciplinary projects that combine research, education and capacity strengthening activities aimed at creating a peaceful, just and sustainable world. Implemented with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the programme supports organisations in non-European, low- and middle-income countries as they strengthen their capacity to manage water in sustainable and inclusive ways.