Capacity Building of BBS, Bangladesh The Government of Bangladesh has requested in February 2008 that the Bank support capacity building activities with relation to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey, that is to be carried out in 2009-10.  The Bank proposed to support these activities through an Institutional Development Fund (IDF) Grant.  The IDF has three inter-related objectives: (i) to strengthen data analysis and production in order to enhance the information base on disability in Bangladesh, and to better formulate policy and strengthen safety nets for the disabled population; (ii) to address the demand for data on topics like migration and microfinance that have emerged as important for policymakers and civil society; and (iii) to consolidate earlier initiatives to improve capacity for poverty monitoring and analysis in Bangladesh.  This will be achieved through support to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), which carries out the HIES at intervals of about five years. While the BBS has demonstrated excellent capacity to carry out general monitoring and evaluation work, it needs assistance to undertake specialized work on new areas.  With support from the IDF, the BBS now proposes to build capacity and imbibe international best practice knowledge on generating data and analysis on new relevant issues.  As a first step towards this longer term objective, it seeks to integrate policy-oriented modules/questions on disability, microfinance, and migration into the HIES. In terms of timing, the proposed IDF activities would dovetail with the HIES which will be undertaken by GoB starting 2009-thus ensuring that a self-standing survey (with associated higher costs and additional preparatory work) to collect policy-oriented data on these subjects will not be required.  The proposed IDF will support further expansion of the sample size from 504 to 612 PSUs, and from 10,080 to 12,240 households, achieving greater representativeness at various regional levels. The proposed grant will not finance the routine costs of the HIES, which is currently part of the government's funding plans. While administrative and operational costs related to HIES will be borne by BBS, financing is requested through the IDF to: (i) support skill enhancement of GoB staff through exposure to design, implementation, and policy orientation of new modules, (ii) undertake collection and analysis of data on new issues, and (iii) improve dissemination of information collected by BBS to increase transparency and promote the use of this information by the general public. Mr. Nobuo Yoshida took over the task leadership from Ms. Ananya Basu effective December 15, 2009. The proposed IDF grant supports activities critical to improving results-oriented monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in Bangladesh. The IDF has two inter-related development objectives: (i) to enhance the overall quality and timeliness of nationally representative household survey data collected by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), by consolidating earlier initiatives to improve capacity for poverty monitoring and analysis in Bangladesh; and (ii) to strengthen data analysis and production in order to respond to the increasing demand for policy-oriented data on new areas like disability, microfinance and migration in Bangladesh that will help formulate better policies for inclusive development.