Year 4 Quarter 1 Report: Feed the Future Bangladesh Policy LINK Agricultural Policy Activity

The activity received USAID approval of the Y4 workplan on October 10, 2023, and presented the workplan to Feed the Future Bangladesh leadership and Activity Managers on October 31, 2023. The Policy Activity submitted the Y3 annual reporting requirements to USAID, including the Implementing Mechanism (IM) Narrative, Annual Report, and Feed the Future Indicator Report. Upon USAID approval on November 1, 2023, the IM Narrative and Feed the Future Indicator Data were uploaded onto the Development Information Solution (DIS). The Policy Activity invested efforts in externally socializing policy wins, including publishing a blog post on Agrilink's online knowledge hub and a news article in The Daily Star highlighting the strategy to leverage local coalitions to drive policy reform. The activity continues to navigate the process to execute the updated Program Description and expanded scope of work to cover the broader agricultural sector. To gain a sense of the higher-level policy issues impacting the agricultural sector, the Policy Activity facilitated an Expert Dialogue on Agricultural Policy Pillar Prioritization on November 22, 2023. The dialogue brought together experts and thought leaders representing the public and private sectors, as well as research/academia and civil society, to deliberate on the policy pillars and issues that require more immediate strategic effort to support the Government of Bangladesh's vision and targets for agricultural growth in Bangladesh. The Policy Activity also worked with coalition partner Bangladesh Safe Agro Food Efforts (BSAFE) Foundation to strengthen the recommendations and forge consensus on a collective way forward on the policy brief with a broad range of stakeholders representing public and non-public sectors. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Implementing Partners provided comprehensive suggestions to enhance the FS policy brief, which was followed by a consultation meeting with USDA, USAID, and both partners on November 30, 2023. The final revised food safety policy brief was submitted and cleared by USAID on December 24, 2023, and January 15, 2024, respectively. The Policy Activity is building the capacities of key actors from prioritized stakeholder groups at all levels of the system, recognizing that the lack of leadership skills and management skills constrains policy system transformation. Implementation will be demand-driven through training needs assessments and cover the areas selected by potential participants that improve the actors' ability to fulfill their role in the agriculture policy system. The activity works with system actors to raise awareness of relevant acts, ordinances, rules, and statutory regulatory orders among government service providers and regulators, as well as service recipients and clients. In Year 4, the Government of Bangladesh is driving policy sensitization efforts in food safety, aquaculture, and agricultural marketing with support from the Policy Activity. Local coalition partners are a catalyst in the sensitization process working closely with GoB counterparts to strengthen the overall policy system through these capacity building initiatives. The Policy Activity has consistently engaged with the Director Generals and senior officials in the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA), Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), and the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) to build consensus and ownership on food safety policy sensitization. BFSA has taken a proactive stance to ensure that sensitization efforts align with and contribute to their broader capacity building goals while making space for collaboration with BSTI and the DNCRP. The sensitization workshops will be facilitated by senior officials from BFSA, BSTI, and the DNCRP in Dhaka and in seven regions. A Training of Trainers (ToT) and roll out of the food safety policy sensitization module are planned to take place in the coming months.