Support for the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace accord : findings and recommendations of a UNDP sponsored mission

A 1997 Peace Accord between the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and the Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS), which ends two decades of conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), seeks to uphold the rights of all citizens of the CHT and to expedite their socio-economic development. To underpin the Peace Accord and to facilitate the return and resettlement of members of the PCJSS, a joint GoB-donor working group has been established to implement projects for the construction of required infrastructure for the development of the region. This document outlines the three phases of response - short term confidence-building and quick-response measures, short to medium term community-based construction, and structural and long-term requirements; their organization requirements; and financing mechanisms. While immediate relief programmes include health and sanitation support, ultimately the peace process will need to be sustained by improved livelihood, provision of basic services and assets, and development of the local economy especially through improvements to the irrigation network to increase agricultural production. The document points out that in order for projects such as water, sanitation and health to be sustained on a long-term basis, CHT communities would need to be consulted on the relative priority of activities, their nature, scale, financing and maintenance, and as well, interested donors, NGOs, and local, regional and national authorities would need to be involved. It stresses the need to set up mechanisms and to outline processes for decentralization and participatory planning and project implementation at community and sub-regional level, and to provide the necessary training in technical and management skills to ensure their effectiveness.