Strengthening Public Financing for Child-Sensitive Emergency Preparedness, Anticipatory Action and Response in Bangladesh

Agency: UNICEF | Reference: LRQS-2026-9206338 | Type: Request for quotation PurposeTo assess existing public financing arrangements and develop actionable recommendations to strengthen timely, predictable and child-sensitive financing for emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response in Bangladesh.LocationDhaka, Bangladesh, with limited travel within Bangladesh as required for consultations with selected subnational authorities and stakeholders.Estimated Duration4 months (1 October 2026 – 31 January 2027)Technical Supervisor of the assignmentAntonio Franco Garcia, Chief of Field Services, UNICEF Bangladesh (day-to-day technical coordination led by Lawrence Oduma, Emergency Specialist)1.Background and ContextBangladesh has made significant progress in disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response, supported by established national and subnational disaster management systems. Increasingly complex and frequent hazards continue to place children, communities and essential services under growing pressure. Disasters can disrupt health, nutrition, education, WASH, child protection and social protection services, with disproportionate impacts on children and the most vulnerable.At the same time, the financing landscape is changing. Bangladesh's transition from Least Developed Country status and broader middle-income trajectory increases the importance ofdomestic resource mobilization and nationally owned systems, in a context in which the global Official Development Assistance (ODA) and humanitarian financing are becoming more constrained. Existing evidence, including recent IMF analysis, indicates that while Bangladesh has financing mechanisms to manage frequent disasters, financing gaps increase as the severity of shocks rises. This reinforces the importance of strengthening predictable and sustainable national financing for disaster preparedness and response.Bangladesh already has a range of Government-led mechanisms for disaster preparedness, assessment and response. The Standing Orders on Disaster (SOD) establish responsibilities across ministries and administrative levels and provide for damage and needs assessments through the SOS and D-Forms, complemented by sectoral and joint assessments undertaken with humanitarian partners. The Disaster Management Fund (DM Fund), established under the Disaster Management (Fund Operation) Rules 2021 and grounded in Sections 58 and 32(6) of the Disaster Management Act 2012, is intended to provide financial support across all phases of disaster management (before, during and after a disaster), although its operationalization remains a challenge. Government-led mechanisms for forecast-based financing/anticipatory action are also evolving. These systems provide an important foundation for determining needs, prioritizing assistance and mobilizing resources.Globally and in Bangladesh, there is also increasing experience with approaches that can complement existing public financing and enable earlier action. These include anticipatory action and pre-arranged financing linked to risk information and agreed triggers and early actions, scalable social protection, and innovative risk-financing instruments such as insurance. Rather than replacing existing Government mechanisms, these tools can form part of a risk-layered approach that uses different financing instruments for different levels and types of risk.Against this backdrop, there is an opportunity to consolidate evidence on how existing public financing instruments support emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response across MoDMR, MoF and key line ministries responsible for essential services for children.The proposed study will build on existing Government systems, assessments and previous analytical work to examine how resources are allocated, triggered, accessed, utilized and reported; identify opportunities and bottlenecks affecting timely and child-sensitive action; and develop practical recommendations for consideration by the Government. The findings will inform policy dialogue and technical support to the Government to strengthen more predictable, timely and nationally owned financing for emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response.2.Rationale / Purpose of the evidence activityThe purpose of the assignment is to generate an evidence base and actionable recommendations to strengthen public finance for child-sensitive emergency preparedness, anticipatory action and response in Bangladesh. The assessment will build on existing Government systems, financing mechanisms and previous analytical work to identify opportunities to make public financing more predictable, timely, flexible and responsive to risk.This evidence activity is necessary because, despite Bangladesh's well-established disaster management architecture, there is limited consolidated evidence on how public financing instruments - including the DM Fund, sectoral budgets and Government relief modalities -perform in practice for child-sensitive preparedness, anticipatory action and response, and DOCUMENTS AND LINKS: • LRQS 9206338.pdf: https://www.ungm.org/Public/Notice/DownloadDocument?noticeId=315611&documentId=2105043 • Download all documents: https://www.ungm.org/Public/Notice/DownloadAllDocuments?noticeId=315611 CONTACT: • Email: nchowdhury@unicef.org