Investments and early interventions in Bangladesh’s child protection system have produced significant social and economic benefits, including reductions in violence, early marriages, and school dropouts.

Over the past five years, at least 12,000 child marriages have been directly prevented, birth registration has risen from 47 to 70 per cent, and public trust in social workers has increased by 60 per cent.

UNICEF Bangladesh representative Rana Flowers shared these findings at a media briefing on Wednesday, attended by Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Senior Secretary Mamtaz Ahmed.

The briefing focused on the outcomes of the five-year programme Fostering Rights and Empowerment of the Most Marginalised Adolescents and Children with Disabilities in Bangladesh, which began in 2021 and is co-funded by the European Union.

The programme, implemented in partnership with the Bangladesh government, has reached over 16 million children and adolescents and 6.3 million caregivers.

It has strengthened national child protection laws and institutional frameworks, integrated the Standardised Adolescent Empowerment Package (SAEP) into the national curriculum—reaching 28 million students—and engaged 13.8 million adolescents through the Sports for Development initiative, with 70 per cent of participants being girls.

Significant policy reforms have also been achieved, including completion of the Department of Children’s Affairs Roadmap, finalisation of the National Action Plan on Alternative Care (2026–2030), and the establishment of a deinstitutionalisation framework.

Government co-financing for child protection budgets has risen from 4 per cent to 30 per cent, while the EU-UNICEF partnership has shifted the system from fragmented project-based interventions to a coherent national structure embedded in legislation, policy, and sustainable budgets.

Speaking at the briefing, EU Ambassador Michael Miller highlighted the ongoing importance of child labour reform, stressing the need to remove children from the most hazardous workplaces and align labour laws with International Labour Organization recommendations.

He expressed confidence that the next government would continue advancing the progress achieved under the interim administration.