52 Bangladesh, Burma and the Rohingya crisis also face very high levels of violence in Bangladesh. Over 80% of married Bangladeshi women are estimated to suffer abuse from their partner during their marriage. There are also high levels of dowry killings, acid attacks, stalking, sexual harassment and rape.163 125. DFID is funding the Manusher Jonno Foundation which has helped over one million people (60% women) to hold government to account and claim their rights; including helping 45,852 female survivors of violence to get compensation, resolution or legal services.164 Business and working environment 126. A further potential restraint on further economic development was the general business environment in Bangladesh. Our witnesses pointed out that “in every single indicator that exists in terms of corruption, Bangladesh does poorly.” Corruption in Bangladesh was described as endemic; from big contracts and grand schemes — such as the Padma Bridge project165 (from which the World Bank was said to have withdrawn on grounds of concern about corruption) — to small, everyday, things like the ‘garbage’ collection.166 Bangladesh features at 177th out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business 2018’ survey and 143rd out of 180 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index for 2017. A related challenge is that public revenue generation in Bangladesh equated to only about 9% of GDP (in contrast to, for example, a western European norm of above 30%). 127. DFID’s response to these challenges, specifically, are £59 million worth of programmes, running to 2021, aimed at supporting the strengthening of the management and transparency of official information for citizens, including obviously civil society and businesses, to improve the tools and means for holding public authorities and agencies to account—with a particular programme aimed at the system of public expenditure. Climate change 128. Bangladesh is widely recognised as one of the most vulnerable countries in terms of the impacts of climate change and also for its cutting-edge achievements in addressing the issue. We were grateful to be able to discuss these issues with leading experts, led by Professor Ainun Nishat, in Dhaka in March. 129. Bangladesh’s vulnerability arises from its extensive floodplains, low elevation (two thirds of the country being less than five metres above sea level), high population density, high levels of poverty and substantial reliance on agriculture for economic subsistence and food security. More than 80% of the population, more than 128 million people, are at risk of exposure to floods, droughts and earthquakes; and over 70% are at risk from cyclones. 130. These risks are very real and have materialised in the past with terrifying regularity claiming millions of lives and negating prior development gains. Since 1954, Bangladesh has experienced 21 abnormally high floods (of which four were ‘exceptional’ and two were 163 164 165 166 DFID country briefing DFID country briefing A $3.7 billion, 6km, road and rail bridge under construction on the Padma River which runs across the middle of Bangladesh. Q112