The Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) is a major programme delivering a mix of welfare
and development support to extremely poor households living on low-lying temporary sand
islands (called chars) on the Jamuna River in Northern Bangladesh. The first programme,
CLP-1, ran from 2004-2010 and was funded by the UK Department for International
Development (DFID). It was succeeded by a second programme, CLP-2, in 2010, with the
Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) joining as a funding partner.In order to fully identify the achievements of CLP-1 and future lessons for CLP-2 and other
donors, DFID Bangladesh (DFID-B) commissioned an independent impact assessment of
CLP-1. The impact assessment revealed that that CLP-1 was a good programme that had positive impacts, but
this report’s evidence raises questions about whether or not it was as good as the managing
agents and DFID-B judged it at the end of the programme.