| Overview : Twenty five years of protracted conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts left the majority of its inhabitants in conditions of extreme poverty, and tensions over land tenure, resource access, and ethno-demographics remain challenges to sustainable development. The poverty continues to persist in the CHT as over 60% of CHT households living in absolute poverty and one quarter of the population considered hard-core poor (Source- Household Survey in the CHT, 2013, UNDP). A CHT Peace Accord was signed in December 1997 and was recognized as a significant political achievement for the region which is home to 11 distinctive indigenous groups and Bengalis. It raised high expectations that it would serve as the cornerstone of a successful peace building process and as a means for opening up new opportunities for development. Relevant institutions have been established to support this process although not all subjects as per the CHT Peace Accord have yet been transferred to them, and several parts of the Peace Accord are yet to be implemented. In partnership with the central and local Government as well as CHT communities and NGOs, UNDP supports the Promotion of Development and Confidence Building in the Chittagong Hill Tracts through the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility (CHTDF). Following on Preparatory Assistance phase (2003/2004) the initial phase of the Facility ran from December 2005 to September 2009. Building on this initial phase and as agreed in the National Steering Committee (NSC) meeting held in August 2008, the extended phase ran from October 2009 to September 2013 and later another no-cost extension of the project was approved for 2 years from October 2013 to September 2015 as per decision of the NSC with an increased emphasis on providing capacity building support to CHT institutions and relevant partners in the CHT in order to enable them to take over the development initiative gradually to continue local services in the CHT. The overall development objective of the project is to support the government of Bangladesh, and to further enable the institutions of the CHT and local communities, to pursue accelerated and sustainable socio-economic development based on the principles of self-reliance and decentralized development in order to reduce poverty across the hill tracts region. Extension and expansion of the project was agreed for a period of six years (2009 – 2015) in order to: •Intensify capacity development of CHT institutions, in order to integrate all components into government or NGO partners, and gradually transfer authority, resources and responsibility. • Expand the health, education, economic development and community empowerment components to all un-served remote communities in selected Upazilas of CHT. •Increase emphasis on agriculture, food security and sustainable community-based forestry, as mentioned in the project document. •Continue confidence building and facilitate forums for discussion to accelerate implementation of the peace accord Based on the overall development objective above, the following 5 target outputs of the project are: Output 1: Developing capacity and enhance the roles of CHT institutions in support of grassroots and multi-community development. Output 2: Programme and Regional/cross community initiatives developed and implemented. Output 3: Community Empowerment Process for self-reliant development enhanced and institutionalized to support Para Community small projects across the CHT. Output 4: Facilitate Confidence Building to solve long-standing problems to development and peace in the CHT. Output 5: UNDP operational infrastructure and capacities to support CHT development, confidence building and donor coordination are enhanced. More specifically, the CHTDF intends to ensure a successful peace building process and improve the development conditions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) people through community empowerment, economic development, capacity development of CHT institutions, confidence building including conflict sensitive policing, multi-level participatory planning and implementation, health and education, and awareness-raising on gender issues. With a total budget of USD 160.5 million, and 118 staff, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility (CHTDF) is one of UNDP’s large interventions spanning across governance, peace-building and multiple sectors within one Facility. In addition to UNDP’s own resources, funds have been made available by the European Union, Canada (CIDA), Denmark (DANIDA), USA (USAID), Norway, Sweden, Australia (AusAID) and the Government of Japan since the inception. The Facility manages the respective donor agreements within one programmatic framework. As the present phase of the project is going to end in September 2015, UNDP conducts a comprehensive final review of the project which is also required by the government as a regular practice when a project is going to be completed. Moreover, the government, UN Agencies and potential Development Partners are of the view to formulate a new programme for CHT aiming to effectively accelerate development and sustain peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts as well as to sustain the outcomes and results of the present phase of the project | 
