HILIP is primarily an infrastructure and community resource management project in a vulnerable area with a preponderance of poor households attempting to survive in very adverse circumstances. 

The manner in which project activities will be identified and implementation arrangements structured will promote these underlying approaches of HILIP.  The participatory planning workshops, the participation of Union Parishads in scheme selection and their commitment to provide maintenance funds from their block grants and the combined use of professional contractors and Labour Contracting Societies are all designed to promote these aspects during Project implementation.

The use of labour-intensive approaches to works, including beel and canal re-excavation,means the project will strengthen its local employment-creation potential.  

The approach to the community resource management component is that of community empowerment and management, while the underlying approach of the livelihood protection component is value chain analysis through promoting partnerships with market intermediaries along the value chain. This combination of approaches is based on the successful experience of other IFAD-funded projects being implemented by LGED in Bangladesh as well as build on IFAD’s experience internationally. 

The overall project will be implemented over an eight year period. This period is needed to implement the infrastructure schemes, provide time for Beel User Groups to mature and gain the strength needed for some measure of long-term sustainability as well as identify and implement the value chain activities envisaged under the livelihood protection component.

Most project works will be implemented in project years 2 to 7, with the first year being used for mobilization, detailed planning and preparatory activities.  The last year will be mainly used for institutional strengthening, assessing project impact and using the results for policy reform and knowledge dissemination and advocacy.