Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)

Faculty of Business Studies (MBA Professional)

Course Name: Business Economics (BUS 8403)

Term Paper
Topic: "A study on Social Safety Net Programs and Bangladesh perspective”

Submitted To:
Prof. Mohammad Amzad Hossain
Faculty of Business Studies
Bangladesh University of Professionals

Submitted By:
Name: Md. Jahidur Rahman Dipu
Roll: 19020088
Section: 20(B)
Session: Jan 19
Date: 14-04-2020
 Acknowledgement

First of all, I am indebted to the Almighty Allah for overwhelming all the obstacles and
predicament that we faced during the whole research work and for bringing this paper into its
authenticity. I am also grateful to our parents and family members for their support and
encouragement.

At the outset, I should like to express my heartiest gratitude and thankfulness to our respected
teacher Prof. Mohammad Amzad Hssain for his sympathetic and patient guidance and interest in
this research and for his encouragement and guidance at all stages of the work. I am highly
indebted to my supervisor for his personal care and affection. His careful reading of draft,
constant inspiration, criticism and constructive suggestion at every stage made this work
possible. Thanks are also offered to those who directly and indirectly helped to make the paper
complete.
 Letter of Transmittal

28 February 2020
Prof. Mohammad Amzad Hossain
Faculty of Business Studies
Bangladesh University of Professionals

Subject: Submission of the Paper on “A study on Social safety net programs and Bangladesh
perspective”

Dear Sir,

With due respect, I would like to submit here with the report on “A study on Social safety net
programs and Bangladesh perspective” for your kind consideration, I found the class paper
work very interesting that was assigned to me.

I am pretty much optimistic that the preparation of this report would enrich my practical
knowledge. It is an immense pleasure for me to submit the paper which is prepared as a partial
requirement of the course named Business Economics (BUS-8403) of MBA (Professional). I have
gone through internet, different books, articles, journals, interview of authorities for this report
and getting the relevant information about the assigned topic.

Sincerely yours

Md. Mamunur Rashid

Roll: 19020078

Section: 20(B), MBA Professional

Bangladesh University of Professionals

Executive Summary
Recent years have seen a perceptible increase in interest on social safety nets in developing
countries. The emergence of such a policy focus has been underscored by the growing realization
of the significance of risk and vulnerability in defining the poverty condition 1and the
concomitant need to protect the poor from such risks and vulnerability. During the 1980s, the
spurt in interest in social safety nets stemmed from the debt crisis in Latin America and the need
to undertake painful structural adjustment program to cope with often debilitating macro-
economic crisis. There was a general realization during this period that, though economic
restructuring associated with adjustment could be perfectly consistent with policies to achieve
sustainable long-term development, in the short run the poor can be at considerable risk during the
process of restructuring. During the 1990s, the East Asian financial crisis provided another spurt
to interest in safety net programs as a means of limiting the impact of such adverse macro-
economic turns on the lives of the poor. Most recently, the global recession of 2007-08 has seen
renewed concerns on risks faced by the poor and middle classes due to prolonged economic
downturns. Though many critics have questioned social safety-nets as something politically
expedient, stigmatizing and highly inadequate to prime concerns of the poor, the necessity of such
nets was never totally discarded. On the contrary, concerns on reducing vulnerability of the poor
has risen near to the top of the development agenda. It is now also increasingly realized that even
when macro-economic adjustment is not a primary issue, an inclusive development agenda
requires special measures in favor of the poor as they may be bypassed by the growth process.
They may not benefit from it at all due to their varied constraints and vulnerabilities.2The creation
of cost effective and efficient social safety nets may be one of the many ways to help the poor so
that they do not perpetually continue to suffer from grinding poverty. Revisiting the idea of social
safety-net with a view to better appreciate how they respond to the specific needs of the poor
while at the same time addressing the broad development objectives of developing countries is
one of the main objectives of this Study.

Introduction
Being one of the densely populated countries with 142,319 thousand people 1 in an area of 1,47,570 sq km,
resource constraints and poverty had been the great concern from the birth of Bangladesh. About 31% of
total populations live under poverty- of them, 17% are hardcore poor (Household Income and Expenditure
Survey, 2010). In such a backdrop, succeeding governments had been trying to find out credible approach
and took plenteous measures as to bring those disadvantaged poor section of the society within government
safety net boundary and thus to reduce the intensity of the problem. In the same light, interventions under
Social Safety Net Programs (SSNPs) had been continuing, emphasizing on the area of education, health,
nutrition and employment generation. Old Age and Widow Allowance formally started to run respectively
in 1997 and 1998. Since the orientation of these two programs, the amount of money for the aged and the
widowed has been increased to 500 TK, which started with 100 TK at the initial stage. Currently SSN
programmes have achieved considerable expansion in terms of coverage, scope and types. However, the
concern of this paper is the impact of only two programs namely Old Age Allowance and Allowances for
the Widow, Deserted and Destitute Women.

Allocation of Old Age Allowance and Widow Allowance in the Budget of Bangladesh Government:

Fiscal Year Budget Allocation (Taka in Budget Allocation (Taka

crore) for Old age in crore) for Widow
allowance allowance

2008-09 600.00 270

2009-10 810.00 331.20

2010-11 891.00 331.20

2011-12 891.00 331.20

2012-13 891.00 331.20

2013-14 980.10 331.20

2014-15 1306.8 659.75

2015-16 1440.00 672.4

2016-17 1480.00 868.3

Source: Ministry of Finance, 2017

While some of the initiatives worked effectively, some other interventions didn’t work in line with the
expectation of the government or the beneficiaries. The attributing factors behind the failures of some
initiatives include, but not limited to, was the faulty selection procedure of beneficiary or absence of
authentic database and leakage in the system. The Sixth Five Year Plan (SFYP, FY 2011 to FY 2015)
identified the challenges of SSNPs mentioning, “the main challenges of implementing social protection
programs are coverage issues, targeting beneficiaries, leakage, and disparity in regional distribution.” Upon
realizing the necessity of SSNPs in Bangladesh, the SFYP professed the necessity of a ‘National Social
Protection Strategy’ as it said- a coherent and integrated national social protection strategy based on a
comprehensive mapping of existing and emerging vulnerabilities would be developed. While expanding
coverage of SSNPs should be one of the priorities of the government, the effectuality of the taken
initiatives should also be ensured in the first place. On the above note, this article dealt with one of the
safety net programs naming ‘Employment Generation Program for the Poorest (EGPP)’ that government
introduced to reduce the dearth of poverty in some parts of the country. Along with exploring the
hindrances of the said program, it discussed the policy implications where government ought to pay heed.

In the recent time, there have been a noticeable intensification in interest in social safety nets in developing
nations. Though numerous critics have termed the social safety-nets as rather politically beneficial,
pillorying and very insufficient to main concerns of the poor, the essentiality of such nets was never really
rejected in practice. However, a new determination is currently evident in the discourse by way of safety
nets and the wider scope of social protection is progressively being perceived as a key improvement issue
(Rahman & Choudhury, 2012). SSNPs are considered as a set of public events, which a society offers for
its
associates to shield them from different kinds of financial and social adversities causing from a
considerable degeneration in income owing to several types of eventualities, like crop failure, loss of
cultivable land, river erosion, land and homestead loss, old age or death of earning household members,
joblessness, illness and maternity. SSNPs are, thus, required to address: (a) risks, viz ., tentative activities
which may undesirably affect people‟s welfare; poverty, viz., not having sufficient of something valued to
raise income and conservation; and (c) vulnerability, viz., think for contemporary time, not having
adequate for the future time. SSNPs are inspired by cooperation with fairness and effectiveness concerns.
They are anticipated to support the less wealthy sections of the people and pursue to balance credit and
cover market failures. Besides, in constructing a fairer society, SSNP may play a vital role in stimulating
financial growth by: (i) facilitating in producing resources at personal, family and community level; (ii)
assisting persons and families to safeguard resources when different sorts of shocks take place; (iii)
assisting persons and families to utilize their prevailing assets more efficiently, and thus aiding them to
manage the different sorts of risks; and (iv) raising financial growth rates directly by dropping inequality
(Khuda, 2011).

Bangladesh is considered as one of the poorest states in the world with a vital segment of its population
living below the poverty line. People from diverse marginalized groups experience immense depressions
and distresses throughout their lifespan and on every occasion there are some shockwaves or adversities.
Though all poor people are sufferers of poverty, amongst them divorced, widowed and abandoned poor
women usually experience an incomparable amount of miseries and shocks. SSNPs have been followed by
many governments as an efficient tool to fight against poverty and to get the troubled people into social
insertion. Similarly, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has introduced some of these programmes, for
instance OAAP, in the country.

2 Social Safety Nets in Bangladesh: An Overview

Evolution of social safety net in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has a long history of formal social safety-net programmes, which, in part, has shaped the
nature of the current social security system. The political viewpoints and programme designs of social
protection in Bangladesh have gradually evolved from a poor-relief approach in the 70’s to a safety-net
approach in the late 90’s and finally to a lifecycle framework in 2015 with the adoption of the National
Social Security Strategy.

2015s
Programme
2000s consolidation
Social Safety along
1990s Nets
Support to Graduation
1980s special groups
1970s Disaster response
(old age, widow,
people with
Relief +
Poor Relief Developmen

Figure: Evolution of Social protection in Bangladesh

The decade of the 1980s has been characterized by disaster response and relief operations. The
component of development in addition to providing food heralded a remarkable improvement in the
social protection programmes during that period. Throughout the 1990s, programmes were undertaken to
provide support to special population groups such as old age, widows and people with disability. These
programmes were often supported by the development partners and NGOs. The provision of cash
transfers was widely introduced in these programmes. In the 2000s, numerous social safety-net
programmes were undertaken to support different types of risks and vulnerabilities. These programmes
were often reinforced with graduation programmes to bring the poor sustainably out of poverty (Hasan,
2017). The Government’s social protection policy must be seen as a core element of the other policies
and programmes that together comprise the broader social development framework (SDF). The main
objective of the SDF is to have a comprehensive and consistent set of policies that can help Bangladesh
achieve better equity and social justice in the context of its development effort.

This focus of the SDF is to be achieved through a range of policies and programmes encompassing the
Government’s
 • Poverty reduction strategy
• Education strategy
• Health, nutrition and population strategy
• Strategy for sanitation and water supply
• Strategy for inclusive finance
• Strategy for women and gender empowerment
• Strategy for social inclusion of ethnic and religious minorities
• Strategy for environmental protection and climate change management
• Strategy for disaster management and social protection strategy

These various strategies and programmes are mostly complimentary in nature and tend to strengthen the
impact on poverty reduction, reduce vulnerability of the poor and promote social cohesion. Against the
backdrop of the experiences with non-cohesive social protection or social safety-net programmes prior to
the adoption of the NSSS, the government planned to undertake target-oriented programmes to address
the following priority challenges:

• Expanding coverage of core schemes for the most vulnerable members of society, focusing
on children, the elderly and people with disabilities.
• Ensuring that the most vulnerable women are provided with income security and
greateropportunities to engage in the labour market, in particular as they enter into motherhood.
• Initiating a social insurance system that enables people to invest in their own social security,providing
protection against the risks of old age, disability, unemployment and maternity.
• Expanding coverage to the residents of urban areas and to socially excluded people.
• Ensuring that the social protection system supports an effective disaster response system.
• Strengthening the delivery systems for priority transfers by establishing advanced
management information systems and professional staff.

The government has also considered the fact that achieving the SDGs would require the adoption of
various social protection or social empowerment programmes which will be explicitly required to achieve
the following goals and targets of the SDGs:
 Goals: Targets:
Goal 1: End Target 1.3 - Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and
poverty in all its measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of
forms everywhere the poor and the vulnerable.
Goal 3: Ensure Target 3.8 - Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk
healthy lives and protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe,
promote well-being effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
for all at all ages
Goal 5: Achieve Target 5.4 - Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the
gender equality public provision of public services, infrastructures and social protection policies
and empower all and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as
women and girls nationally appropriate.
Goal 8: Promote Target 8.5 - By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for
sustained, inclusive all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and
and sustainable equal pay for work of equal value.
economic growth,
full and productive
employment and
decent work for all.
Goal 10: Reduce Target 10.4 - Adopt policies, especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies,
inequality within and progressively achieve greater equality.
and among
countries

Table: The mentioning of social protection in SDGs

It is to be noted that Goals 3 and 8 do not directly mention social protection targets, but are included because
health coverage (Goal 3) is a social protection measure and social protection is one of the four pillars of
‘decent work’ (Goal 8).

17
As has been mentioned above, Bangladesh has adopted the lifecycle approach to social protection in
the National Social Security Strategy and various risks have been identified for different cohorts of life.
Social protection programmes of Bangladesh before adopting the NSSS in 2015, were complex and the
leakage rate was very high (Planning Commission, 2015). Though 65 per cent of the programmes were
seeking to address life-cycle risks, there were significant gaps. For example, social security coverage for
children of 0-4 years was very limited; though coverage for school-age children was highest but the
transfer they used to receive was low in value.

Though NSSS has taken a comprehensive approach to provide social protection, Bangladesh’s social
security system remains complex, comprising a large number of programmes and managed by 25
ministries/divisions. There are 130 programmes under the social security system currently financed through the
budget (according to National Budget Documents of FY 2018-19). The number of beneficiaries (either in terms
of man month or number of persons) and the amount of financial allocation for existing social safety-net
programmes is noted in Annex I.
The Government of Bangladesh has increased budgetary allocations in social safety-net programmes over
the last couple of years. The trend of budgetary allocations for these programmes in absolute terms, as
well as a share of national budget allocation has increased in recent years. The absolute allocation for
SSNPs has increased from BDT 230.98 billion in FY 2012−13 to BDT 641.77 billion in FY 2018−19.
The share of SSNPs in the GDP has increased marginally in the last five years with some decline in the
GDP share during the FY15 to FY17 period. It has gone up from 2.22 per cent of the GDP in FY 2012−13
to 2.53 per cent in FY 2018−19. The share in total budget expenditure has increased from 12.2 per cent in
FY 2012−13 to 13.8 per cent in FY 2018−19. With regard to the component- specific allocation of
SSNPs, the allocation for programmes for social protection has dominated in all periods as compared to
the those for social empowerment. In the FY 2018−19, the government has allocated 9.52 per cent of its
total SSNPs budget for the social protection programmes compared to

2.72 per cent to programmes for social empowerment (Table 3). However, the table in Annex I depicts
that the number of programmes is much higher under social empowerment (93 programmes) than the
number of programmes under social protection (37 programmes). This indicates that programmes under
social empowerment are (on an average) smaller in size both in terms of allocation and number of
beneficiaries. Most of these programmes come under the wider development programmes of the
government. However, both the empowerment and protection programmes are necessary for addressing
the child labour issue. While protection programmes like Vulnerable Group Feeding, or Old-Age
Allowance can directly serve to increase household incomes and thereby extend positive impacts to
reduce child labour, the social empowerment programmes, which are to a large extent development
programmes, have the capability to generate long term and structural impacts on the reduction of child
labour. The social empowerment programmes such as stipend programmes for children or Rural
Infrastructure Development have the capacity to generate multiple impacts at the household level and
generate sustainable advancement in both poverty reduction and the reduction of child labour.

Social Protection Social Empowerment Total Safety Net

BDT in % of % of BDT in % of % of BDT in % of % of
Year
Billion Budget GDP Billion Budget GDP Billion Budget GDP
2012-13 174,800 9.23 1.68 56,180 2.97 0.54 230,980 12.2 2.22
2013-14 189,840 8.78 1.61 76,700 3.55 0.65 266,540 12.33 2.26
2014-15 215,290 8.98 1.42 91,060 3.8 0.6 306,360 12.78 2.02
2015-16 252,640 9.55 1.46 107,110 4.05 0.62 359,750 13.6 2.08
2016-17 305,830 9.64 1.56 102,740 3.24 0.53 408,570 12.88 2.09
2017-18 287,960 7.75 1.29 197,270 5.31 0.88 485,240 13.06 2.17
2018-19
442,070 9.52 1.74 199,680 4.30 0.79 641,770 13.81 2.53
(Proposed)

Table: Allocation of national budget in programmes for social protection and programmes for
social empowerment
Among the programmes only a few dominate in terms of allocation and beneficiaries. Out of the 130
SSNPs listed in the budget document of 2018−19, ten programmes constitute 63 per cent of the total
budget allocation for social safety net programmes (Table 4). These top-ten programmes (in terms of
allocation in FY19) include three programmes for social empowerment and seven for social protection.
The programme with the top allocation under SSNP (35 per cent of total allocation for SSNP) is the
programme for the Pension for Retired Government Employees and their families. This includes all
government employees including the top-grade employees. Thus, a large part of the safety-net
programmes is actually serving ex-government employees who do not belong to the poor segment of the
society (explained further in Box-1).

Budget Allocation as %
Sl. (BDT in of Total safety
No. Programme Type of programme
million) net Budget
1 Pension for Retired 226,394.6 35.28 Social protection (cash transfer)
Government Employees
and their Families
2 Honorarium for 33,050 5.15 Social protection (cash transfer)
Freedom Fighters
3 Rural Infrastructure 32,420 5.05 Social empowerment
Development (Development sector
programme)
4 Old-Age Allowance 24,000 3.74 Social protection (cash transfer)
5 Vulnerable Group 17,310 2.70 Social protection (Food security
Feeding (VGF) programme)
6 Vulnerable Group 16,850 2.63 Social protection (Food security
Development (VGD) (in programme)
man month)
7 Employment Generation 16,500 2.57 Social protection (Food security
Programme for the Poor programme)
(in man month)
8 Primary School Stipend 15,500 2.42 Social empowerment
(Development sector
programme)
9 Test Relief (TR) Cash 13,900 2.17 Social protection (Food security
programme)
10 Development Support for 11,270 1.76 Social empowerment
Special Needs (Development sector
programme)
Total Top 10 programme 40,7190 63.45
Total safety net budget 64,1770 100

Table: Top ten social safety-net programmes according to the allocation in budget 2018-19
 Budget % of a type
Number Budget for Number of for Social Total Safety of pro-
Sector of Social Total of Social Social Pro- Social Em- Empower- net Budget gramme in
safety- net number of Protection tection powerment ment (BDT in Total Safety
programmes programmes programmes (BDT in programmes (BDT in million) net budget
million) million)
Cash transfer 22 16 32,319 6 4,640 32,7830 51.08
0
Food 10 10 10,457 - 10,4570 16.29
Security 0
programme
Micro- 25 11 1,4310 14 1,5060 2,9370 4.58
Credit
Programmes
/
Miscellaneo
us fund
Developme 73 73 17,9990 17,9990 28.05
nt Sector
Total 130 37 44,207 93 19,9700 64,1770 100
Programm 0
es

Table: Allocation for different kinds of social safety-net programmes and their share in the total safety
net budget (FY2018-19)

If we look at SSNPs, it is noted that a number of programmes are either dedicated to social protection or to
social empowerment, and can directly or indirectly contribute to the elimination of child labour (discussed
below). It is noted that the programmes for social protection take the following forms: cash transfer, food
security, and miscellaneous fund allocation. Programmes for social empowerment take the following forms:
cash transfer, micro–credit, and miscellaneous fund allocation. In addition, most of the social empowerment
programmes are actually carried out under the development budget. Now let us find out how different types of
programmes may have a connection with the elimination of child labour from the economy.

Cash transfer programmes

Cash transfer programmes provide cash benefits usually to vulnerable households including widows,
deserted and destitute women; maternity allowance for poor women. These include: Stipend for Disabled
Students; Grants for the Schools for the Disabled etc. Cash transfers directly to the children improve their
welfare and constitute a key element in a comprehensive policy response to child labour. For example:

 Primary School Stipend: The government has been giving a stipend of BDT 30.67 billion omrf
July 2015 to all primary schools to make sure that no child is kept out of school. The number of
beneficiaries of stipends has increased from 7.9 million to 13 million (Child-focused Budget,
2018−19, p.25). The money reaches the parents through the schools.
  The Higher Secondary Stipend Project: Under this project 40 per cent of female students and 10
per cent of male students in grade 11/12 are paid stipends, money for purchasing books, filling out
forms and meeting tuition fees. The stipend is being provided through Mobile Banking amongst
the beneficiaries and they do not need go to the institution or bank to collect the stipend as it can
be collected anytime from any place via SMS. It saves both time and money. There is no scope for
embezzlement/ misappropriation as the stipend goes directly to the student’s mobile account.
Money can be kept in the mobile account and can be withdrawn as required (Child- focused
Budget, 2018-19, p.41).

Even cash transfers not directed to children but to other family members could extend an indirect positive
impact on the welfare of the children. Therefore, if cash transfer programmes could be made conditional
with regard to the welfare of the children then safety-net programmes could better contribute to combat
child labour (the linkages are discussed in section 5 above). For example, if poverty assessment in view of
the determination of a beneficiary of a cash transfer programme were linked to whether or not a poor
family has children in their household, children could receive an indirect benefit from that cash transfer
programme which would be directed towards another family member such as the mother.

Food security programmes

A number of social security programmes are categorized as food security programmes. The Vulnerable
Group Development and the Vulnerable Group Feeding programmes under food security are two big
programmes which are meant to support very poor families. The selection process for beneficiaries could
consider families with small children thus rendering the programmes more child-friendly allowing them
to play a substantial role in reducing child labour. Another important programme in providing food
security is the employment generation programme for the poor, which can actually help to combat
seasonal pressure on children to become involved in child labour. This support is given during the lean
season, so that poor families can get work and earn and support the family.

18
The School feeding (SF) is another food security programme, which directly helps the children. The
Ministry of Primary and Mass Education had experimentally started serving cooked mid-day meals to
11,643 students of 71 schools of Barguna District and 6,260 students of 34 schools in two Unions of
Jamalpur District in July 2013. Pre-school and primary school children are served meals comprised of
fortified rice and fortified oil, seasonal vegetables and spice that contain 558 kilocalories per meal. The
fortified rice is enriched with vitamin A, B1, B12, Folic Acid, Iron and Zinc and the micro-nutrient-
enriched oil contains vitamin A, and vitamin D. Children are also made to wash their hands properly
before and after the meal and clean their own Tiffin boxes. The ministry believes that this programme is a
valuable addition to the government’s ever-expanding social safety-net programme and it is contributing
in bringing about a qualitative change in primary education. Some of the benefits of this programme are:
increasing enrolment and attendance rate, reducing absenteeism and dropout, improving the learning
environment, and making students more diligent about studies. It is expected that school feeding as a part
of the government’s social safety net, will be further strengthened both in terms of allocation and
purview, and gradually all primary schools of the country will be brought under this programme.
Moreover, the government is planning to introduce the National School Feeding Policy and to expand its scope
to include the private sector and to encourage individual contributions. If implemented, involvement of local
people and non-government organizations would be increased and the whole programme would assume a more
concerted and inclusive shape. It is expected that the nutritious food supplied in schools will encourage parents
to send their children to school rather than involving them in economic activities.

Micro-credit programmes under the social safety net

The major programmes under this category are implemented through the Palli Karma Shahayak
Foundation (PKSF) or Rural Employment Support Foundation. In FY 2018−19 BDT 2 320 million has
been allocated for this programme, which was BDT 780 million in FY 2017−18. This foundation works
through different NGOs to channel funds to the rural poor. Many of the programmes for which this micro
credit is given take a life-cycle approach. For example, the Enhancing Resources and Increasing
Capacities of Poor Households towards Elimination of their Poverty (ENRICH, in Bangla, Shomriddhi)
programme of PKFS follows a life-cycle approach and supports education and skill development for
children where the main objective is to help a poor family to move out of poverty. The education
component of this programme primarily seeks to address the problem of dropout of children from
primary-level education. The ENRICH Educational Assistance Centres (EACs) are operating in all
ENRICH Unions. Here, students of up to Class-II are helped to prepare the next day’s school tasks, as
there are no facilities nor educational support for many students at their homes. These centres operate
from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm every day except Friday. Children also take part in extra-curricular activities
such as recitation of poems, dance, singing etc. The dropout rate among these students, as they move up
to Class 3, has on average come down to about 0.092 per cent, while it is about 4-4.5 per cent nationwide.

Development sector programmes under the safety net

A large number of direct programmes for children (including programmes for working and school- going
children) are carried out under the development sector programmes. The important ones relevant for
addressing child labour are: Primary School Stipend, School Feeding Programme, Reaching Out-of-
School Children; Secondary Education Sector Investment Programme; Secondary Education Stipend;
Child Protection and Child Welfare; Establishment of a hostel for Government Shishu Paribar etc. In
addition, many other development programmes for generating employment, such as improving maternal
and child health and improving adolescent health have the potential to play an indirect role in addressing
child labour. Children and adolescents with better health have a better potential for a better educational
performance. The available evidence suggests that extending social health protection is directly relevant
to efforts to combat child labour. As has been noted in ILO (2013), evidence from Guatemala and
Pakistan indicates that providing families with health insurance can reduce reliance on child labour.
Evidence from Kenya suggests that providing access to essential health services can have a similar effect.
The next section will further discuss the child- focused programmes carried out under the social safety
net.

Historically, public safety net efforts in Bangladesh have clustered around the twin themes of food
rations and post-disaster relief. The third cluster has been informal safety nets at family and
community levels to address issues of demographic and social shocks. There has also been pension
scheme for state employees. Over time, however, safety nets have transcended these historical
moorings and have graduated to a mainstream social and developmental concern.
Three factors have driven this process of change:
i) a political process where-by the welfare responsibilities of the state have come into sharper
focus;
ii) a social process of erosion of informal safety nets due to the decay of the extended family
system; and
iii) a developmental realization that safety nets are crucial to a sustainable anti-poverty
strategy. Consequent to these factors, Bangladesh has witnessed a proliferation of safety net
programmes over time.
The importance of a more systematic and comprehensive framework for safety net programming is
increasingly being stressed across the policy universe. In Volume 1 of this UNDP-supported PPRC Study,
an analytical inventory of social safety net programmes in operation is presented. Annual outlay on safety
net programmes amounts to Taka 11,470 Crores (US$ 1.64 Billion) which is approximately 1.6% of GDP
(2011). The portfolio of programmes include allowances for population groups with special needs, food
security and disaster assistance programmes, public works/employment programmes, and, programmes
focused on human development and empow-erment. The highest allocation - 44.3% - is for Food Security
and Disaster Assistance programs. Those programmes with an urban focus as yet remain miniscule, at
only 0.7% of the total allocation.
The bulk of the safety net programmes are implemented through government channels. However, non-
government channels play an important supportive role particularly in those programmes focused on
sustainable graduation. 97 percent of annual allocations are spent through 30 major programmes.
However, not all of the those programmes listed in government budget documents can strictly be
categorized as safety nets as many of these are more in the nature of sectoral development programmes.
The inventory clearly establishes that safety nets are a major policy focus. Questions, however, abound.
Are all critical risks and vulnerabilities being addressed? Are there significant gaps and duplication? Is
programme proliferation merely spreading tokenism? Are sustainable results being promoted? Do safety
nets in poverty-dominated countries like Bangladesh need to embrace goals of promotion alongside the
goals of protection?
3 Scenarios:
Since poverty is omnipresent issue, all countries have some form of social protection or safety net to
protect their people with disadvantageous state- although the form and way of approach of SSNPs may
vary from country to country. Looking back to the history, the first ever safety net program was applied
in some European countries after the Second World War. Thereafter, its application was seen in some
South American countries including Brazil and Mexico (Iqbal M. A., Khan T. I., Tahsina T., 2008).
Although difficult to define universally, it is well accepted that the programs under safety net seek to
prevent both chronic 2 and transient 3 poor or vulnerable section (including disabled) of the society from
falling below a minimum standard of living. Usually, these programs are introduced targeting the
underprivileged section of the society with a view to reduce the intensity of chronic poverty. Initiatives
under SSNPs work against both human poverty and income poverty. These programs are usually 4 taken
in the sector of health, education and nutrition to reduce human poverty. Even though the SSNPs might
not work directly in reducing poverty and the amount of budgetary allocations might not commensurate
with the intensity of poverty, it can reduce the level of poverty-burden as a whole.
From its birth, Bangladesh introduced a good number of SSNPs at different times. It is a country where
agriculture was still the primary occupation. Understandably, that might not be the problem as such. What
is problematic was that, most agriculture-based people were the marginal farmers. The scarcity of
farmland and the concentration of wealth and resource amongst a few wealthy people ware the reason
behind that dismals situation. The shrinking trend in agricultural land meant the number of marginal
farmers is increasing, bringing them under the quagmire of poverty, only to add strain to their dismal
state.

4 Coverage:
A key concern in assessing safety net programs is coverage. Four factors are relevant to a
meaningful conclusion regarding coverage: i) establishing the size of the clientele, ii) planned
coverage in terms of allocations, iii) actual coverage based on beneficiary survey, and iv) size of
benefit package. The last is important to determine whether coverage is merely a token phenomenon
or a meaningful one.
Data on actual coverage based on beneficiary surveys is limited. Even when such data is available, a
common mis-perception is to view coverage with reference to the whole population rather than the
population segment for which safety nets are relevant i.e. the poor and the vulnerable.
Since risks and vulnerability may fall into analytically distinct types, a disaggregated view of
coverage is often more significant than a summary statistic. The three broad risk categories safety
net programmes address include i) transient food insecurity due to seasonality, disasters, crisis etc.,
ii) chronic or structural poverty, and, iii) population groups with special needs such as elderly,
widows, disabled.For the first category (i.e. transient food insecurity), the size of the potential client
group is usually determined by the upper poverty line. 2010 data puts the estimate at 50.4 million. It
is the second category of chronic or extreme poverty where the sensitivity of the measurement
indicator becomes a more serious issue. For example, in the 2005 HIES data, Costs of Basic Needs
(CBN) approach yields an extreme poor population of 34.8 million while direct calorie intake (DCI)
method yields a comparable extreme poor popula-tion of 27 million. Other indicators such as self-
assessed deficit status point towards a worse-off group within the statistically-defined extreme poor.
A 2009 survey puts the size of this ultra-poor group at 8 million.3 The third category, relevant for
allowances programmes, is easier to establish since the population categories are more well-defined.
5 Critical evalution:

SSNPs in Bangladesh, identify the basic necessity of the individuals viz. shelter, food, education, cloth
and health. The major programmes concentrated under SSNPs are: Vulnerable Group Development
(VGD), Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), Food for Works (FFW), Old-Age Allowances, Allowances for
Widow, Grants for Orphanages, Allowances for Retarded People and Distressed Women. Besides, there
are allowances for freedom fighters, micro - credit programmes and so on. Populations mostly children,
disabled persons and women have been given main concern in Social Safety Net Programmes. The
SSNPs have been generally considered in two segments, such as Social Protection and Social
Empowerment. They are executed over both development budget and non-development budget section.
Social protection includes the food security, new funds for programmes and most importantly cash
transfer allowances and cash transfer (special). Social empowerment contains the micro-credit, stipends,
housing and rehabilitation, development programmes and miscellaneous funds (Raihan, 2013).
Since independence of Bangladesh in 1971, 70 percent of the inhabitants lived under the poverty line, the
two key instruments of social safety nets exist here are called food supply and relief work that is involved
in serving the people who are suffering from disasters and other natural catastrophes.

Noteworthy improvements in decreasing extensive poverty have been made by using cultured safety net
events at the passage of time. The government of the state has been succeeding with a mixture of
direct and secondary safety net programmes for poverty alleviation under the management of different
ministries (Ahmed et al., 2014).

Table1: Safety Net Programmes in Bangladesh

Type Programme Examples
Cash transfers Old Age Allowance
Widowed and Distressed Women Allowance
Disabled Allowance
Conditional cash Primary Education Stipend Programme
transfers
Stipends for Female Secondary Students
Public works or training Rural Maintenance Programme
based cash or in kind
transfer Food-for-Work
Vulnerable Group Development (VGD)
Employment Generation Programme (EGP)
Emergency or Seasonal Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF)
Relief
Gratuitous Relief (GR)
Test Relief (TR)
Open Market Sale (OMS)
Source: quoted in Raihan, 2013

Old Age Allowance Programme (OAAP)

OAAP is fallen under a cash transfer programme in which the recipients are the deprived elderly of the
society. The World Bank (2013) Group defines “cash transfer denotes as the delivery of support in the
method of cash transfer to the poor people or to the people who face possible risk, in the absenteeism of
the transference, of dropping into poverty” (quoted in Choudhary, 2013). The management of the
programmes is done by the Ministry of Social Welfare. The selection of the recipients is a vital issue. The
upper limit of the amount of allowances is inadequate to cover all the poor elderly people. Ward
committees select the potential recipients who are landless with per annum earning under 50 USD on the
basis of age, financial condition and health position. The programmes are thus directed at the poor and
deprived peoples. The ward committees comprised of the elected representatives, local elites, public
officials and Social Service officer. But, the programme is inadequate to

cover in number of the targeted poor groups, and is inadequate in value as well to attract the recipients
and keep them above the poverty line (Barrientos, 2008).

Beneficiary level
To find out the explicit and implicit changes in the livelihood of the beneficiaries and in the society this
research collected data (as mentioned earlier) from the beneficiaries of two remote upazila namely
Barlekha and Shailokupa of Moulvibazar and Jhenaidha district respectively. A set of questions were
asked to determine how SSNPs are increasing their livelihood opportunities. The data gathered from those
questions are analyzed below:
The response of the question about the occupation is presented in the pie chart below.

Figure: Occupations of the beneficiaries of old age allowance

The findings show that 53% people who get old age allowance are unemployed and the percentages of
the people working as farmers, day labors and others cover respectively 10% whereas housewife and
beggar cover 14% and 3% consecutively.

Duration Total Percentage Comments

1-2 7 23%
3-5 11 37%
6-8 7 23%
9 and above 5 17%
100%

Table: Duration of the Beneficiaries Receiving Old Age Allowance

This table presents the duration of years of the beneficiaries receiving old age allowance, who were the
population of the survey. It is found that the first 23% respondents have been getting this grant for 1-2
years and the another 23% for 6-8 years at the same time 37% population has been getting this grant for
3-5 and the rest 17% for 9 to above years.

Figure: Income source of the beneficiaries of old age allowance

The bar graph reveals the information of the income source of the population getting old age allowance.
30% respondent do not have any other earnings and the other 30% are partially dependent on their
children whereas 10% of the beneficiaries are on keeping cattle and 20% on agriculture and the rest 10%
do not do anything.

Figure: Expenditure heads of the allowance by the beneficiaries

The pie graph shows that around 70% beneficiaries spend their allowance for medicine purpose and it
seems surprising when the study notices that beneficiaries spend no money for buying clothes. Medicine
and food get the most priority in terms of spending their allowances. The percentage of the people who
spend the allowance on food is 27% whereas for children‟s education and the rest others are 3% and 3%.

Family Members Total Percentage Comments

1-3 8 27%

4-6 15 50%

7-9 7 23%
9-11 0
100%

Table: Number of Family Members of Widow Allowance Receivers

The table shows that 27% of the widow allowance receivers have 1-3 family members and 50%
of them have 4-6 family members whereas 23% receivers have 7-9 family members.

Duration Total Percentage Comments

1-2 7 23%
3-5 11 37%
6-8 7 23%
9 and above 5 17%
100%

Table: Duration of Receiving Allowance

This table presents the duration of receiving allowance by the respondent. It is found that the first 23%
respondents have been getting this grant for 1-2 years and the another 23% for 6-8 years at the same time
37% population has been getting this grant for 3-5 and the rest 17% for 9 to above years.
 Figure: Beneficiaries’ expenditure of the allowance

The graph shows that around 63% beneficiaries spend their allowance for medicine purpose. Medicine
and food get the most priority in terms of spending their allowances and the percentage of the people who
spend food next to medicine is 30% whereas children‟s education and others are 7%. No money can be
spent for clothes and other purposes.

Level of Mental Total Percentage Comments

State
Increasing 9 30%
Confidence
Not feeling 17 57%
burden of others
Feeling good 1 3%
contributing to
family
All of the above 3 10%
100%
Table: Level of Satisfaction of the Beneficiaries

It is found from the table that 57% people of the widow allowance receivers do not consider them as
burden in the family. At the same time another 30% claim that this grant has made them confident. 3%
beneficiaries feel good for contributing to the family and 10% people opine to have all of the above
mentioned satisfaction.

Implementing Authority level

The data gathered from the interview with the implementing authorities including Upazila chairman,
UNO, Mayor, Social service officer and UP chairman of the two respective upazilas revel the following
themes.
Age
According to one interviewee, there are a lot of discrepancies regarding the age of the old age allowance
receivers. Sometimes it is found that people increase their age in the National ID Card to get the
allowance whereas in many cases some deserving candidates do not get the allowance because the age
mentioned in their National ID Card are less than the age range for getting the allowance.

Inadequacy of resources
All the participants admit that the coverage of the allowances is not sufficient because of inadequacy of
resource. But they appreciate these types of programs and hope that more resource will be allocated in
these areas in near future. Regarding the amount of the allowance they opine that government should
think of increasing the amount considering the demand of the present time.
Lack of coordination
Most of the respondents state that Safety Net Programs are implemented by numerous agencies including
many arms of government, non- governmental organizations, and international bi-lateral and multi-lateral
partners. Since a number of authorities involved in this process, it often creates overlap between programs
and miscommunication. An integrated coordination is needed for better result.

Empowerment
The implementing authorities opined that the beneficiaries feel empowered in the family and society after
getting the allowance. It relieves them a bit from the miseries of old age since they do not need to depend
on their issues for essential things. In case of widow deserted and destitute women the allowance is like a
blessing though inadequate.

Arrangement of Training
Almost 80% of the participants argue that the Allowances for the Widow, Deserted and Destitute Women
should be reformed. They opined that in this case the receivers are relatively young and can do any work
if they get training and financial support. They suggested that there should be a subdivision on the basis
of the age of the beneficiary. Widow who are relatively young can be given training of raring cattle or
sewing and should be provided with the necessary fund to start a small cottage business. There should
be some income generating means for them to come out of their poverty and support the family.

Health
Health is the main issue that comes while talking about the old age allowance. All the participants said
that during old age people usually get affected by many diseases. They use the allowance for buying
medicine. Thus the allowance is contributing to keeping good health of the citizens. But in most cases the
amount is inadequate to serve the purpose. Still they think that the beneficiaries feel happy as they do not
need to depend on their issues for buying the necessary medicine. They achieved this comfort because of
the allowance.

Changes in Life
All of beneficiaries have said that in their family life they get remarkable importance in every
step as they can contribute with the small amount of money which they get as allowance. As a
result of the allowances their self-esteem and confidence has increased and they feel that they are
not burden for the family.

Impact on Society
Social Safety Net Programs have made positive changes in the lives of the people who are very close to or
below poverty line. Though the people getting allowance are not free from poverty they are not miserable.
They can contribute a little bit in their family such as buying food, medicines and other necessary things.
Findings
 OAAP is supportive to cope the life cycle.
 It has a positive impact on changing the status in the household.
 It has a positive impact on changing the status in the society as well.

 A significant number of beneficiaries got better condition than the past.

 Beneficiaries were able to improve their importance in their family and society.

 A significant number of beneficiaries get respect from the family and society as well.
 The programme increases the purchasing capacity of the beneficiaries.

 Society does not provide support for the deserving old age people during illness significantly.
 In the family level, role of those people in decision making has been not increased sufficiently.
 In social level decision making capacity also has not been increased satisfactorily.

Recommendations
 The government should give focus on more coverage in providing old age allowance.
 The rate of allowance should be increased on the basis of analyzing the rate of inflation.
 A database needs to be created in every union regarding the old aged vulnerable group.
 It is necessary to focus on the easy access of the fund to the old-aged people.

 Community people need to be made aware about the fundamental needs of old-aged people.

Conclusion
It is essential for an all-inclusive macroeconomic policy measures for SSNPs to work better and to reduce
vulnerability. Measures should be taken on financial maintenance strategies which will help to achieve
their objectives to serve the deprived population of the society. Moreover, it is crucial to improve the
worth of elementary health and education facilities (Khuda, 2011). Bangladesh as a least developing state
has insufficient capability to raise more SSNPs expense as per requirements. The scarce resource is a
main difficulty to make the extension of SSNPs. However, a wider viewpoint of short-run and long-run
effect of SSNPs is desired to lessen the poverty rates more efficiently. The short-run support is required to
shield the individual and families affected by the shocks. In the long - run support, it is required to keep
the poor families‟ consumption along with refining their productive influence (Pradhan et al., 2013).
Threats and vulnerability are part of older people‟s regular life. However, the influence on the poor and
other disadvantaged groups, for instance, the old and disabled section is frequently more frightening than
those met by others in the world. The confrontational influence of threats is more harmful to the poorer
than individuals more affluent in the matter of income, mental and physical welfare and long term social
improvement. SSNPs can play a significant role in assisting families to cope with the threats and manage
the fatalities. The OAAP is an absolute cash transfer programme in the shade of SSNPs. The present
study is a simple effort to assess the effects and consequences of this programme on recipients. It is
exposed that the recipients of the programme have an affirmative effect in shifting the status within the
family and society as well.

References

Khuda, B. E. (2011) „Social safety net programmes in Bangladesh: A review‟, Bangladesh Development Studies, vol. 34, no. 2,
pp. 87-108.
Ministry of Finance (2015) The Official Website of Ministry of Finance. http://www.mof.gov.bd/en/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&i d=217&Itemid=1
Pradhan, M. A. H. Mohd, S. & Sulaiman, J. (2013) „An investigation of social safety net programs as means of poverty
alleviation in Bangladesh‟, Asian Social Science, vol. 9, no. 2, p. 139.

Ruelle, M. & Rockmore, M. (2011) Understanding Safety Nets: A Primer for International Development.