Freeing the poor from abject poverty

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, speaking at a recent meeting in the city, reiterated to build Bangladesh as a developed and prosperous country by overpowering poverty. 'We don't want to beg to anybody and we don't want to move by begging. I believe that the nation which achieved independence through Liberation War must be a developed and prosperous country by winning the war against poverty,' she said.
In fact, formulation of an effective plan of action has become an urgent need for freeing the poor and extreme poor communities and slum dwellers in the cities from poverty and hunger. The existing problems and prospects of the underprivileged community should be incorporated in the proposed action plan so that desired results are achieved in this regard.
In the wake of escalating number of the poor and extreme poor people, the cities need more anti-poverty schemes to eradicate urban poverty alongside eliminating other poverty-related social problems like child marriage and drug addiction as those are on the rise and adding to the problem of poverty. Public representatives and others concerned need to think up ways and means on how to formulate an action plan to free the poor and extreme poor communities from the vicious cycle of poverty and hunger.
However, a research report put Bangladesh ahead of India and China in poverty reduction scorecard. The country ranks 13th among 29 other vulnerable countries in terms of combating hunger and reducing its rate over the last few years. It made remarkable progress in reducing the number of chronically food insecure citizens -- from 40 million to 27 million -- over the last decade. But still, Bangladesh has the third highest number of hungry people in the world after India and China, the report added.
According to the report, though the country has improved the status of nutrition of the under-five children in the last two decades, it still has a long way to go to combat malnutrition. In order to reduce the vulnerability of the rural poor, the report suggested for finding a permanent solution to the annual monga, a seasonal food crisis caused by lack of work.
Bangladesh is trying to address the issue of hunger of its 150 million people with its meagre resources and in the last two decades it has succeeded in improving, to some extent, the condition of the under-five children.
 There is a need for increasing investment in sustainable agricultural development to address the country's poverty situation. Any discussion on hunger and intervention must put the poor, marginalised sections and women at the core of planning and investment.
Indeed, the rate of the country's poverty reduction has slowed down over the last few years despite government's increased expenditure -- about 60 per cent of the annual budget outlays over the past few years spent on the reduction of hunger. Imbalanced budget spending across the country and development approach focused mainly on the central region are the major reasons for failure to achieve inclusive growth as well as the desired level of poverty reduction. Though the gross domestic product (GDP) grew at around 6.0 per cent annually during 2005-2008, poverty rate had fallen only two percentage points from 40 per cent of the population as against the expect decline of around five percentage points during the period.
Meantime, the World Bank economic update said that over the decade, the number of poor people in Bangladesh declined by 26 per cent. During the period 2000-2010 poverty reduction was closely linked to the growth in labour income and changes in demographics. For further reduction in poverty, Bangladesh will need policies and coordinated multi-sectoral approaches that respond to the needs of the growing population of young adults as well as the poor in general.
Bangladesh experienced a uniform and steady decline in poverty rates between 2000 and 2010. Poverty declined 1.8 per cent annually between 2000 and 2005, and 1.7 per cent annually during 2005-2010. There was a continuous decline in the number of poor people-from nearly 63 million in 2000 to 55 million in 2005, and then to 47 million in 2010. Despite a growing population, the number of poor people declined by 26 percent in 10 years.
The Bangladesh Poverty Assessment shows that during the period 2000-2010 poverty reduction was closely linked to the growth in labour income and changes in demographics. Labour income, both formal and informal, was the dominant factor in higher incomes and lower poverty rates. Parallel to this, fertility rates have been steadily dropping over the last several decades which have resulted in lower dependency ratios thereby increasing income per-capita and reducing poverty.
Moreover, moving forward, sustained poverty reduction will necessitate coordinated multi-sectoral action. Investments to raise agricultural productivity and growth in the demand for salaried work in the manufacturing and service sectors are crucial for maintaining growth in labour income. Bangladesh will also find itself at the clasp of an aging challenge in about 20 years. There is ample time to prepare, but Bangladesh will need to start the process of discussing programmes and policies that can protect the elderly in a manner that is both fiscally sustainable and culturally appropriate.
The report suggests that to be more effective, safety net programmes need to be: better timed to more adequately address short-term needs, better targeted to ensure that benefits are primarily received by the poor, and better tailored to meet the specific needs of the poor. Consolidation of safety net programmes in Bangladesh along these three principles would improve efficiency and establish a solid foundation for increasing investments in safety net programmes with increased benefit levels.
Particular emphasis needs to be placed on programmes that focus on: early childhood development in ways that integrate health and nutrition services, pre-school education, early stimulation and learning, and also programmes focused on building skills and improving the employability of poor youth.
 szkhan@dhaka.net