Social safety net programmes no effective answer to poverty alleviation needs
FE Report | Monday, 7 March 2011
FE Report
Experts at a seminar Sunday said the government's existing social safety net programmes have failed to reduce poverty at the desired level in the absence of proper implementation mechanism, coupled with the problem of inadequate fund allocation. They said these programmes are mostly child-insensitive and called upon the government to increase the allowances for the poor families to help improve the conditions of their children under the social safety programmes. The existing monthly benefit provided under the programme is too scanty to help reduce the hardship of any of over 2.0 million recipients, out of nearly 8.0 million ultra-poor households, they added. "Working children earn much more than what is provided as monthly benefits to their families under the programme," Abul Barakat, a Dhaka University professor told the seminar. Abul Barakat, also the chairman of state-run Janata Bank, presented the keynote speech on Social Protection and Childhood Vulnerability at the seminar. He said the working children contribute to 20 to 30 per cent of the household income. Save the Children of Sweden-Denmark and also of Finland organised the discussion at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city. In his presentation based on a study on 'Social Protection Measures in Bangladesh as the Means to Improve Child Well-being,' Mr Barakat showed that government's existing 66 social safety net programmes actually cover 25 per cent of the target groups. Only sixteen of these programmes are meant for children and four out of these 16 programmes for the very vulnerable children. Prof Barakat stressed the need for taking measures for household poverty reduction first and then for enhancing the amount of monthly benefit, extending coverage and improving the selection process at the local level and ensuring proper distribution, evaluation and monitoring to get effective results. Under the revised budget of the FY 2008-09, Tk 121.98 billion or 2.0 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) or 13 per cent of the development budget was allocated for social safety net programmes, he mentioned. The speakers at the seminar underlined the need for taking a comprehensive approach to poverty alleviation programmes and not to address only a section of the poor families like children or women or a particular issue like health or education or poverty. "Poverty measurement in Bangladesh is very inadequate, in terms of its significance as it counts only the daily income and ignores various other important factors for living a quality human life," said Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation (PKSF), speaking as a special guest on the occasion. Human rights and human dignity should be the basis of assessing poverty, he said, adding the present budget allocation for social safety net programmes should not be increased as the government does not have the capacity to implement fully its existing development budget, he added. Social Welfare Minister Enamul Hoque Mostafa Shahid said there are a number of good policies for protecting children under various social welfare programmes of the government. "There are 28 social welfare programmes of our ministry. All our initiatives will be valueless if the benefits of the social safety net programmes fail to reach the target groups," the minister added. He said if any development partner or non-government organisation (NGO) wants to use Bangladesh as a guinea pig, then the government will have to keep itself away from such a body and should try to rely on its own resources of its budget. The function was aimed at exploring the scope to develop a national steering committee to deal with child-sensitive social protection programmes.
Experts at a seminar Sunday said the government's existing social safety net programmes have failed to reduce poverty at the desired level in the absence of proper implementation mechanism, coupled with the problem of inadequate fund allocation. They said these programmes are mostly child-insensitive and called upon the government to increase the allowances for the poor families to help improve the conditions of their children under the social safety programmes. The existing monthly benefit provided under the programme is too scanty to help reduce the hardship of any of over 2.0 million recipients, out of nearly 8.0 million ultra-poor households, they added. "Working children earn much more than what is provided as monthly benefits to their families under the programme," Abul Barakat, a Dhaka University professor told the seminar. Abul Barakat, also the chairman of state-run Janata Bank, presented the keynote speech on Social Protection and Childhood Vulnerability at the seminar. He said the working children contribute to 20 to 30 per cent of the household income. Save the Children of Sweden-Denmark and also of Finland organised the discussion at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city. In his presentation based on a study on 'Social Protection Measures in Bangladesh as the Means to Improve Child Well-being,' Mr Barakat showed that government's existing 66 social safety net programmes actually cover 25 per cent of the target groups. Only sixteen of these programmes are meant for children and four out of these 16 programmes for the very vulnerable children. Prof Barakat stressed the need for taking measures for household poverty reduction first and then for enhancing the amount of monthly benefit, extending coverage and improving the selection process at the local level and ensuring proper distribution, evaluation and monitoring to get effective results. Under the revised budget of the FY 2008-09, Tk 121.98 billion or 2.0 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) or 13 per cent of the development budget was allocated for social safety net programmes, he mentioned. The speakers at the seminar underlined the need for taking a comprehensive approach to poverty alleviation programmes and not to address only a section of the poor families like children or women or a particular issue like health or education or poverty. "Poverty measurement in Bangladesh is very inadequate, in terms of its significance as it counts only the daily income and ignores various other important factors for living a quality human life," said Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation (PKSF), speaking as a special guest on the occasion. Human rights and human dignity should be the basis of assessing poverty, he said, adding the present budget allocation for social safety net programmes should not be increased as the government does not have the capacity to implement fully its existing development budget, he added. Social Welfare Minister Enamul Hoque Mostafa Shahid said there are a number of good policies for protecting children under various social welfare programmes of the government. "There are 28 social welfare programmes of our ministry. All our initiatives will be valueless if the benefits of the social safety net programmes fail to reach the target groups," the minister added. He said if any development partner or non-government organisation (NGO) wants to use Bangladesh as a guinea pig, then the government will have to keep itself away from such a body and should try to rely on its own resources of its budget. The function was aimed at exploring the scope to develop a national steering committee to deal with child-sensitive social protection programmes.