1. Social access situation and safety nets programmes in Bangladesh
Presentation to USAID Mission
Md Ruhul Amin Talukder
Research Director (In-charge)
Food Planning & Monitoring Unit
Ministry of Food & Disaster Management
Dhaka, Bangladesh
19 March 2009

2. Outline of the Presentation
Poverty and inequality situation
Safety net programs in Bangladesh: types, coverage & beneficiaries
Food based safety nets and PFDS
Impacts so far
Limitations, issues, challenges
Way ahead

3. Poverty and inequality situation (contd.)
Poverty reduced at the desired rate from ; however in the number increased from the previous yr; abs pov>>+7.5 million; extreme pov>>+6.9 million
Huge number under extreme poverty line (37.5 million+6.9 million)
Rural urban differences in reduction process; Differences across regions
Challenges to sustain the tempo

4. Poverty and inequality situation (contd.)
Main problems of access relate to lack of purchasing power, seasonality, spatial dimension and market access and market functionality including the gender dimension.
In 1992 the poorest quintile had a 6.5 per cent share of national income. This figure fell to 5.3 per cent in 2005.

5. Poverty and inequality situation (contd.)
Lowest 50% share only 20.32% of income
Income Gini Co-efficient rose .45~.47 ; rural area:0.393>>> 0.428
In the poorest 20 percent of the population, 80% owned less than half an acre of land
Informal labour: wage & terms of jobs
Migrant workers having poor health & sanitation
Monga in lean seasons
Char and flood planes: continuous erosion and flood
Across geography people have different forms of insecurity
Natural disasters cause tremendous back flow
Wide spread Inequalities among the population

6. Safety net programs in Bangladesh: types, coverage & beneficiaries (contd)
5 types of social safety net programs: (a) cash support program; (b) food aid program; (c) special program for poverty reduction; (d) self-employment though micro credit; and (e) some specific programs for poverty alleviation
Five criteria: i. income criteria; ii. occupational criteria; iii. physical ability criteria; iv. ethnic criteria; iv. gender and children criteria; and v. regional disparity criteria
about 47 SNPs in Bangladesh- cash and food based, conditional and unconditional ; implemented by different Ministries
Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), Open Market Sales (OMS), Cash for work (CFW)/Food for Work (FFW), Vulnerable Group Development (VGD), Test Relief (TR) and Gratuitous Relief (GR), Old-Age Allowance Scheme (OAAS), Allowances for the Distressed Disabled Persons (ADDP), Allowance Scheme for Widowed and Distressed Women, Cash for Education (CFE), Female Secondary Stipend Programmes, Rural Social Service (RSS), Urban Social Service, Fund for Mitigating Risks for Natural Disasters, Asrayan/Abashan Programme, Housing Fund programme
a large number of NGO programmes>>need to make inventory

7. Safety net programs in Bangladesh: types, coverage & beneficiaries (contd)
Extended budget:
Social Safety Net budget is about 2.14~2.8 percent of the GDP; 13.32%~16.94% of Government expenditure (Source: PRSP-II)
Extended Coverage: (Source: PRSP-II)
Cash Transfer (Allowances) Program (e.g. Old Age Allowance, GR cash, GRA)-4.87 million
Cash Transfer (Special) Program (e.g. Cash For Work, Housing support) million
Food Security Programs (e.g. VGD, VGF, TR, GR, FFW)-9.5 million (23.7 million man-month)
Micro-Credit Programs (e.g. Micro-credit for Women Self-employment):-7.6 million
Miscellaneous Funds: (Fund for the Welfare of Acid Burnt and Disables)- 2.0 million
New Fund: (e.g 100 day employment gen prog)- 2.0 million man-month+0.04 million
Development Sector Programs (e.g. Stipend for Primary Students, School feeding)-15.5 million
Shift in approach: charity approach>>>>>development approach

8. Public food distribution system and food based safety nets (contd)
Fiscal year
Targeted to total (%)
1997/98 76
1998/99 88
1999/00 85
2000/01
2001/02 83
2002/03 55
2003/04 73
2004/05 63
2005/06 72
2006/07 52
2007/08 67
Average
Shift from ration based (sales) to non-sales
1970s~early 90s sales channels were prominent; early 90s through early 2000s share of non-sales rose sharply, then fell a bit again
Average 73% for targeted safety nets since , if OMS is included it will be more
Subsidy in the level of 62 million dollar (avg from )

9. Public food distribution system and food based safety nets (contd.)
Distribution under VGF varies with shocks; not yet ended-1.5 million more hh be covered under VGF

10. Food aid flow in relation to Total Imports
Food aid as % of total import fell from 28% in to 7% in ;
Food aid as % of total GOB import fell from 100% in to 48% in

11. Donor wise food aid Nil last yr Donors 1991-2000 avg
USA
314.7
87.44
WFP
253.92
106.20
Canada
123.83
24.70 EC
115.64
11.63*
Australia 49
37.06
Care
9.00
Save the Children
5.35
Japan
35.45
3.75
France
16.7
0.00
Germany
4.2
Pakistan
3.5
1.38
Netherlands
1.5
India
0.9
3.00
Belgium
0.5
Sweden
0.2
Italy
0.65
Thailand
0.13
Other/NGO 6
Nil last yr

12. Food aid and distribution in major safety nets
In later half of 90s food aid met on avg~74% of distribution under targeted safety nets; from the share fell to ~30%.
In scaling scale up PFDS, there is need for expenditure reallocation in favour of safety nets, which necessitates increased food aid flow. But the concern is food aid has been dwindling over time, bundled and that timeliness and actual arrival of food aid have less adherence to what have been committed by DPs.

13. Impacts of safety nets
All the SSNPs have immediate economic improvement effects, some development effects as well as empowerment impacts (Source: PRSP-II, BIDS, IFPRI, ( )
Programs targeted at women have (a) increased women’s participation in household decision-making; (b) improved health conditions of women and their family members; (c) encouraged small investments for income generation in the future; and (d) revived the traditional system of in-family care
FFE/CFE programs impacted long term development by fostering human capital formation through increasing the primary enrolment rate, promoting school attendance, and reducing drop-out rates
Participants’ Perception about assistance from targeted programs in percent (Khan et al, 2006)
Lowest 10%
Lowest
Quintile
2nd
3rd
4th
Top
Total
Very Helpful
60.5
56.1
56.7
59.2
63.6
50.4
57.6
Moderately Helpful
33.8
37.3
34.1
30.9
26.5
31.5
33.3
Slightly Helpful
5.8
6.6
8.3
9.1
8.9
18.1
8.5
Not Helpful
0.0
0.9
1.1
0.5
presence of local economy effects of social transfers>>need to examine

14. Issues and challenges of SSNPs
Fiscal Constraints: dwindling food aid/unpredictability/delay in arrival, Inadequate storage facilities in PFDS, Insufficient resources to import from own resources, Limited Coverage, Inadequacy of the Amount of Transfers
Institutional Constraints: Absence of Integrated National SSN Policy, Gender specific risks and insecurity in the labour market; Targeting and leakages
Information Constraints: Missing Poor and New Vulnerabilities; Insensitivity to Geographic and Agro-Ecology Specific Poverty

15. Way forward
National Social Protection policy- social safety nets and their fit in the wider development policy
More development orientation of programs
Labour policies to focus on improving conditions for rural and informal workers
Continue and expand coverage; better targeting
Allowance/transfer to increase
Small programs Under One umbrella
Separate program for hard to reach areas
New programs for new vulnerable
New programs for nutritional outcomes, ethnic pop, monga
Improve/enhance PFDS storage system
Improve coordination, periodic review and management efficiency
Strengthen monitoring, evaluation and research
The government will appreciate continued USAID assistance
Thank you