1. Food and Livelihood Security (FLS) Project
Welcome to
Presentation on
Social Transfers in Bangladesh
Phnom Penh, February 2013

2. Country Context Demographic Information In numbers In percentage
Total Population in Bangladesh
149,772,364
100
Male
74,980,386
50.06
Female
74,791,978
49.94
Relevant information
Area
147,570 sq km
Population Density
1,015 per sq km
Per Capita Income
818 USD
Population Growth Rate
1.37
Stunting rate
41 %
Wasting rate
16 % 2

3. Poverty rate in percentage
Country context cont…
Country Context
Poverty rate in percentage
Year
Year 2010
Overall poverty rate
58.8
31.5
Extreme poverty
41.0
17.6
Source: Sixth Five-Year Plan (SFYP) 2011 – 2015
Bangladesh is on-track to achieve the poverty reduction targets of MDG 1
SFYP estimated 56 million people still below poverty line

4. SOCIAL TRANSFER PROGRAMMES IN BANGLADESH
In Bangladesh there are currently more than 90 social safety net programmes in operation under 14 different ministries and departments

5. Description of major social transfer programmes in Bangladesh
Objectives:
Helping create assets at individual, household and community levels to reduce food insecurity;
Helping individuals and households protect their assets when various types of shocks occur;
Helping individuals and households to use their existing resources more effectively, and thereby helping them to cope with various types of risks;
Directly raising economic growth rates by reducing inequity.

6. Types of Social Transfer Programme
Provision of special allowances for the various underprivileged sections of the population, so that the poor and disadvantaged people can tackle the poverty effectively;
Employment generation through grant or micro-credit and different fund management programmes;
Food security based activities to better manage the consequences of natural disasters; and
Provision of education, health and training to make the excluded community more capable and self-reliant.

7. Main Social Transfer Programmes in Bangladesh (1EUR=100 TK)
Name of Programme/Project
Total no. of beneficiaries
Social transfer/
ben./month
Duration
Objective
Remarks
VGD
0.75 M
750Tk (30 Kg Rice)
24 Months
Increased Food Security for Ultra-poor Women
MoWCA, DWA
Allowances for Lactating Mother
0.077M
350Tk
12 Months
Nutrition Support for Lactating Mother
Allowances for Pregnant Mother
0.112M
Nutrition Support for Pregnant Mother
FLS
0.08M
400Tk
20 Months
Increase Food Security
Old Age Allowances
2.475M
300Tk
Whole Life
To Support Old Age Poor People
DSS
Widow Allowances
0.920M -
To Support Insolvent Poor Widows
Honorarium for Insolvent Freedom Fighter
0.15M
2000Tk
To Support Financially Insolvent Freedom Freighter

8. (Cont.) Name of Programme/ Project Total no. of beneficiaries
Social transfer/ben./month
Duration
Objective
Remarks
Disabled Student Allowances
0.019M Tk
Student Life
To Support Disabled Students
DSS
Secondary School Stipend for Female Student
1.821M
150Tk & 200Tk
To Assist Female Students to be more educated
Ministry of Education
Allowances for the Financially Insolvent Disabled
0.286M
350Tk
Whole Life
To help survival of disabled community
Protection of Children at Risk
0.028M
To help survival of Children at Risk
Higher Secondary School Stipend for Female Student
0.281M
250Tk
Stipend for Primary School Student
7.869M
100Tk
To Enhance Primary Education and increase literacy rate
Ministry of PrimaryEduc ation
Primary School Feeding (World Bank)
1.290M
Food
(Equivalent 60Tk)
Student Life (Primary)
Nutrition Support for Primary Students
Ministry of Primary Education
Primary School Feeding (EC)
0.200M
(Cont.)

9. MECHANISMS FOR GOB-DEVELOPMENT PARTNER (EU) COORDINATION
In the case of the EU-funded Food and Livelihood Security project there are several mechanisms for GoB-EU coordination:
Programme Steering Committee (PSC) chaired by Secretary of MoWCA
Project Implementation Committee (PIC) for FLS project chaired by Director General of Department of Women Affairs
Project Coordination Committee chaired by Project Director

10. TARGETING MECHANISMS IN BANGLADESH
In the case of Food and Livelihood Security project there has been:
Geographic targeting to identify percentage of ultra-poor in each district using WFP poverty mapping
precise criteria for beneficiary selection
the process for selecting beneficiary has been bottom-up, democratic and participatory. Meetings were called for all classes and corners of the village population. Villagers made a list of the female-headed households and marginal and share-cropper households of that village. House-to-house visits were then carried out by village representatives and field workers and family survey forms were completed.

11. The beneficiary selection criteria for the 50,000 ultra-poor women are
 Households with excessive food insecurity, i.e. household members are unable to afford three meals per day  Real landless households i.e. households that do not have any land or have less than 0.15 acre land  Female-headed household (women who are divorced or deserted or widowed or abandoned or who have disabled husband or do not have earning household member or do not have any source of income)  Women aged between 18 to 55 years.
If all four criteria are met, then women from ethnic minorities receive preference.

12. The beneficiary selection criteria for the 30,000 marginal and share-cropper farmers are
Marginal Farmers or Share Cropper Farmers are defined as:
 Farmers with minimum 0.05 acre of cultivatable land and maximum 1 acre leased land/ Share-Cropper Farmer  Maximum 0.25 acre own cultivatable land and up to acre rented land/ Share-Cropper Farmer.

13. DELIVERY MECHANISMS
In the Food and Livelihood Security project
Each ultra-poor female beneficiary receives cash transfers:
Tk.400/- subsistence allowance per month for 20 months
Tk.1000/- as cash grant for IGA inputs (one-time payment)
Tk.14,500/- as cash grant for productive assets. (one-time payment)
Each marginal and share-cropper farmer receives cash transfers:
Tk. 400/- subsistence allowance per month for 20 months
Tk. 4100/- as cash grant for IGA inputs (one-time payment)
Tk. 6500/- as cash grant for productive assets. (one-time payment)

14. MODALITIES OF RECEIVING ALLOWANCES AND CASH TRANSFERS
Beneficiaries are organized into groups of approximately 25 beneficiaries and hold meetings twice a month
Each group has opened a group current account and savings account in a local bank in order to receive the group’s monthly subsistence allowances
Tk. 50/- is retained from each beneficiary’s monthly Tk. 400/- subsistence allowance as mandatory savings
Each beneficiary has also opened an individual bank account in order to receive his/her cash transfer for inputs and productive assets

15. NOTABLE INNOVATIONS
In the EU-funded Food and Livelihood Security project there are two main notable innovations to improve the effectiveness of social transfers in the fight against hunger:
Every beneficiary has an individual bank account for receiving cash transfers for inputs and productive assets
Agricultural extension activities are being implemented through Farmer Field Schools to marginal farmers and share-croppers in order to improve their farm revenues and productivity to achieve food security

16. SHORT DESCRIPTION OF FOOD AND LIVELIHOOD SECURITY PROJECT
The Food and Livelihood Security (FLS) Project in Bangladesh is funded by the European Union
It is Implemented by the Department of Women Affairs (DWA), executed through the Ministry of Women & Children Affairs (MoWCA) of Government of the Peoples' Republic of Bangladesh (GoB)
It was launched in February 2012 and has a duration of 27 months
It is the European Union's 5th consecutive social safety net project executed through MoWCA in Bangladesh.

17. FLS OBJECTIVES Long Term
Improved food security of rural ultra-poor households in the North-western districts of Bangladesh.
Short Term
50,000 ultra-poor female headed households and 30,000 ultra-poor marginal farmer and share-cropper households in the south-western part of Rajshahi Division have improved food security and livelihoods and are mainstreamed in the overall development process

18. There are 4 expected results of the FLS project:-
Result 1: Increased production and consumption of nutritious food. Multi-layered home gardens will be promoted in order to supply extra nutritious food and for earning income from the sale of the produce.
Result 2: Improved household income and livelihood from non-agricultural activities. Landless households will be encouraged to increase and diversify their income sources and livelihood options by taking up one or more income-generating activities in addition to home gardens.
(Cont.)

19. Result 3: Improved revenues and productivity for marginal farmers and share-croppers. Farmers will be involved in agricultural extension activities such as Farmer Field Schools through their farmers’ groups.
Result 4: Increased social inclusion and community coherence. It is expected that by the end of the project, the women and their household members will be gradually removed from their position of social exclusion and will be mainstreamed into overall development interventions.

20. PROJECT COST (1EUR=100TK) Estimated cost of the Project (In Lakh Taka)
Total : BDT 223 Crore 33 Lakh
GoB : BDT 5 Crore 40 Lakh
EU : BDT 216 Crore
NGO Contribution : :BDT 1 Crore 93 Lakh

21. Visit of the Minister and EU Ambassador to FLS Distribution Ceremony of Monthly Subsistence Allowances in Atrai, Naogaon
03 October 2012

22. THANK YOU!