Events

“We not only have a political but also a real-world urgency to develop a more robust system, since poverty progress has been fragile especially in the aftermath of COVID-19.”

Dr. Imran Matin, Executive Director, BIGD, on the need for social safety net programs in today’s context

Trigger Presentation

In his trigger presentation, Dr. Imran Matin (Executive Director, BIGD) praised the ambition of the Family Card program, calling it a pioneer as the country’s first poverty-targeted social safety net program. He stressed the need to capitalize on this opportunity to build a platform that does more with less, pointing to both a political and a real-world urgency for a more robust system given how fragile poverty progress has been, particularly in the aftermath of COVID-19.

He argued that there is a need for clarity with regard to the goal of the Family Card. “Is this an investment program designed to get people out of extreme poverty? Or is it a safety net program to protect people from shocks? Is it to fix the problem of the exclusion of the poor?”

Following the trigger presentation by Dr. Matin, approximately 25 experts shared their perspectives on the existing program, drawing on their collective expertise across economics, political economy, technology, and governance. Dr. Matin also moderated the session.

“Since July 2024, we have been talking about redefining the social contract with the people. So how do we build an accountable government through a new social contract?”

Dr. Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Honorable Adviser to the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Planning, Prime Minister’s Office, on the need to redefine the old social contract between the government and the people

Remarks from Chief Guest

Joining the event as the Chief Guest, Dr. Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir (Honorable Adviser to the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Planning, Prime Minister’s Office) observed that the country now has more poor than when the national poverty security strategy was drafted, alongside inadequate budget allocations and persistent exclusion and inclusion errors. He noted that structural issues in the system predate the current BNP government but continue to place significant stress on it, describing systems that are highly fragmented, not resistant to shocks, and further complicated by fiscal stress. The central challenge, he suggested, is how to address these issues having inherited a fiscally stressed system and how to build institutional processes when institutions themselves have grown weaker.

He invited think-tanks and non-government agencies to collaborate with the government in addressing these concerns, framing the overall goal as a paradigm shift toward a universal social security system. To that end, he posed a series of questions: how to build a system that reaches all eligible households before the next budget, how to free up more resources for other important social safety net issues, and how to include citizens in the process to ensure government accountability. He emphasized that political economy questions cannot be addressed by manufacturing consent, but rather by engaging citizens through a vibrant, deliberative process—noting that while the first two questions are technical exercises, the final one must involve the people.

“What if a womann experience GBV from family members attempting to coerce the money out of her?”

Tasmiah Rahman, Portfolio Director, Innovision Consulting, on some of the critical design questions we need to answer when designing social protection policies for women

“Around 3.9 million people have applied for the disability allowance. However, the current system may not be adequate to address those with severe or multiple disabilities who have limited ability to work.”

Vashkar Bhattacharjee, National Consultant, a2i Programme, on the importance of designing inclusive social protection programs

Roundtable Highlights

Dr. Fahmida Khatun (Executive Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue), reflecting on the efficiency of past programs, said the implementation question is just as important. She noted that earlier allowances of BDT 500–600 achieved little and often failed to reach intended recipients because of faulty systems, whereas the new eligibility for a BDT 2,500 allowance is significant for any recipient. She further emphasized the need to consider whether this allocation is fixed or dynamic, given the perennial problem of inflation.

Speaking to the need for designing sustainable social safety net programs, Dr. Selim Raihan (Executive Director, SANEM) framed financing as central to scaling the program—critical not only to extending coverage but also to building the dynamic database systems it will depend on. Given the country’s limited track record with successful databases, he cautioned that institutional and coordination challenges will have to be worked around rather than wished away. He stressed that common political ownership is necessary since a change in regime has often meant the suspension of programs, arguing that programs need to be sustainable beyond the lifetime of any government’s term in office.

Vashkar Bhattacharjee (National Consultant – Accessibility, a2i Programme) situated disability inclusion within three government commitments: a political manifesto pledge on the inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWDs), a legal commitment to PWD rights and protection, and a global commitment through the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the SDG pledge to leave no one behind. He identified data as the most enduring challenge for the social safety net, noting that the country lacks a reliable count of its persons with disabilities and asking how a family card designed for women accounts for women with disabilities. 

The roundtable also featured other distinguished panelists from the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, Research and Policy Integration for Development, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, BRAC, United Nations Development Programme in Bangladesh, World Bank, British High Commission in Bangladesh, Innovision Consulting, and more.

After the roundtable, Dr. Robin Burgess (Professor of Economics at LSE and Co-founder of IGC) drew on the success of BRAC’s Ultra Poor Graduation (UPG) approach to underscore the value of a strong evidence base in designing programs targeting the poor. Joining online, Shahid Vaziralli (Head of Research Programme at IGC) shared evidence from comparable programs around the world, showing how robust delivery systems, credible targeting, and digital governance can shape reform.

“Institutional reform will take time. Breaking free from the heavy politicization of institutions will take time and effort. But we are continuing our work to enhance institutional capacity building and independence.”

Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki, Honorable Minister of State for Planning, on the barriers to creating sustainable institutional reforms

Remarks from Guest of Honor

To conclude the event, Guest of Honor Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki (Honorable Minister of State for Planning) responded to many of the concerns raised by the discussants, addressing targeting, institutional reform, the data ecosystem, and the fiscal stress running beneath all of them. On targeting and the correction of exclusion-inclusion errors, he outlined a shift in how beneficiaries will be identified: rather than the government selecting households at the outset, all families will apply, with selection following afterward and priority given to those in greatest need. He suggested this design reduces the likelihood of exclusion error, and framed it as part of a broader system reform aimed at making targeting more credible.

On the institutional and fiscal questions, Saki was candid that reform cannot happen overnight, acknowledging that breaking from a legacy of heavy politicization will take sustained time and effort even as work on institutional capacity building and independence continues. He pointed to ongoing World Bank–funded automation projects and the committees formed to ensure the resulting databases are interoperable, with the aim of mobilizing the system within 18 months—stressing the importance of embedding genuine local needs into the architecture and design of these projects rather than treating automation as a purely technical exercise. On fiscal stress, he offered a different perspective, arguing that by improving people’s capacity to spend, the Family Card should stimulate economic activity, making it less a recurring cost than an investment.