Social protection: Protecting or insecuring

GLOBALLY, social protection is gaining increasing political attraction as a successful approach to poverty reduction. Evidence from well-designed and implemented social protection programmes from low and middle income countries consistently shows positive impacts on reducing the income poverty gap, smoothing consumption, and increasing access to basic services. Emerging evidence is also starting to demonstrate the potential of social protection initiatives to address broader risks and vulnerabilities, including reducing gender inequality, mitigating the impacts of climate change, and improving health and education outcomes.

The Constitution of Bangladesh in Article 15 guaranteed social protection for its citizens saying, it shall be a fundamental responsibility of the state to attain... the right to social security... and Government had taken measures in this regard. In result the poverty rate halved during 1991 to 2010. The current social protection scenario in Bangladesh is mainly responding to a crisis situation. In order to support the poor and vulnerable part of population, the successive governments have taken several steps under social protection schemes. The proposed budgetary allocation for social security and welfare in current fiscal year i.e. FY 2013-14 was BDT 123,660 million.

In Bangladesh, like many countries, social protection interventions developed out of a relatively narrow set of objectives, namely to address income poverty for the very poorest or most vulnerable, often based on categorical targeting or supporting households' recovery in the wake of natural disasters. Increasingly however, the multidimensionality of poverty beyond simple measurements of income and the structural causes of poverty and vulnerability have gained political currency and are becoming increasingly influential in the types of poverty reduction approaches adopted, including social protection.

Taking into account the situation above we need to start with improved collaboration and coordination between agencies and stakeholders. The management process required to be reviewed, strengthened and monitored. A common/ central database needs to be developed and updated regularly. We need to engage local community leaders in the management process for increased credibility. Also to increase income-generating programmes to relieve dependencies on cash transfers.

There are too many ministries and administrative departments were involved in delivering social protections which is one of the key reasons for high administrative cost, overlapping and less effectiveness of the programmes. Implementation and administration of the programmes also need improvement. This is especially important with respect to coordination among ministries, consolidation of various programmes over time, improving delivery mechanisms by transferring directly to the beneficiaries, and strengthening local government capacity.

Globally, efficient and effective social protection programmes are developed following quality research initiatives. Not only during the development but also in the following phases i.e. implementation, follow-up – research based on regular monitoring data and tagged with mid-term and end evaluation play a significant role. But in our case we do not spend quality time to carry on quality research ensuring high quality of social protection programmes. In result policies and programmes that are designed do not ensure long-term benefits. Most of them are created or copied from neighbouring examples or prescribed by external entities. Hence, resources are not properly utilized. Programme goals die soon after the completion.

One of the key plans of the Government is to increase the share of spending to 3% from 2.2%. So, we will get additional resources to meet the need. In addition, the Government has committed to reform the taxation processes.

But to ensure effective designs of social protection programmes and to utilise the above resource following issues should be considered. We need to update the result-based M&E mechanism. Also to strengthen the BBS for efficient knowledge management and ensure wide dissemination of M&E results creating greater credibility. Of the 6th five-year plan in Chapter 6 we could see Government's plan regarding social protection.

Some governments have ensured a rights-based approach to social protection which entitles citizens to certain programmes and benefits. In Brazil, for instance, the Beneficio de Prestacao Continuada, a means-tested disability and old-age pension, is enshrined in the Constitution (although the conditional cash transfer, Bolsa Familia, is not). In India, the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act legally entitles poor rural households 100 days of employment a year. In South Africa, the right to social assistance is embedded in the Constitution.

Other countries have embedded social protection within broader social policy frameworks. In Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru, for instance, a single registry system tracks all services and programmes with which an individual interacts. In Chile's Chile Solidario programme, for example, the conditional cash transfer fits within an integrated approach to eradicate extreme poverty. Meanwhile, in another cluster of countries, social protection programmes are implemented as more stand-alone programmes by governments or non-governmental institutions to tackle specific vulnerabilities. In Malawi and Zambia, donors have funded pilot cash transfer programmes to ultra-poor labour-constrained households.

THE WRITER IS AN ADVOCATE WORKING WITH ACTIONAID IN UGANDA.