The local government institutions in Bangladesh have been carrying out a number of development projects under the head of social safety net programme (SSNP) to provide community-based services for the vulnerable sections of the society.
However, the key challenges relate to ensuring quality of implementation of these projects and adequate provisioning of these services. The local government institutions and representatives can partner with community based organisations for selecting beneficiaries and monitor these projects for effective delivery of these services. Indeed, the achievement of the SDGs hinges critically on this. There is a need for creating local database for selecting program beneficiaries. This is also important in taking the benefits of the development to the grassroots so that no one is left behind.
These views were shared at a dialogue in Gaibandha, jointly organised today (Saturday) by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Oxfam and supported by the SKS Foundation. The event was held under the project titled, “Enhancing the participation of community-based organizations (CBOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) in democratic governance in Bangladesh”. The programme is being implemented by the CPD and Oxfam, with support from the European Union (EU). The presentation and discussions at the dialogue were based on an ongoing study conducted by the CPD.
Mr Towfiqul Islam Khan, Senior Research Fellow, CPD made the keynote presentation titled, “The Role of Social Safety-Net Programmes in SDG Delivery at the Local Level”. Ms MahabubAra Begum Gini, MP, Whip, Bangladesh National Parliament, was present at the dialogue as the Chief Guest; Mr Md. Tofayel Hossain, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) and Additional District Magistrate, Gaibandha, was present as the Special Guest. Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, CPD, summarised the key points emerging from the discussion as the Distinguished Discussant. Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow, CPD, chaired the dialogue.
The dialogue was participated by people’s representatives, local level government officials, representatives of various civil society and grassroots organisations working in Gaibandha and private sector.
The keynote presentation focused on role and budgetary allocation for social safety net programmes both nationally and for Gaibandha and why it is necessary to raise the quality and delivery of services, particularly for the marginalised groups in the society. The keynote paper observed that SDGs could be good entry point to deliver quality services. The keynote came up with a number of policy recommendations including the work of the union digital centre, the role of the elected representatives, information dissemination and better integration of the work of the government officials and other relevant stakeholders.
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