Speakers at a national dialogue on Wednesday stressed the need to bring real beneficiaries under social safety net programme and ensure adequate allocation of funds and their empowerment.
Although the number of recipients and the budget allocation have increased in the last few years, identifying real beneficiaries and ensuring transparency of the safety net programme still remain major challenges, they said.
They also said many minority ethnic groups still remain outside the coverage of the social safety net. As a result, they are not getting necessary supports for the development of their communities.
The Right to Food (RtF) Bangladesh and the World Vision organised the dialogue on 'Achieving the Goal of Social Safety Net Programme: Reality and necessary Initiatives' with the support of the European Union at Cirdap auditorium in the city, with Social Welfare Minister Nuruzzaman Ahmed as the chief guest.
Mohsin Ali, general sectary of the Right to Food Bangladesh, moderated the progarmme and gave a PowerPoint presentation.
According to the presentation, of the total 163 million population of the country, 35 million (21.8 per cent) are poor and 20 million (11.13 per cent) are extreme poor.
Social Welfare Minister Nuruzzaman Ahmed said the government is very much sincere to implement the social safety net programme properly.
Prof Dr MM Akash of the economics department of Dhaka University said the government should adopt a right-based approach to development so that all people get the benefits of uplift.
The allocation for the safety net programme is still inadequate and only 12 to 25 per cent of the poor people benefit from the programme, he said.
Mr Akash also recommended enacting a law regarding the right to food. Those who are deprived of food can get legal support under the act, he added.
Dr Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of RtF Bangladesh and PKSF, said the rate of poverty has declined in the country.
"It is necessary to ensure proper utilisation of resources to make further progress in lowering the poverty rate," he said.
He also stressed the need for proper monitoring and coordination to ensure proper use of the budget allocation for the social safety net programme.
