Bangladesh shows its enviable progress in all indicators for which it is considered one of the emerging economies in the world and a development miracle.

It has remarkable success in social indicators such as lower child mortality rate (2.4% in 2020), maternal mortality rate at the time of birth (1.73% in 2017), increase in women’s participation in employment (36.37% in 2019), 98% enrolment at primary school, decrease in child marriage. These sectorial developments are the key policy drives for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh.

The government’s plans and targets significantly helped reduce poverty over the years. About 20.5% of the total population of the country was poor at the end of 2018-2019, which was 21.8% in the previous year.

The poverty rate drastically reduced to 20.5% in 2018-2019 from 40% in 2005. In addition, extreme poverty came down to 10.5% in 2020 from 11.3% in 2019.

Among the total population of 167.56 million, 49.43 million are in poverty. The government has planned to reduce poverty by 15.6 percent by 2025.

In reducing poverty, either direct or indirect interventions were taken based on need and urgency. The direct one includes cash benefits through transferring it by using banking or mobile channel, while the second one includes the support meeting the basic needs of the group.

Policy continuation of the poverty alleviation projects contributes to continuous development. Political stability for about one era strongly supports undertaking and continuing the policies with an increase in the amount of allocation and number of beneficiaries.

It is importantly noticed that need-based policy actions are seemed to be a key mechanism to contribute to alleviating poverty in Bangladesh.

These initiatives are the prioritized sectoral arrangements initiated and materialized broadly under the social safety net programs (SSNP).

These are the set of various programs for uplifting livelihood targeting the socio-economic status of the poor. And this popularizes the Bangladesh model for poverty alleviation.

This SSNP-driven strategy emphasized alleviating poverty through the improvement of the socio-economic condition of the ultra-poor.

The government has adopted the life cycle approach of the social safety net.  A total of Tk. 956,830 million allocated in the revised budget for 2020-2021 which is about one-fifth (17.75%) of the total budget, is a policy drive to alleviate the poverty of the poorest section.

The allocated money is 3.10 percent of the GDP of the fiscal year which indicates the government’s utmost sincerity in undertaking intervention in this regard. SSNPs are a combination of various interventions in the name of different projects and programs such as Akti Bari Akti Khamar’ (One House One Farm), ‘Ashrayan’ (Habitation), ‘Grihayan,’ (Housing) ‘Ghora Phera’ (returning home).

These policy drives have underline objectives of bringing a positive change to the lives of the poor and building a better livable society.

Social scientists remark that SSNPs are the true drivers of sustainable development as these are the target-oriented programs to benefit special sections of the society, for example, widows, destitute women deserted by their husbands, old-aged people, disabled people, freedom fighters, and so on.

Transferring the benefits either in cash or kind to the poor follows the formal channel to effectively benefit the real stakeholders.

The mechanism includes the government’s bank named Palli Sanchoy Bank (Rural Savings Bank), mobile banking through various operators, and engagement of local administration.

Special Initiatives were taken for the most vulnerable and poorest people. These include ‘old age allowance program’, ‘allowance for disabled citizen’, ‘Capitation Grant for Non-government Orphanage’, ‘Honorarium Programme for Freedom Fighters’, ‘Honorarium and Medical Allowance for Injured Freedom Fighters and Shaheed (Martyr) Families’, ‘allowance for mother’, ‘allowance for lactating mothers’, ‘financial assistance for destitute women, a special program for gypsy’, ‘program for the third gender’.

These initiatives not only helped reduce poverty but also mainstream them.

Apart from the short-term poverty reduction initiatives, long-term interventions were adopted to bring long-term benefits. Education for all, health care programs, strengthening local government, and establishing uninterrupted power supply are the specific areas included for development.

Bangladesh adopted social spending strategy as the means of poverty alleviation to effectively contribute to the sustainable solution of poverty, which is a different strategy than the trickled down theory.

Strategies include targeted initiatives of the group, direct communication and reaching the poor, inclusiveness in philosophical and development perspective, policy continuation followed by incrementalism approach, and a strong institutional framework combining GO-NGO collaboration that serves as a success factor poverty eradication in Bangladesh.

Targeted initiatives include rural people, women especially from the rural area, urban slum people, urban poor women, disabled people, pregnant women, widows, and martyrs who are badly in need of financial help.

As a result In the last decade, multiple initiatives pertaining to socio-economic development and upliftment of living standards of poor people have been taken, implemented and continued with stronger intervention in the future. The poverty rate significantly decreased, halved in 15 years, from 40.0 in 2005 to 20.5 percent in 2020.

Reaching out to the poor is another reason for the success of the program. All government programs related to poverty alleviation aim at covering the targeted poor people where government follows the mechanism of direct communication with them so that any middlemen cannot stymie the progress.

Reaching the poor directly, several mechanisms of identification and systems have been installed and utilized. For example, mobile banking or bank transfer is the mechanism of sending allowances to the group. Providing cash incentives to poor people is also an important factor in alleviating poverty in Bangladesh.

Cash transferred to the poor enhances the economic capacity directly and empowerment indirectly, especially for women, adolescent girls, and old people in the family.

Inclusive development from planning to implementation is another strong point of the policy initiatives for poverty alleviation.

It is noticeably marked that the government’s targets include all sections of poverty who are vulnerable; irrespective of class race, geography and physical frailty. ‘Leaving no one behind’ philosophy of SDG echoes the philosophy and principle enshrined in the Constitution of Bangladesh. SDGs are enforced and aligned with government intervention.

The government established NGO Affairs Bureau and Microcredit Regulatory Authority to oversee the activities of NGOs and ensure transparency and accountability of microfinance institutions and NGOs.

Policy continuation of the poverty alleviation projects contributes to continuous development. Political stability for about one era strongly supports undertaking and continuing the policies with an increase in the amount of allocation and number of beneficiaries.

Thus government incrementally increases the budget allocation for wider coverage. Policy supports emphasize mainly the social dimension in addition to the economic issue that ultimately leads to the sustainable solution to poverty.

Most of the programs initiated in 2008 and continued without break rather strengthened with wider coverage and increased amount in each financial year.

Finally, a strong institutional framework contributed to bringing a sustainable solution to poverty in Bangladesh.  Concerned ministries such as the Ministry of Finance, Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Social Welfare, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, and Department of Social Services are actively involved in policy formulation, implementation and evaluation.

Local government institutions and political representatives also play a pivotal role in implementing these government initiatives.

Moreover, international organizations like World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and non-government organizations like Grameen Bank, and BRAC also extend support to alleviate poverty in Bangladesh.

NGOs such as Grammen Bank, BRAC, ASA, Shakti Foundation, BURO Bangladesh, TMSS, Proshika, Caritas, and Society for Social Services run microcredit programs for self-employment of poor and distressed women and work for poverty alleviation, education and health.

The government established NGO Affairs Bureau and Microcredit Regulatory Authority to oversee the activities of NGOs and ensure transparency and accountability of microfinance institutions and NGOs.