Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Wednesday said although Bangladesh has designed many strong and promising poverty-reduction plans over the years, their implementation has remained ‘very poor’ due to inefficiency, corruption and procedural bottlenecks.
“Our plans are well-designed, but implementation is terribly weak. Because of inefficiency, corruption and legal complexities, many good initiatives never see the light of day,” he said on Wednesday at a workshop titled Rural Livelihood Transformation and Inclusive Resilience Initiatives organised by the Social Development Foundation (SDF) at a city hotel.
“The country’s poverty rate continued to decline until 2010 but started rising again after 2022. Alongside managing existing poverty, the government must now prepare strategies for those falling into poverty every day,” he added.
Praising SDF’s initiatives, Salehuddin said, “SDF’s activities began under my watch. Over the years, their work has become visible and rural women are benefiting.”
About addressing rising urban poverty, he said the pressure on cities would ease if the rural sector could be made more attractive and urbanisation more decentralised. “This will make decentralised development easier,” he observed.
The adviser also pointed to the weaknesses in beneficiary selection for social protection programmes. “Although selection has improved, coverage must expand. Stakeholder participation is crucial here,” he said.
Calling for a stronger role from NGOs, the adviser criticised their lending practices.
“NGOs provide loans of Tk 4-5 lakh to middle-income groups because they can recover the money with interest. As a result, the ultra-poor remain excluded. NGOs must bring the poorest under their lending programmes,” he said.
Finance Division Secretary Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder admitted that poverty has increased. “There is no denying that poverty has risen. While it cannot be eradicated entirely, efforts to reduce it continue.”
He said the government plans to continue working with the SDF as it used its Covid-era grants effectively and that the government plans to continue working with the organisation.
Nazma Mobarek, Secretary of the Financial Institutions Division (FID), described Bangladesh as being in a ‘critical phase’ of poverty alleviation, saying many poor families still cannot access social safety services due to planning gaps and failures in targeted implementation.
Shahriar Kader Siddiky, Secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD), stressed the need for incorporating climate vulnerability into SDF’s programmes. “If a beneficiary is affected by climate-induced disasters, there must be an insurance mechanism for future support,” he said.
Chairman of the Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID) Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, in his keynote presentation, said only 37 percent of the country’s poor receive government assistance, leaving the majority — 63 percent — outside support systems.
Similarly, he said, only 27 percent of the poor receive assistance from NGOs.
SDF Chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid, in his remarks, said Bangladesh is undergoing a major transition and expressed the hope that the SDF will move forward in step with this transformation.