BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

ENSURING EFFECTIVE SOCIAL PROTECTIONS IN BANGLADESH: THE NEED FOR MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE

Author: Mohammad Atique Rahman

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2012v33n1a1

ABSTRACT

There has been increasing consciousness among the government institutions of Bangladesh about social protections as measures to protect people from becoming trapped into poverty. The country has therefore, been conducting series of Social Safety Net Programmes (SSNPs) to implement social protections for addressing the needs of the poor and the vulnerable people. These SSNPs range from relief supports for the victims of natural disasters to health and sanitation services, micro finance for rural women, and legal services for establishing citizens' rights. However, with the absence of multilevel governance in the social, political, and economic sectors of Bangladesh, the extensity of social disparity and inequality remained persistently the same. This is an important issue for a country like Bangladesh where social disparity exists both in agency and structure in which both formal and informal political, economic, social, and cultural institutions are restricting people’s participation on the basis of wealth, power, and identity. Therefore, while the social protection policies and programmes have greater resonances in Bangladesh, the poorest and the vulnerable communities have not been benefited that much yet. The paper attempts to explore the emerging need for multilevel governance for the social safety net measures in Bangladesh ranging from policy formulations to implementations in effective ways. The paper addresses governance deficits and delineates the need for multilevel governance in Bangladesh. It is argued that administering SSNPs through traditional governance approaches suffer from inefficiency and specificity, thus generate a good deal of debate regarding the sustainability and impacts of SSNPs in Bangladesh. And for some functions associated with the proper delivery of social safety net programmes in Bangladesh, multilevel governance set up is more well suited.