Social Protection,

Disaster Risk Reduction and

Climate Change Adaptation
Presented by

Dr. Shamsul Alam

Member (Senior Secretary)

General Economics Division (GED)

Bangladesh Planning Commission

Government of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh
DISCLAIMER: This presentation does not necessarily reflect the views of ADB or the Government concerned, and ADB and the Government cannot be held
liable for its contents.

Governments Commitment for Social Protection

Notwithstanding past progress, out of 158 million population, some 39
million people is still living below the upper poverty line and 20 million
people below the lower poverty line in 2015.
Bangladeshs current Social Security System is complex and multifarious as
there are 142 programmes under the Social Security System currently
financed through the budget and administered by as many as 23 line
Ministries/Divisions.
The multiplicity of resultant programmes spread amongst a wide range of
implementing agencies require rationalisation, harmonisation and
coordination.
Considering this backdrop, the Government of Bangladesh has approved
the National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) of Bangladesh in 2015 which
hopes to consolidate the ongoing programmes emphasising a Life Cycle
Approach.

GED, Bangladesh Planning Commission

National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) of Bangladesh

Vision of NSSS:
Build an inclusive Social Security System (SSS) for all deserving
Bangladeshis that effectively tackles and prevents poverty and
inequality and contributes to broader human development,
employment and economic growth.

Goal for the NSSS (over the next five years):

Reform the national SSS by ensuring more efficient and effective
use of resources, strengthened delivery systems and progress
towards a more inclusive form of Social Security that effectively
tackles lifecycle risks, prioritising the poorest and most vulnerable
members of society.

GED, Bangladesh Planning Commission

Social Protection on DRR and CCA

Out of the ongoing 142 programmes on Social Protection, 25 are directly
related to disaster risk reduction or climate change adaptation that cost
around US $ 1.2 billion (around 21 percent of the total SP protection).
The programmes includes, for example,
short-term or seasonal workfare programmes for the working age vulnerable
people,
relief goods or lump cash transfers, climate victim rehabilitation, food grain at
subsidized price particularly for the urban poor (who include a large toll of
climate change and disaster victims),
construction of shelter and other infrastructures for the victims of cyclones and
other natural calamities, institution building and empowerment of communities
to reduce disaster risks etc.

Six important Ministries of the government namely, Ministry of Disaster

Management and Relief, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry of
Agriculture, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and
Cooperatives, Ministry Food, and the Prime Ministers Office are directly
involved in implementation and management of the programmes.
GED, Bangladesh Planning Commission

Social Protection on DRR and CCA (contd.)

Attaching highest importance to the issue of climate change,
Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009
was formulated.
BCCSAP 2009 identified six thematic areas, namely (1) food security,
social protection and health, (2) comprehensive disaster
management, (3) infrastructure, (4) research and knowledge
management, (5) mitigation and low-carbon development, and (6)
capacity building and institutional strengthening.
Subsequently, in the fiscal year of 2009-10, Climate Change Trust
Fund (CCTF) was created by the Government from its own resources
to finance projects for implementation of BCCSAP 2009. The aim of
these projects is to reduce the vulnerabilities caused by the adverse
effects of climate change.
To set up institutional arrangements for management of the Fund,
Climate Change Trust Act, 2010 was enacted. Under the framework of
this Act, Bangladesh Climate Change Trust (BCCT) was constituted.
GED, Bangladesh Planning Commission

Bangladeshs Lessons That Can Be Replicated

Bangladesh has long experiences of implementing programmes related
to social protection. The encouraging features of its social protection can
be summarized as follows:
Strong political commitment for social protection and it is revealed by
the Governments development policy planning.
Each year the budgetary allocation has been increasing along with the
enhancement of the number of beneficiaries.
Through Open Market Sales (OMS), 60% poor can buy rice at reduced
prices, when prices get too high in the market ( to redress market
shock vulnerability)
From purely a relief based programmes, the focus is now more on the
social development. From Vulnerable Group Feeding, the program
was scaled up to Food for Work and then converted to Vulnerable
Group Development and later Income Generating Vulnerable Group
Development.
Rural Maintenance Programme has also seen changes from flood
response construction to all weather reasoned infrastructure.
GED, Bangladesh Planning Commission

Conclusion
It calls on the nation to ensure basic opportunities for all, with the aim
of eradicating extreme poverty in general and their vulnerabilities
owing to DR and by Climate Change impacts.
Success to achieve set goals largely depends on well targeted, and well
managed social security programmes for helping vulnerable, poor and
marginalized populations in the finest sense of leaving no one behind,
amongst anything else.
Bangladesh is committed to implement the NSSS which is succinct, well
documented, global experience based, and focused on life cycle
approach addressing idiosyncratic risks, in compliance with the aim to
reduce inequality and poverty contributing to ensuring more peaceful
and inclusive society.

Thank You All

GED, Bangladesh Planning Commission