As a result, the Bangladeshi government and its development partners have recently begun targeting the extreme poor in many development policies and programs. This study examines the current status of national-level strategies and activities that address extreme poverty in Bangladesh. This study examines the extent to which national-level strategies and activities highlighted and addressed extreme poverty in Bangladesh.
The AU also requested that the study focus on the ultra poor as opposed to the extreme poor. Nongovernmental efforts targeted the extreme poor in four ways: (i) As part of the Millennium Development Goals in donor strategies, (ii) asset transfer or asset transfer programs, (iii) Microfinance and microfinance plus programs, and (iv) ) Research and advocacy.
INTRODUCTION
To this end, the BRAC Advocacy Unit (AU) undertook the National Advocacy for CFPR/TUP project to highlight extreme poverty in national strategies, dialogues and programmes. This study examines the extent to which national-level strategies and activities address extreme poverty in Bangladesh, and the future potential of existing initiatives. In conclusion, this study is both pertinent and timely given the state of extreme poverty initiatives in Bangladesh.
This is a first step to consolidate the experiences of Bangladesh's many new extreme poverty initiatives. Finally, this study can provide a benchmark for both policy makers and practitioners, practitioners to chart Bangladesh's progress in prioritizing and addressing extreme poverty.
RESEARCH METHODS
To capture stakeholder perceptions of extreme poverty, we interviewed national stakeholders, including academics, donor organizations, NGOs and the media. In order to track and review the development activities that deal with extreme poverty, we take a closer look at the development activities of the Slovenian government and the main development partners. Finally, to explore levels of advocacy, we examine the degree and nature of print media coverage of extreme poverty over a one-year period (Table 1).
We also took a closer look at DFID, given the priority they place on alleviating extreme poverty. To understand the reporting pattern of extreme poverty news in Bangladeshi newspapers, four newspapers were selected.
WHO ARE THE EXTREME POOR?
For example, how can you measure chronic poverty if groups are poor at times, but not at other times. For example, a study of Vietnam in the 1990s found that monetary poverty was not only less persistent than other forms of poverty – school attendance and malnutrition, for example – but that the measures of poverty did not correlate with each other. The extremely poor experienced multiple vulnerabilities, for example based on gender, location and environment.
It is really difficult to understand the relationship between, for example, chronic and severe poverty - what if some families were severely and chronically poor at one time and well off at another time. For example, implementing agencies defined extreme poverty in ways that ensured effective targeting of their particular product.
GOVERNMENT STRATEGIES AND PROGRAMMES
Also, mainstream poverty reduction programs supported all segments of the rural poor with the underlying assumption that the extremely poor would indirectly benefit. However, these plans not only assumed that economic growth would trickle down to all groups, they also failed to realize that poverty reduction programs may not equally benefit all categories of the poor. Although later plans allocated significant funds to social welfare, activities addressed all categories of the poorest as a homogeneous group and. The extremely poor would ideally benefit from at least two of the above strategies, as they most often lack the skills and infrastructure to engage in income-generating activities.
Typically, during each elected government, the General Economic Division of the Planning Commission develops national plans based on the development philosophy of the particular government. On the issue of implementation, there were four main challenges – the need for broad coverage, targeting, leakage and disparity in regional distribution. For social protection – the main area of targeted support for the poorest – the draft plan adopted four types of programmes.
Moreover, the plain was intended to increase the poor's access to assets and productive resources and strengthen the delivery of human development services to the poor (GoB). However, some ambiguities remained, mainly due to confusion in classifying different categories of the arms. To explore how the government is helping these groups, the following sections examine the policies and activities of the six ministries most involved in poverty reduction.
Previous agricultural policies targeted government support to all farmers without emphasis on the most vulnerable.22 However, the National Agricultural Policy 2010 addressed two particular categories of the extremely poor. The Food Department under the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management dealt with these food insecurities by procuring and storing food for social welfare programmes. On the disaster front, much of the Disaster Management and Relief Division's efforts are directed at disaster-prone regions, but their extreme poverty efforts are primarily integrated with social welfare programs.
For example, the Sixth Five Year Plan claimed that 27% of VGD beneficiaries were not poor and 11% of PESP beneficiaries did not meet any of the eligibility criteria; in fact, almost 47% were non-poor. First, it would increase public spending in this area from 2% to 3% of the national budget.
NON-GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES
At the programming level, there was considerable debate about the success of microfinance versus asset transfer programs in addressing extreme poverty. Such programs provided poor families with an asset and more services to help him or her build an asset base and increase productivity. Three of the four projects in its extreme poverty portfolio – namely CFPR/TUP, CLP and EEP/Shiree – use an asset plus approach.
According to the experience of the European Union's Food Security for the Ultra Poor (FSUP) programme, ultra-poor households were more likely to build an asset base if they could replace their otherwise permanent hopelessness with an entrepreneurial mindset. Active households were more likely to convert an asset into an asset base than to lose or trade their assets in times of income. Regardless, many stakeholders felt this success was temporary, and that extreme and ultra-poor families were unlikely to build an asset base from such programs.
However, managing large-scale fund transfer programs required enormous institutional capacities that NGOs did not have. One respondent argued that the World Bank opposed the transfer of funds because the approach was expensive and complicated. These programs challenge the very assumption of ultra-poverty as a concept and BRAC's asset transfer programs that treat the poorest as ineligible for microfinance.
This group met quarterly to pool research in all areas relevant to extreme poverty. The Bangladesh Institute for Development Studies (BIDS) worked on three broad issues that address extreme poverty. Given the lack of discussion about extreme poverty in national forums, both SHIREE and BRAC have taken on advocacy as a major focus.
SEARCHING FOR ULTRA POVERTY IN THE MEDIA
NEWSPAPER COVERAGE
CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
This study mapped Bangladesh's extreme poverty initiatives in three areas – national strategies and programmes, non-governmental activities and print media. The study concluded that while newer initiatives after 2008 have accepted extreme poverty as a key challenge for development, this group requires significant attention. Our knowledge of extreme poverty is still in its infancy and therefore a greater focus on research, dialogue informed policy making and collaborative programming efforts can greatly improve.
For example, linear measures provide the best information on cross-national studies, but categorical variables may better help practitioners identify proper target groups for their extreme poverty programs. A comprehensive strategy for eradicating extreme poverty can address how best to prepare these groups for participation in mainstream poverty programs. Moreover, news events related to extreme poverty did not appear in the editorial pages, which addressed the news events with the highest priority.
The study's conclusions suggest a number of policy recommendations that could contribute substantially to reducing extreme poverty in Bangladesh. Non-governmental actors: Bilateral donors and NGOs currently play an instrumental role in extreme poverty programming. Advocacy: Newspapers can play an important role in advocating for national efforts to alleviate extreme poverty.
Through informed and well-researched articles, newspapers can highlight areas where extreme poverty exists and report how poverty becomes acute in different regions. Newspapers can best illustrate the heterogeneity of extreme poverty by equally highlighting its different dimensions – currently, some issues receive more attention than others. In addition, newspapers tended to capture sensational elements of extreme poverty news – for example, cases of extreme success or failure.
Chronic Poverty in Bangladesh: Tales of Ascent, Decency, Marginality and Perseverance, The Plight of the Poorest 2004/2005. Challenging the Inequities of Poverty: Agendas for Inclusive Development in South Asia, India: Sage Publications Pvt.
ANNEX
The ultimate goal of the plan is to improve the quality of life of the common man. Gainful employment opportunities for people in need, promoting the rehabilitation of physically disabled elderly people, group formation and participation in capacity building of the poorest, care and education for orphans, destitute and shelterless children, institutional facilities for delinquents, education for the disabled, support to voluntary organizations , motivate citizens to help the socially challenged Allocation: 133 crore. Program Targeted programs for agricultural extension and infrastructure expansion, including training of extension workers and farmers;
The expansion and strengthening of healthcare services at the district and upazila levels will improve the health of the country's population, which will help reduce poverty. Poorer communities will come under control of communicable and other diseases through drug supply and awareness raising. As a result, the scope of healthcare access and health improvement for the poor will be expanded.
To set standards for quality and create mass awareness of food quality and safety. Poor communities will be brought under the coverage of the nutrition program that sets food standards and creates mass awareness about adulteration of food. Provide education allowance and scholarship to employed and disadvantaged, ultra-poor and dropout students.
Expanding educational opportunities for the ultra-poor and slum dwellers on a pilot basis. Targeted programs (such as educational aids, grants, clothing, education kits) are being offered on a pilot basis to 5 lakh dropout and deprived students from ultra-poor families and residents of remote areas. According to the "Integrated Special Education Policy 2009 for Persons with Disabilities", teachers and staff of relevant institutions receive 100 percent of salaries and allowances from the government from February 2010.
