Safety net benefits auditing
ONE major instrument of the government for poverty alleviation consists of safety net coverages called Vulnerable Group Development (VGD), Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) and Employment Generation Programme for the Poorest (EGPP). How such potentially impactful projects are working and to what extent they are benefitting the target groups need to be monitored periodically to find out if they are on the right track.
After all, the government's allocation to these projects in the current fiscal year amounts to Tk. 25,371 crore. This constitutes 11.4 percent of the total budget and 2.13 percent of the country's GDP. The stakes are, therefore, very high to ensure that the projects benefit the people for whom they are meant. In this context, the findings of the social audit carried out by two non-government development organizations, Governance Coalition and People's Alliance between January, 2013 and January, 2015, reveals the successes and pitfalls of VGD, VGF and EGPP programmes.
A majority of respondents from VGD and VGF programmes were happy with the selection processes but those not content with the procedures were 36 percent and 10.38 percent respectively. As for the employment generation project 32.05 percent were not happy with the selection process. In other words, substantial numbers were discontented with the way the programmes were managed.
The people who need the support most are deprived while single individuals get multiple benefits.
The inherent problem is easily identified: lack of coordination among as many as 22 ministries, which causes overlapping in the schemes as well as mistargeting. The important step for a turnaround will be drastically reducing the number of ministries thereby facilitating coordination.
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