Exclusion from public services

Exclusion from public services

The challenges
The extreme poor face the challenge of accessing much needed public services including health care, education, agricultural support, legal services and a variety of social safety nets. While the poorest have a great need and as much right as the less poor to access public services, and virtually no ability to procure alternatives, they lack the awareness, influence or confidence to demand their entitlement. Providers often discriminate against extremely poor people not only because many of them are minorities, but also because they are in no position to bribe or to complain.Their complete lack of voice allows others to exclude them. Furthermore extremely poor communities often live in remote, hard-to-reach areas where many government services do not venture, and their own lack of mobility means they often have to forgo the services available to those who are better located or more mobile. Finally, the extreme poor lack awareness of their entitlements, and often do not even know how to go about accessing their service entitlement.In a situation where there are in any case not enough services to go round, the extreme poor are the most likely to lose out again and again. While the lack of resources is a large part of the challenge, better targeting and collaboration with NGOs could help local government service providers reach larger portions of the extreme poor. Access to basic services is an underlying requirement for a secure and stable livelihood and family well-being.

Only about 15% of Shiree beneficiary households reported having access to any Government Safety Nets (2012 CMS2 data) despite all of these households being extremely poor.

Shiree CMS1 data has shown that extreme poor households need approximately 36 minutes per day for water collection, increasing to a max of 12 hours in very remote areas.

Only 21% of extreme poor heads of households have attended school – compared with 49% nationally (HIES 2005).

79% of tube wells in the southwest coast region contain arsenic (Uttaran study, 2006).

In 2005, only 13.1% of extreme poor households were covered under the Social Safety Net Programmes (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2007).

Mistargeting remains a major barrier in effectively distributing Social Safety Nets among the poorest. In 2006, the World Bank found that 27% of VGD beneficiaries were non-poor (BRAC, 2012).

  1. Exclusion from public services
  2. Insufficient economic opportunities
  3. Vulnerability to external shocks
  4. Health and nutrition vulnerability
  5. Gender inequity
  6. Marginalised group specific risks and vulnerability
Expert view
One expert view:“Every politician standing for local or national office should have their manifestos assessed for their pro-poor content by local and national civil society organisations. The All Party Parliamentary Group of MPs should accept a responsibility for vigilance over not just appropriate policies but crucially implementation. It should work closely with relevant, sector civil society organisations (CSOs) on each public service intersection with extreme poor family needs—safety nets and food security, education, health, climate change shocks and legal representation. CSOs, receiving public including aid funds have a responsibility to cooperate with public representatives on monitoring and vigilance functions. Although the socio-economic characteristics of extreme poor households make it very difficult for them to organise together in a sustained way, there remains an imperative to build alliances among poor households to act as effective CSOs at the local level, supported by information about rights and entitlements both for welfare and legal redress. All NGOs, regardless of specialisation, should include such support in their missions.” Geof Wood, Professor Emeritus, University of BathAnother expert recommendation for action: “The Government of Bangladesh has 99 safety nets of different types, but are these safety nets reaching the extreme poor? We could consider ID cards to better target the extreme poor and ensure they are receiving access to necessary social protection programmes that can help lift them out of destitution”.
Case studies
Exclusion from health care, khasland, safety nets and education, bound in client-patron relations Gouri Chhatri is 28 years old. She and her husband and two sons are heavily dependent on her husband’s work for one long term employer within a traditional patron client relationship. This enables them to meet short term crisis needs during the lean season (loans for food, health) but they pay back the loans at a high premium and how to accept: low wages and substantial amounts of regular and entirely unpaid labour from family members.One year into her marriage her mother-in-law had to undergo a surgical operation for appendicitis.  They had no option but to borrow 12,000 taka from her husband’s employee. This loan compelled her husband to sell sheets of tin from their roof and continue his job for two years without any payment.  Moreover, during marriage her husband borrowed BDT 5000 and 1 mound of rice from his former employer.To repay the amount she used to do rice threshing, winnowing and washing clothes at the home of that employer. She was tied to this employer through her husband’s loan. Her economic condition fell further again after her mother’s death and birth of her two sons. When her husband was injured while working the power tiller, it took about four years to recover and this pushed the family into even greater debt. The patron continues to bind the family to work on his farm which is important in light of recent labour shortage, which could potentially have benefitted the family through higher wages.Access to government services such as free health care, khasland, safety nets and education, might have helped Gouri survive in a better way but she is a plain land adivasi living on khasland that is not even hers. She is excluded from the entire spectrum of government services. For the rest of the story, click here.Note: The names of individuals have been changed to protect their identity
Some examples of what is already being done
  • Shiree – NGOs engage with local governments at the grass roots level to increase service outreach to the extreme poor.

i. Save the Children works with the Khulna Municipal Corporation to help them plan and implement child social protection services.

ii. MJSKS works with the Department of Livestock to deliver vaccinations and routine health services to livestock for beneficiaries.

iii. Uttaran works with the local government to increase its distribution of khasland.

iv. CARE supports Union Parishads to develop improved capacity, downwards accountability and responsiveness to the needs of extreme poor people.

  • UPPR works with local pourshavas and ward commissioners to encourage services for extreme poor slum dwellers.
  • CLP lobbies the government for education and health services in the chars.
  • DFID/UNDP are spearheading an effort to support the reform of the social protection system in Bangladesh.

The above are only a few examples. There is loads of good work already taking place. If you would like to add further examples or a link to a relevant website, please contribute through the form below.

More examples of current good practices
Add your text
What should be done to address this challenge?
The following are recommendations shiree has received online and through various consultations with NGOs, private sector actors, government officials, international donors and other civil society activists interested in making a difference and bringing change to Bangladesh.

Identity Cards
In order to ensure year-round medical treatments for all family members, voucher systems for health services should be introduced for all extreme poor families. (International NGO)

Submit a list of extreme poor households to service providers and LGIs. (National NGO)

We need to have a system to identify the extreme poor, such as an ID card. If we can create a list of all extremely poor then we can better allocate safety nets and better pressure the service providers to reach the most vulnerable. They need to know that those are the people who are most deserving of safety nets and services. We can then better monitor their access to services and it improves targeting. Identification and targeting has been one of the biggest issues related to access to services. (Development Expert)

Allocate khas land in a more transparent way. A list of eligible extreme poor should be given to land departments and the UP. (National NGO)

Issue a family card for extreme poor families in the CHT that grants access to:
•       Food aid during the lean period
•       Government safety net support
•       Free medical facilities
•       Free educational access to higher academic institutions

(International NGO)

Safety Nets
Government of Bangladesh social safety-nets should also be introduced for the urban areas. (International NGO)

The Government of Bangladesh “National Service Program” should be made available for all physically capable extreme poor family members in selected areas at the initial stage and then it should extend to other places. (International NGO)

Advocate with the local government for all extreme poor households to receive social safety nets. (National NGO)

Increase Government allocation of social protection and increase monthly safety net stipends. (National NGO)

Make a visible citizen charter of all safety nets including beneficiary list in the community centre. (National NGO)

Comprehensive information on safety nets including type, amount, delivery schedule and delivery procedure should be made available at the grass root level. A database of eligible safety net holders needs to be developed in a more transparent way and be made available to local leaders, policy makers, implementers etc.  ID cards may be given. At present safety net supports do not help generate income but rather create dependency.  Mechanisms need to be developed on how this can be turned in to a productive asset. One option could be to allocate the full amount in “one go” and support asset generation. Getting safety net support should be made simpler. (shiree Programme Manager)

Safety nets need to be regional specific. There is a lack of coordination among the government social protection departments so if they can be mobilised to work together, especially at the regional level then they can be more successful at targeting. There needs to be tailor made services to meet the needs of people in specific regions and geographical contexts. Also, government services are very poor in remote areas so to ensure that the government is providing equal services we need to have equal allocation of budgets to meet the demands of local rural areas. (International NGO)

Offer double safety net allowance in CHT since food commodities are higher priced in the CHT. (International NGO)

SSNPs should be part of the mainstream development plans. Therefore, emphasis should be given to increase the implementation of Annual Development Programme (ADP), which will generate more employment for the poor. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and BRAC)

For better and more efficient implementation, adequate time needs to be allocated for designing and planning, and pre-implementation groundwork. It is useful to draw lessons from similar programmes which are being operated in other countries. Officials involved in mid-level and field level implementation, monitoring and record keeping also need to receive adequate training for better delivery of the programmes. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and BRAC)

SSNP implementation agents can reach out to locally operated NGOs and utilize their local resource and poverty maps. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and BRAC)

Delivery mechanism needs to decentralized to ensure accountability in the implementation of SSNPs. Appropriate funds need to be allocated for this purpose to meet the administrative requirements, particularly in the extreme poverty pocket zones of the country. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and BRAC)

A system to receive and redress grievances is highly recommended. This can be achieved through regular consultation and discussion sessions between participants and delivery/implementation authorities. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and BRAC)

Most of the SSNPs are designed for the rural poor, but given the increasing rate of urban poverty, programmes must also be designed to assist the urban extreme poor. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and BRAC)

Water and Sanitation
Sensitize DPHE to available rainwater harvesting and pond sand filter technology. Lobby with DPHE to introduce de-saline technology and ensure access to water. (National NGO)

Revise water body policies in the context of the southwest and haor area. Build the capacity of the fisheries department to make virus-free shrimp fry available. Ensure water body transfer with registration as per policy. Develop community monitoring systems to ensure the transfer of correct assets to the right people. (National NGO)

National service providers and regulators must:

-          Put the targeting of sanitation and water services to informal settlements/slums as an explicit policy commitment.

-          Ensure that slum-dwellers and squatter communities are not denied the right to WASH services because of a lack of legal landholding entitlement.

-          Ensure that the representatives of slum communities participate in the design and implementation of sanitation and water policies.

-          Establish an accurate urban baseline and improve indicators to enhance pro-poor targeting of interventions.

-          Ensure coordination of existing monitoring frameworks and collaboration between departments responsible for lands, housing, urban development and water supply and sanitation services.

National Government must:

-          Put safe sanitation and water for poor communities at the centre of integrated city-wide plans for urban basic services.

-          Develop and implement pre-emptive actions for small towns and cities, with adequate urban climate change preparedness plans and resilient WASH infrastructure.

-          Provide the human and administrative infrastructure to receive and use technical and material assistance for developing and implementing pro-poor plans.

-          Develop a tangible agenda, including sources of funds, for addressing the water and sanitation needs of the slum, peri-urban and small town dweller as a first step out of poverty.

(WaterAid Manifesto)

Install para-based GFS to ensure safe drinking water. (International NGO)

Extension Services (Livestock and Agriculture)
There are only 3 livestock staff members per Upazila. As such, commercial local service providers of livestock should be increased and supported by government staff. (National NGO)

Upazila service providing departments generally have excellent subject matter knowledge but have difficulties in understanding the socio-economic realities of the extreme poor and, therefore, effectively reaching out to them. These departments also often do not have sufficient manpower to provide extension workers in Union Parishads. Community people could be trained as semi-professionals – like the livestock vaccinators that have been trained by BRAC, CLP, REOPA and others. Such semi-professional extension workers could be the extended hands of government service providing agencies and ensure that services reach and meet the needs of extreme poor households. At the same time, this could provide employment opportunities and upgraded skills for poor people and give them an important role as providers of essential services in their locality. (UN Agency)

In the south people generally cultivate fish in lieu of crops. Introduce saline tolerant crop varieties and implement a series of demonstration plots on innovative homestead gardening, such as pit gardening, multi-storeyed crop production, bed gardening/kalikapur model using small land. (National NGO)

Allocate at least 5 acres of land to each extreme poor family in the CHT and provide family based skill development training to use on the allocated land. (International NGO)

Information and Technology
Train CBOs to receive public services from Government organizations and ensure that extreme poor households know how and where services can be received. (National NGO)

Ensure information rights by making the following available to the public: a list of landless persons, amount of khas land and khas land beneficiaries. Make a visible citizen charter of khas land in every union. (National NGO)

Motivate the union information services centres to deliver information about government facilities. (National NGO)

A strong database of the Extreme Poor (with NID and nature of vulnerability) should be prepared and kept with LGIs. (shiree)

Priority list of the extreme poor should strictly be followed by the Union Parishad/LGIs during selection and distribution process of the SSN programmes. (shiree)

Mapping of service facilities – Service facilities of GO, NGO and private sectors on agriculture, fisheries, livestock, health and education should be mapped out by location and made available to the general mass and extreme poor in particular. Policy makers and other relevant persons may also be informed. (shiree Programme Manager)

Citizen charter- Every department/organization (GO/NGOs) may develop their citizen charter and inform everyone accordingly including the extreme poor. The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has citizen charters that demonstrate the commitment of departments to serve all types of communities. This should be made available to policy makers and leaders. (shiree Programme Manager)

Information on natural resources- Information on natural resources such as khas land, water bodies and the process of getting it can be included in the information centres. The process of getting natural resources should be made short and simple. A database of natural resources should be developed and be reviewed by all relevant persons. (shiree Programme Manager)

Technologies- there are lot technologies lying with various departments, NGOs, private sector actors, etc that are unknown to the public.  The information centre may be a grass root level platform that the EP can use to improve and enhance their IGAs. Such a database of technologies may also be made available to all relevant stake holders. (shiree Programme Manager)

Increased awareness and accountability within government and the NGO sector both need to be improved. It is important that standards of delivery are improved and that interventions are refined and developed on a continuous basis. Shiree could play a key role as it works with a wide group of diverse partners and can be at the forefront in developing best practice and setting the standards by which others are judged. (Government Donor Agency)

National regulators and policy makers must:



(WaterAid Manifesto)

Given the high number of SSNPs currently operating in the country, redundant programmes are highly probable. These programmes should be consolidated to reduce administrative leakages, duplication, pilferage and spill-over transfers (monetary or non-monetary) to the beneficiaries. A centralized database for SSNPs and their beneficiaries will also help to eliminate mistargeting, reduce duplication, and maximise utilization of resources. This will enhance the efficacy of the implementation and monitoring process of these programmes. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and BRAC)

Activate and enrich all satellite health clinics and ensure community monitoring systems. Guarantee context-specific health policies. (National NGO)

Services that target the extreme poor need a disability focus. People with disabilities are often excluded from both government and non-government interventions and services because of direct or indirect discrimination. Disability has to be considered in policy, design, budgeting, implementation and monitoring of services. Targeting persons with disabilities requires specific resources in time or money in order to provide reasonable accommodation, increased accessibility in physical, social and communication as well as compensation for the extra costs of disability. Some services could be developed in out-reach forms in order to overcome mobility difficulties and other reasons for exclusion, as well as to foster community-based inclusion. (International NGO)

Education and basic literacy will be a key element in any awareness program to improve access to government safety net programs and services. Shiree could consider being more involved in this activity, but I suspect there are already many programs aimed at improving literacy rates. Again there may be the need to ensure that they are more accessible to and impact on the extreme poor. (Government Donor Agency)

Stipends should be available for all school children. The number of quality teachers should be increased. Provision should be made so that teachers can take special care of extreme poor children. (National NGO)

Facilitate Upazil- based free residential education from class 5-10 for extreme poor children in the CHT. (International NGO)

Government-NGO Collaboration
All partners of shiree should form a platform to assure public services are extended to the poorest. (National NGO)

Collaboration between different NGOs/local government/National Government line departments can take support effective and transparent distribution of public services to extreme poor people in the CHT. (National NGO)

Strengthen Government and NGO collaborations for providing basic services to the urban extreme poor and slum dwellers. (National NGO)

Introduce community monitoring and social budgeting. (National NGO)

Introduce a strong monitoring mechanism involving community participation to prevent leakage and mistargeting. (International NGO)

In any poverty alleviating programme, the output depends largely on accurate targeting schemes. An institutional mechanism involving the local people needs to be developed for participatory targeting and for validating the existing list of beneficiaries. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and BRAC)

The implementation process of any SSNP must incorporate a monitoring system, which will both improve effectiveness and maintain accountability. This monitoring system should also consider ‘best practices’ from other sources, including local implementation authorities, so that the programme is aligned with local conditions and requirements. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and BRAC)

Private Sector
The root cause of poverty can be attributed to the barriers that prevent the poorest from participating in the market and making their way out of poverty. It is important to design programmes, which have offered only temporary solutions so far, that empower the poorest in the long-term through skill development, so that they can take an active role in the market. At the same time low levels of skill becomes an inherent impediment on the way of raising living standard of the poorest section sustainably. In view of this, facilitating access of the poor’s primary products to the market value chain, and supporting them to build productive assets and skill development ought to be seen as key policy interventions. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and BRAC)

Skills development- Employment scope of the extreme poor can be broadened if their capacity is increased through training and coaching as per their needs. (shiree Programme Manager)

Introduce training to marginalized groups on various trades so that they get diversified income options. (National NGO)

Ensure Government service providers function effectively and offer a special allowance to Government personnel working with the extreme poor in CHT. (International NGO)

Reduce the Government’s subsidies on energy, gas, and fuel; these subsidies currently amount to hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Spend this money on social safety nets for the extreme poor to improve their access to food, health care, sanitation, drinking water and education. (Private sector)

The Government should take the position that it will not intervene in markets to reduce the price to foods. Whenever it does intervene, it deprives the rural poor (who are mostly engaged in food growing and processing) of income. Instead, there should be a social safety net, like food stamps, to ensure that the poor have access to food. This can be funded by raising the price of energy, power and gas (see point above). (Private Sector)


Civil Society
Extreme poor people in Bangladesh are not only denied quality services but exercise very little influence or democratic pressure on politicians, or public services, in terms of provision, quality and accountability.  Although participating extensively as voters, they are effectively excluded from the ongoing political process, allowing continued abuse and neglect of systems which should protect and serve the most vulnerable. That has emerged as a critical governance issue. However, extreme poor and poor people want to rid of the existing system and procedure that keep them in extreme poverty from generation to generation. There is thus a need for a strong and pragmatic rights-based intervention that empowers the extreme poor to claim their rights and entitlements. The emergence of grassroots community-led movements through which the extreme poor people themselves lead the development process, as opposed to externally organised service delivery, plays a key role in changing their condition and positions in a sustained manner. Representative, effective and well-governed grassroots community-led organisations can effectively support them in moving forward by themselves. A strengthened civil society movement also needs to be integrated in the whole process. Use of electronic and press media in building mass awareness can also play a vital role to break the culture of exclusion. (International NGO)
Awareness Raising
It has to be recognised that it will take time for the minority ethnic groups to be mainstreamed into the economy and government services. There will be resilience from both sides and this could take more than one generation to overcome any prejudices. Awareness and education will again be the key to addressing such problems in the longer term. Livelihood programs and improved access to government services will undoubtedly improve the well-being of these groups but will not necessarily address underlying issues which will be needed for longer term sustainable development. (Government Donor Agency)

Establish collective voice of extreme poor through a nationwide advocacy campaign by using electronic media, road shows, etc. (International NGO)

Support of hardware along with the software support would also be of use. For example, the construction of a village protection wall or submersible road in haor areas, and river protection embankments along the roads in the south. (shiree Programme Manager)
Capacity Building
International Donors must:

-          Develop or support organisational structures capable of meeting the needs of sub-national and national government and institutions responsible for urban services

-          Establish urban policies, strategies and investment programmes that promote disaggregated data reporting, to improve the targeting of urban investments to slums and informal settlements and support municipal authorities’ development plans.

Multilateral and bilateral donors must guarantee that development aid targets poor people and that:

-          Tariff and payment (cost recovery) policies are structured around making services accessible for poor people.

-          Key performance indicators are designed to target socially and economically excluded and marginalized people.

-          Development finance funneled through multilateral banks incentivize pro-poor outcomes through the provision of ringfenced grants that are used to subsidise connections for poor urban communities.

-          Official reports of donors’ overseas aid clearly report on aid targeted at reaching rural, formal urban, informal urban and small towns.

(WaterAid Manifesto)

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Exclusion from public services

Recommendation for inclusion in the Manifesto
(আপনি আপনার সুপারিশ বাংলাতেও জানাতে পারেন)