**4.4 Proposed focus and priority interventions**


*Landscape of Enhanced Access to Social Protection, Safety Nets and Increased Resilience… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99270*

emphasis on the reduction of human, economic and environmental costs of disasters, through enhancing the national capacity for disaster mitigation. These efforts need to be strengthened with particular focus on agriculturerelated risks and disasters.


#### **5. Conclusions**

To deal with risks, poverty and vulnerabilities faced by the marginalized population groups, different SNPs have been undertaken by the government. However, the programs are predominantly rural-based, although the country is getting rapidly urbanized with an increasing proportion of the urban poor living in informal settlements such as slums.

The employment-generation programs have generated additional employment. Other benefits of such programs include improved agricultural production, enhanced marketing opportunities, reduced physical damages, loss of human lives, improved transportation and communication. Building different public infrastructure such as rehabilitation of embankments and canals, development of water bodies and improvement of rural roads have also contributed to employment generation and income growth. Over the long run, these programs contribute to food security,

#### *Agricultural Economics*

both at the household and national levels. However, several problems with such programs limit the potential benefits, including weak program management, considerable leakage, problems with selection of beneficiaries and types of work done, delays in fund disbursement, and weak monitoring and supervision. The various stipend projects led to increased school enrolment and minimization of gender gap.

The major emphasis should be given on those SNPs which address the long-term obstacles to economic development as well as contribute to development of human capital such as the public works program, female scholarship programs and child nutrition programs. Also, there should be carefully designed targeted transfers and credit programs for disaster-affected households and individuals. Problems with targeting and leakage should be duly addressed. Instead of using size of landholding as the criteria for selection of beneficiaries, other criteria such as occupation and other household assets need to be given priority. Leakage could be reduced through cash payment rather than in kind transfers which increase program cost. There should be improvements in the quality of basic health and education services, thereby reducing dropout rates among the poor. If the government's commitment of poverty reduction to 15% is to be taken into reality by 2021, there is a need for additional resources for the social protection programs. A part of it can come through leakage reduction from better targeting and reducing inclusion error aimed at improving the overall program efficiency, and thereby reducing system loss. Bangladesh encumbered with high incidence of poverty and underemployment, and very low levels and coverage of social protection that would need to focus on a revitalized policy intervention to move towards a full-employment goal. It is prerequisite to be make sure that projects and programmes last long enough to ensure long-lasting to support for alleviating poverty enhancing the SNPs at all level of life cycle. Policy makers and those responsible for projects implementation must consider financial, human and institutional capacities while designing projects and programs.
