Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre, Tejgaon, Dhaka, 5^th December 2019: The second annual social security conference was organized by  Cabinet Division to review NSSS implementation status. Chief Guest was Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, MP, Hon’ble Speaker, Bangladesh Parliament.

The conference was kicked off by a keynote speech by Dr. Shamsul Alam, Member (Senior Secretary), GED, Planning Commission, who presented the overall progress of the implementation status of National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) of Bangladesh. For the next two days, the conference addressed the thematic areas of “Implications of changing demographics and effects on Social Protection in Bangladesh”, “Barriers of accessing Social Protection”, “Social Protection needs of the Urban poor in Bangladesh”, “G2P Payment system for improving Cash Transfer to Beneficiaries of Social Safety Net Programme”. In all these sessions, speakers briefly highlighted the specific projects, their contributions to the respective themes, lessons learnt, challenges, and recommendations.

Mr. Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian, Additional Secretary, Local Government Division and National Project Director, SWAPNO Project, used the platform to highlighted SWAPNO as one of the best modeled gender sensitive social protection programs that is based on a graduation approach to ensure not only graduation from poverty but also sustainability of income and resilience of beneficiaries post-project.

The conference also hosted a knowledge fair where all the 25 government ministries involved in implementing Social Protection in Bangladesh were assigned respective booths to showcase their current activities. SWAPNO project was hosted in the LGD booth, where chief guest, Shirin Sharmin, alongside other government dignitaries visited and were briefed on the unique approach of the project.

While the Social Protection budget for FY 2019-2020 has been increased to BDT 74,367 crore, which is 2.58% of GDP and 14.21% of budget, the conference provided the scope for more aligned collaborations and more efficient use of resources that would ensure a further increase in the next fiscal year budget.

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