Gender Responsive Service Delivery and Accountability in Bangladesh Ferdous Jahan, BRAC Development Institute
Social Safety Net Programs (SSNPs) in Bangladesh Bangladesh is a poverty-prone area of the world Economic Exclusion exacerbates the poverty situation Successive governments have adopted a number of SSNPs programs to eradicate the problem of exclusion. Approximately, 30.5 million people receive assistance from the various programs each year
SSNP in Bangladesh: Trends and Types Since the birth of the country, the SSNPs have been playing a significant role in combating poverty SSNPs try to incorporate the large section of people who have remained outside of the main activities of the economy in the formal economic sector and protect different groups of citizen from adverse idiosyncratic and/or aggregate shocks. Most SSNPs are short term and targeted towards ensuring immediate food security
Types of SSNPs Cash Transfer Programs Primary Education Stipend Program Rural Maintenance Program 100 Days Employment Generation Program Food/In-kind Transfer Programs Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) Food For Work Test Relief
Gender Sensitivity In almost all cases, the SSNPs make deliberate attempts to meet the need of the female poor It is done in mainly two ways- Some programs are designed especially for the women Some programs are designed in such a way that the eligibility criteria would include a large number of women
VGD- An Example of Gender Sensitivity VGD- A Program Designed Especially for Women Owes its origin to the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) program, initiated after the famine of 1974. Re-defined as Vulnerable Group Development in the early 1980s. As of today, this national program covers 296 food-insecure sub-districts (out of 464), which are selected based on vulnerability analysis and mapping system. Since the 2000s, in its each program cycle of 18 months, the program is covering 400,000 to 500,000 women
Eligibility Criteria Women who are widowed, separated/deserted, divorced or whose husbands are unable to work Own less than 50 decimals of land Have irregular or low income, of around Tk 300 (around USD5 per month at current rate) Are dependent on wage labor, at least 100 days per year Lack productive assets Are not members of any other NGO program
Limitations in Terms of Gender Sensitivity Though the program seems successful and sensitive to the need of the female, a closer look, however, points out a significant limitation As the program aims to provide the rural poor women with adequate training facilities, it gives preference to those who are- Physically and mentally able willing to participate in training, income-generating and group activities As such the program seems to leave out the elderly and the women who are not physically or mentally fit
100 Days Employment Generation The able bodied extreme poor living in vulnerable areas (river erosion, monga prone, haor baor and char) Eager to work but unemployed and unskilled The landless (with 50 decimals or less of cultivable land) who have a low income and have no pond for fish culture and no animal resources
Gender Sensitivity in EGP The EGP was formulated in line with the National Food Policy of 2006 However, it deviates from the NFP in one particular aspect- unlike the NFP, the EGP was gender-neutral Despite this, 28% of the beneficiaries turned out to be women, which translates a strong need and demand by women to participate in such a program
Gender Sensitivity in EGP Despite non specification, women were included in the EGP program In some conservative areas self-exclusion by the women themselves were reported When the women braved cultural norms, they faced criticism and were withdrawn by the local administration There were some other factors that restricted women s participation which include the lack of transportation to the work site which was sometimes far, the absence of toilets, safe drinking water and food.
What went wrong with Gender responsive service delivery? These two cases reflect that there are two basic problems in the SSNPs in Bangladesh that restrict women s access to services- Design Problems- in some cases, the programs are not designed effectively to meet the need of the poor rural women (e.g. EGP) Implementation Problems- even when the program is free from design problems certain existing social values may hinder the implementation of programs
Why do these problems exist in the SSNPs of Bangladesh? The answer lies in the flawed accountability design and practice of the country!
The Concept of Accountability The obligation of the power holders to answer for their actions A relationship between the holder of accountability and the giver of accountability The holder has the right to seek information about, to investigate and to scrutinize the actions of the giver
The Significance of Accountability for SSNPs Accountability ensures the answerability of the givers, (the political parties, government agencies, individual administrators) to the holders, (the poor women receiving the safety net services) the effectiveness of the program Accountability prevents exclusion of different groups of the society leakage
Types of Accountability Three types of accountability Vertical or electoral accountability Horizontal or procedural accountability Social accountability
Electoral Accountability in Bangladesh National election in every five years since 1991 Local government (Union Parishad) election in every five years Recent initiatives of holding election at Upazila (sub-district) level
Accountability in SSNPs Local level electoral accountability determines who gets what, when and how As local political leaders get involved in distributing resources, they are forced to listen to the need of the people The effectiveness of electoral accountability is evidenced in VGD program, where- The local leaders, in cooperation with the NGOs select the beneficiaries in somewhat transparent manner Resources are distributed in an effective and efficient way The electoral accountability ensures that the leaders eventually satisfy their most deserving clients However, electoral accountability does not address the gender-sensitivity issue related to the SSNPs
Procedural Accountability in Bangladesh Horizontal accountability mechanisms include political, fiscal, administrative and legal mechanisms The main givers are the policy makers (the cabinet ministers, the legislatures and the bureaucrats) The people s representatives (MPs) will oversee the actions taken by the givers with the help of a number of public institutions (parliamentary standing committee, the anti-corruption mechanism, the office of the Ombudsman, etc.)
Procedural Accountability in Bangladesh Parliament has remained largely dysfunctional The recommendations made by the parliamentary Standing Committees are not implemented In most cases, the Institutions of Accountability (ACC, EC, PSC, Judiciary) suffer from politicization Though the Ministries and Agencies have adopted Citizen s Charter, no monitoring mechanism has been developed Performance Measurement and Evaluation is still not a big concern in bureaucracy
Social Accountability in Bangladesh Social Accountability (SA) is relatively a new concept SA emphasizes on creating an equilibrium situation - through creating pressure on the supply side of governance (i.e. government machinery) so that it intersects with the demand side (i.e. citizens). The pressure is mainly created by the demand side
SA in Bangladesh Though some new institutions (e.g. Information Commission) and legal regimes (RTI, 2009; Whistleblower protection of 2010) have been put in place, they are not yet effective Mobilization of women in order to ensure access has still remained a key concern So far SA tools have failed to identify the concern regarding the exclusion of women from the SSNPs
The Accountability Scenario and Consequences Significant consequences in case of SSNP- Gender-neutral public administration: when programs are implemented without significant involvement of the local level political leaders, the programs remain ineffective when being evaluated from a gender responsive perspective Conservative social values: the local political leaders or the administrators often adhere to the existing social values which may hinder the access to services of the poor women Absence of mobilization and platforms: lack of social mobilization in part of the women and lack of awareness raising campaign by the CSOs often leaves the values unchallenged and helps to maintain the status-quo
As a consequence A blanket approach to SSNPs Absence of gender responsive service delivery Top-down and traditional ways of dealing with SSNPs by Public Administration
All in all The existing accountability structure is unable to address the problems of exclusion resulting from program design or existing social values The program designers and implementers should acknowledge the variation that exists within the demand side (i.e. gender sensitivity) and make efforts to address the exclusion problems resulting from the interaction between the environment and the variation in demand side