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Development partners, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have advised preparing the safety net budget in a more structured manner.

The main objective of the Family Card programme will be to ensure that assistance reaches genuine beneficiaries and that the same person does not receive benefits from multiple programmes, said Zahid Hussain, a former lead economist of the WB’s Dhaka office.

For this, an effective database will be required, containing the names, addresses and contact information of beneficiaries.

“Running different social safety net programmes separately is costly and complex. Therefore, the government may gradually move towards integrating these programmes. The proposed Family Card scheme could serve as an alternative to existing cash assistance and food-based transfer programmes.”

However, the biggest challenge will be coordination among ministries, he said.

At present, social protection programmes are run under multiple ministries, including Social Welfare, Labour, Health, Education, and Women and Children Affairs.

While the Family Card programme logically falls under the social welfare ministry, the other ministries may be reluctant to give up their programmes, arguing that existing beneficiaries could be deprived.

To make such reforms effective, clear directives will be needed from the highest levels of government.

The Family Card programme must be integrated with the existing social safety net system, said Sayema Haque Bidisha, a professor at the University of Dhaka’s economics department.

Before launching any new programme, both the existing safety net schemes and the Family Card system should be considered together, she said, citing the holistic approach used for the rollout of the National Social Security Strategy.

But one of the biggest problems in the current social safety net sector is inclusion and exclusion errors: genuine beneficiaries are often left out, while some individuals receive multiple benefits, she said.

When new programmes are introduced, it is often seen that the intended target groups do not receive support. Instead, those already covered by various programmes end up receiving additional benefits.

She stressed the need for a comprehensive mapping based on national ID (NID) to identify who is covered under which social safety net programme.

The current criteria for selecting beneficiaries need to be reconsidered as much of the data and indicators used in social safety net programmes still rely on outdated information.

As a result, many people are being excluded, even though their actual poverty situation is worse than the previously defined criteria.

“Those we consider to be below the poverty line and plan to support are, in reality, often in an even worse condition. But those calculations have not yet been updated. This is a fundamental problem.”