2009-2010 - BIDS

Outcome Monitoring Survey of the Vulnerable
Group Development Activity of the World Food
Program, Bangladesh
The study findings reveal that the Vulnerable Group
Development (VGD) program and its associated
development package make a positive impact on
women of the programmed households compared
with those in the control households. The positive
impact is most prominent in ensuring food security
and improving nutritional status of women and
children, behavior change communication, and
the quality of life of the poor households. However,
external factors such as unusual food price hike
constrain the realization of full benefits and scale
down the program benefits among the target
groups. The study was completed in February 2009
and its Project Director was Abdul Hye Mondal.
Universal Social Protection Strategy: Hard
Core Poverty and Safety Nets Programs in
Bangladesh
The most urgent challenge confronting Bangladesh
is to eliminate widespread poverty and raise the
standard of living of the masses. A significant
proportion of the people are poor and very poor,
and it is generally accepted that an appropriate
safety net program needs to be in place to address
those amongst the poor who are chronically poor,
the transient poor, or are in special circumstances.
Keeping in view the resource and other constraints,
this study examines the possibility of devising a
universal social protection scheme in Bangladesh.
The study was completed in November 2009 and
KAS Murshid was its Project Director.
Program for Research on Chronic Poverty in
Bangladesh
The program seeks to reduce poverty in Bangladesh
more effectively by deepening the understanding
of those who are chronically poor, of the processes
that keep them in poverty and of the policy
measures that will help them to overcome poverty
and vulnerability. This goal is to be achieved by the
production and dissemination of policy relevant
research findings to government agencies, donors
and civil society and by developing the capacity
of Bangladeshi research institutions to undertake
research on chronic poverty. The program is a subcentre
of the Chronic Poverty Research Centre
(CPRC) - a partnership of southern and northern
research institutes and development advocacy
organizations led by IDPM at the University of
Manchester. This program spearheads CPRC
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BIDS Biennial Report 2009-2010