Bangladesh’s government signed a $250 million loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) today to strengthen the country’s social protection system.

The agreement is part of the Second Strengthening Social Resilience Program, which aims to expand coverage, improve efficiency, and enhance financial inclusion for disadvantaged groups.

Edimon Ginting, ADB Country Director, highlighted the program’s objectives: “The Second Strengthening Social Resilience Program aims to accelerate reforms in increasing the coverage and efficiency of the protection, improving the financial inclusion of disadvantaged people, and strengthening the response to diversified protection needs.”

Building on the first phase completed in June 2022, this program is designed to improve Bangladesh’s social protection policy, regulatory and institutional environment.

It supports the government’s Action Plan Phase II of the National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) 2021–2026, focusing on enhancing the social protection system’s protective and preventive capacity.

The new ADB program aims to:

• Improve efficiency in social protection program management.
• Enhance protection for the most vulnerable populations.
• Broaden the scope of social protection by introducing contributory protection schemes.

The program seeks to reduce vulnerability and exclusion, mitigating the risk of people falling further into poverty. One key feature is the introduction of a verification scheme for beneficiaries’ survival in cash-based social protection programs, which aims to reduce leakages.

The program consolidates two cash-based protection programs for people with disabilities to improve their efficiency and effectiveness.

The program integrates climate-adaptive measures into social protection strategies to strengthen resilience against climate-related vulnerabilities. This includes identifying those most at risk from climate change-induced disasters to provide appropriate assistance.

Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, Secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD), and Edimon Ginting, ADB Country Director, signed the agreement at a ceremony held at the ERD in Dhaka.

ADB’s support extends to vulnerable women and transgender individuals by increasing the number of beneficiaries under the widow allowance program and expanding the livelihood support program for transgender people.

Bangladesh Bank will double its funding for the Small Enterprise Refinancing Scheme for Women Entrepreneurs, facilitating greater access to financial services for women-operated small businesses.