Transforming social safety-nets into adaptive social protection for disaster risk reduction in coastal Bangladesh

Abstract

Social safety-nets (SSN) work for the wellbeing of destitute people for a long time and recently they have been provided support to climate vulnerable communities for climate change adaptation (CCA) too. This study investigates whether and to what extent the safety-nets address disaster risk in coastal Bangladesh. Following a mixed-methods approach, this study used household survey, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, observation and in-depth interviews in four Unions of Satkhira and Khulna districts. This study found that the social safety-nets were not provided according to the needs of the disaster-affected households, these were provided during religious festivals, immediately after a disaster and sometimes in normal time or following no specific time frame. Due to the limited quantity, and inappropriate timing, these supports cannot effectively contribute to disaster risk reduction (DRR). This study identified a number of challenges – imperfect process of beneficiary selection, excessive political interference, poor quality support items (food and non-food goods), and biased attitudes by the distribution stuffs. The process of introducing Adaptive Social Protection (ASP) – i.e. the integration of DRR, SSN and CCA is a good policy initiative, however, these are still at initial stage. The present study identified that instead of formulating ASP, the policy documents discussed these issues separately rather seeing them together. The government policy documents have included the ASP issues, and in this regard, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief has been working at the ground. The study argues, despite the ASP is an important strategy, there is still a gap between the policies and the practice. This study suggests that to transform SSNs into ASP, there should be a proper integration among the government organizations, and need an equal focus and combination of DRR, SSN and CCA in the policy documents. The government should redesign the disaster management plans by harmonizing the components of ASP. The SSN supports should be provided timely and adequately based on the felt needs of disaster-affected households. To make SSNs more effective to reduce disaster risks, the coverage and quantity of supports should be practically increased and continued to support for a reasonable period. More SSN schemes (currently 6 related to DRR) should be taken to increase the CCA awareness (plantation, skill based training, climate friendly agriculture and other income generating activities) among the coastal households.