Relief benefits little to Covid-hit people

* No complains of people's sufferings from hunger

* Mass awareness, transparency a must

* CBOs, NGOs, media should work together

* Distribute relief on the basis of poverty scenario

Putting a clear demarcation with the government's claim that its relief supports during the ongoing Covid pandemic was effective as there are no complains of people suffering from hunger, stakeholders find lack of adequate and updated national-level database required for their proper distribution. 

They pointed that there is a lack of government and private initiatives to tackle the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. For this, the relief is not benefitting the actual needy people. To distribute relief to the ones actually in need, mass awareness and transparency is a must. 

To ensure transparency, accountability and monitoring in relief distribution, community-based organisations (CBOs), NGOs, media should work together with the government agencies through increased use of technology in delivery of these relief supports.

These observations emerged at a virtual national dialogue titled 'Relief Supports to Cope with Covid-19: How Effective Were They?' held virtually on Thursday. The dialogue was organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Oxfam in Bangladesh in association with Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh.

Amid the criticism, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Md. Enamur Rahman pledged that extensive emphasis will be given on making the relief distribution process more transparent. He was speaking at the dialogue as the chief guest.

Speaking as the special guest, A B Tajul Islam, MP, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Disaster Management & Relief commented that both service providers and recipients need to take a moral high ground so that it becomes possible to distribute relief supports to the most deserving. 

Barrister Shameem Haider Patwary, MP, Member, Standing Committee on Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs recommended that the relief distribution should be based on the poverty scenario of each district.

The government has taken several support measures to be delivered by the local authorities targeted for the poor and the vulnerable sections of the population, to tackle the situation originating from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, CPD mentioned that higher allocation, both in terms of coverage and the amount of support provided to the affected population, is necessary in any emergency situation such as the ongoing pandemic.

He further stated that, a massive awareness campaign about the relief support hotlines should be launched at the earliest. Service providers must be provided with clear guidelines as regards implementing particular relief programmes and the concerned selection criteria. 

Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, Access to Information (A2I) Programme and Tanvir A Mishuk, Managing Director, Nagad delivered special comments at the dialogue. Chowdhury highlighted the need for innovative ways to create awareness among the mass people about the relief programmes. Mishuk stated that use of technology to distribute the cash relief, has helped to ensure better transparency.

Dr M Abu Eusuf, Professor, Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka, was the distinguished discussant at the dialogue. He re-emphasised on the importance of a national household database and recommended for higher focus and coordination in this regards.

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, team leader of the Project and distinguished fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and convenor, Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh chaired the session. 

Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director, CPD, and Dr Dipankar Datta, Country Director, Oxfam in Bangladesh shared their views at the dialogue. They stated that the key objective of this dialogue is to present the findings from a study on the effectiveness of delivery mechanisms of the COVID targeted relief support programmes by public delivery agents at the local level. 

Shirina Khanom, Sorwar Alam Mukul, Md. Shohidul Islam, Md. Sujaul Islam Suja, Most. Jahanara Begum, Rakibul Hasan, Elias Kamal Babu, Hasanur Rahman Jhantu, Alamgir Kabir Mannu, Md. Sirajul Islam and Amena Begam spoke on behalf of the CBOs of 13 districts. They shared their experiences from the grassroots andstated that the beneficiary listing process is not always transparent and the relief supports must reach the people in need.

The dialogue was organised as part of the project titled ‘Enhancing the participation of community-based organizations (CBOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) in democratic governance in Bangladesh’ implemented by the CPD and the Oxfam in Bangladesh, with support from the European Union in Bangladesh.