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CPD-Prothom Alo-The Daily Star dialogue in Mymensingh

Civil society Watchdog on poverty schemes urged

Staff Correspondent, from Mymensingh
15 May 2003

Speakers at a policy review session yesterday demanded creation of a civil society watchdog to monitor implementation of poverty alleviation strategies. They said the government's mechanism to ensure transparency in implementing any programme has lost credibility to a great extent. So, the civil society must be involved in designing, monitoring as well as implementing anti-poverty programmes.

They were speaking at the regional consultation of National Policy Review Forum 2003 organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), the Prothom Alo and The Daily Star at Mymensingh yesterday. Advocate Anisur Rahman Khan, president of the district Nagorik Andolon and Unnoyan Sangram Parishad, presided over the session titled 'Poverty Alleviation and Employment'. Professor Shamsul Islam, principal of Shaheed Nazrul Islam College, was the chief guest. Professor Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the CPD and Dr Binaek Sen of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) also spoke.

Economist Professor Atiur Rahman presented a draft brief and said, "We need structural and social adjustment to address poverty. People want to escape the curse of poverty. We have prepared a strategy giving some directions for poverty reduction and we would like to see them reflected on the government's Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP)."

"There are certain issues like that of inequality which we would like the government to address immediately. The rich-poor ratio is on the rise. Unless the poor themselves have a say in policy matters, poverty reduction would remain a far cry. It is their rights and we must respect them."

Other speakers demanded creation of a social safety net for the poor. "What we are witnessing in the name of poverty reduction is basically business. The NGOs are making money out of the poor with little development done to them," a speaker from the Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU) said.

Many speakers observed that poverty reduction policies are not discussed with the stakeholders and demanded free flow of information and access to all relevant documents prepared to help the poor.

Advocate Emdadul Haq said, "There are some NGOs which are making money by charging high interest rates for microcredit. If we really analyse the situation, it would transpire that the credit programmes do not benefit the poor. In fact, loans often become a big burden for them. Such loans with high interest rates should be banned."

Nurul Amin Kalam of the district Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) said, "A civil society vigilance group should be formed to monitor whether the funds for the poor actually reach them with any benefit."

Anil Bandhu Das of the Jatiya Party (Manju) said, "Before addressing the poverty issue, we should work for a corruption-free society. We cannot expect anti-poverty schemes to bring benefit unless corruption is eradicated."

Professor MM Akash of Dhaka University said poverty cannot be changed overnight since it is a gradual process.

But the most important part of poverty reduction is to bring the poor under a safety net or to form a 'poor man's corporation' so that they get share of the fund used for development.