Social safety nets have placed social protection in the forefront in Bangladesh in incremental steps. Social protection has since long been part of the Government’s development agenda. Disaster relief, focusing on vulnerability and extreme poverty and addressing marginalization are issues that play an important role in eradicating poverty.

The essence of the National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) is the lifecycle approach to social security, where needs of children, working age, elderly and persons with disabilities will be addressed. Even children below the age of 4 will be covered in this lifecycle approach. Social security will also pay attention to marginalized groups and the inclusion of ethnic and religious minorities. The Constitution of Bangladesh states that every citizen has a fundamental right to social security as the ‘provision of basic necessities.’

In reality, the work of social protection is carried out at union level. In this regard, to strengthen the capacity of elected officials from Union Parishads and to ensure that social security programmes are implemented on the ground in line with the NSSS, NILG organized a two-day TOT training programme for Upazila resource team members. This training will then be cascaded to field level elected officials based on the module presented here. The module was developed in consultation with a number of stakeholders.