By Sadia Afrin Suvra
The “Contextualization of the Family Card Program in Social Protection: What International Experience Suggest for Bangladesh” examines international social protection experiences to identify practical lessons for strengthening Bangladesh’s Family Card Programme. Drawing on approaches from Brazil, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Türkiye, Kenya and Togo, the study highlights the importance of integrated household registries, reliable administrative systems, interoperable databases, digital payment mechanisms, effective targeting, grievance redress, gender-responsive delivery, and strong institutional coordination. International experiences demonstrate that integrated and technology-enabled systems can improve targeting, reduce fragmentation, expand access and strengthen service delivery, while also highlighting risks associated with digital exclusion, data quality, privacy, targeting errors and institutional capacity.
In the Bangladesh context, the study explores the potential of the Family Card to serve as an integrated platform linking social protection interventions across different stages of the life cycle, consistent with the National Social Security Strategy (NSSS). It emphasizes the need to institutionalize the Family Card, develop an integrated social registry, strengthen data-sharing across government agencies, protect vulnerable households, and ensure that women and other excluded groups can access benefits effectively. The proposed implementation roadmap for 2026–2035 envisages a phased transition from pilot learning and programme consolidation to gradual expansion and ultimately a mature, interoperable and adaptive social protection system. Overall, the study underscores that international models cannot be transferred directly to Bangladesh; rather, their lessons should be adapted to the country’s institutional, fiscal and socioeconomic context to develop a more inclusive, coordinated, digitally enabled and lifecycle-responsive social protection system.
