Comparing Food and Cash Transfers to the Ultra-Poor in Bangladesh

"Bangladesh has some social safety net programs that transfer food to the poor, some that transfer cash, and some that provide a combination of both. This study evaluates the relative impacts of food and cash transfers on food security and livelihood outcomes among the ultra poor in Bangladesh. The programs impacts are evaluated according to various measures, including how well transfers are delivered; which transfers beneficiaries prefer; how accurately the programs target the extremely poor; effects on food security, livelihoods, and women’s empowerment; and cost effectiveness. The report identifies what has and has not worked in food and cash transfers and recommends ways of improving these programs. This study will be valuable to policymakers and others concerned with poverty reduction in Bangladesh and elsewhere." from textCash transfers, cost effectiveness, food security, Poverty, Poverty reduction, safety net programs, women empowerment,

Climate Change, Resilience, and Adaptation in Bangladesh

Climate change has become a global concern, especially since the international forums’ urge to take immediate collaborative actions to meet the challenges of climate change and its effects. Climate change instigates to increase frequency and severity of disasters with adverse impacts on humans, natural ecosystem and quality of human survival. Bangladesh is recognized by the world communities as one of the most vulnerable countries susceptible to global warming, climate change and disasters. Some of the impacts of climate change on agriculture based country have already been observed: irregular monsoon and very little rainfall in dry period; increased frequency, intensity and recurrence of floods, cyclones; crop damage due to flash floods and monsoon floods; crop failure due to drought; salinity intrusion along the coast leading to redundancy of prevailing crop practices. The most alarming prediction about the impacts of climate change in Bangladesh is that more than 25 million people will become climate refugees and food insecure only due to sea level rise in the coming decades. Climate induced disasters displace millions of people. Human health is also at risk from growing incidence of diseases linked to rising temperatures and rainfall variability. Increasingly saline drinking water is resulting acute health hazards. Climate induced disasters affect all people: children, women and men. However, in a gendered culture and economics women and girls face number of problems due to their gender identity. Government of Bangladesh and her people have been taking many initiatives and adaptive measures for reducing the adverse impacts of climate change. However, addressing climate change issues is becoming challenging due to its multifaceted and multilayered governance. Lack of integration in taking initiatives combining climate change and disaster related crises. Urgent attention at local and international levels is a prerequisite in this regard.School of Environment and Natural ResourcesSustainable and Resilient Economy InitiativeInstitute for Population ResearchEnvironmental Policy InitiativeGlobal Water Institute, and the School of Earth Science

Local knowledge and practices can help in drought prediction and extreme weather management

448-453Local knowledge and practices can help people in drought prediction and extreme weather management. The study was carried out to elicit and document local knowledge use in drought prediction and weather extremes management. Focus group discussions were used for this study. The appearance of certain insects, birds, animals and indication of weather are all seen as important signals of change with respect to timing and seasonality of natural phenomena that are well understood in traditional knowledge systems. The lying of pigeon on the ground by spreading its feathers is considered as the sign of drought. The sound of wild cat with dhul was also indicates the notice of drought. If the west sky appeared with bright red colour during sunset, that also warn the drought. Termites den and mound in dry soil was thought as the hint of immense drought and termites den and mound in wet soil was looked as the indication of immediate rainfall. People from Hindu families organized frog’s marriage to end drought. They find that local knowledge and practices are very much useful in drought prediction and management

Comparing Food and Cash Transfers to the Ultra Poor in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has some social safety net programs that transfer food to the poor, some that transfer cash, and some that provide a combination of both. This study evaluates the relative impacts of food and cash transfers on food security and livelihood outcomes among the ultra poor in Bangladesh. The programs impacts are evaluated according to various measures, including how well transfers are delivered; which transfers beneficiaries prefer; how accurately the programs target the extremely poor; effects on food security, livelihoods, and women’s empowerment; and cost effectiveness. The report identifies what has and has not worked in food and cash transfers and recommends ways of improving these programs. This study will be valuable to policymakers and others concerned with poverty reduction in Bangladesh and elsewhere

Early Detection of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Bangladesh

To explore Bangladesh’s ability to detect novel influenza, we examined a series of laboratory-confirmed pandemic (H1N1) 2009 cases. During June–July 2009, event-based surveillance identified 30 case-patients (57% travelers); starting July 29, sentinel sites identified 252 case-patients (1% travelers). Surveillance facilitated response weeks before the spread of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 infection to the general population