WASHINGTON, March 26, 2025-The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors today approved $200 million to expand coverage and strengthen delivery of the national social protection system to benefit more than 3 million poor people in Bangladesh.
In partnership with the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Finance, the Strengthening Social Protection for Improved Resilience, Inclusion and Targeting (SSPIRIT) project will support the government to develop an integrated and comprehensive social protection platform focused on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people throughout different stages of their lives. The project interventions will provide poverty-targeted cash transfers and livelihoods support services to at least 3 million people, half of whom will be women. The project will focus on youth, persons with disabilities, injured persons, and women from climate vulnerable regions.
"Bangladesh spends 3 percent of its GDP on social protection. Yet, nearly half of the poor households do not receive any social protection benefits. As the country moves towards the next level of its economic and development journey, its social protection system will need to move with the changing times and needs of its people," said Gayle Martin, Country Director (interim) of World Bank Bangladesh. "The project will modernize the delivery systems of safety nets such as the old age and widow allowance programs to ensure improvements in targeting. The efforts to build a Dynamic Social Registry will also enable programs to reach out to the most vulnerable population and dynamically include new eligible beneficiaries, while responding to climate and economic shocks as they happen."
The project will support the design and roll out a national Dynamic Social Registry that would ensure evidence-based, accurate, and transparent targeting to ensure that support reaches those who need it most. The registry will support linkages between existing cash transfer beneficiary databases to identify those eligible for livelihoods and employment services and those who will graduate out of safety nets programs.
The project will help strengthening the key safety nets programs implemented by the Department of Social Services, Ministry of Social Welfare and scaling up cash-plus support to help the vulnerable households. It will also lower transaction costs for the government.
Bangladesh's future prosperity will need poor households to graduate from cash transfer programs towards self-reliance. The project will provide a bundle of economic inclusion services including financial incentives, tailored skills training, and mentorship to avail of livelihood options, said Shrayana Bhattacharya, World Bank Senior Economist and Task Team Leader of the project. "By combining cash support with skills development and livelihoods support, we're helping vulnerable households build sustainable pathways out of poverty."
The SSPIRIT project builds on a series of World Bank programs that support social protection in Bangladesh. Evidence and lessons from Cash Transfer Modernization Project, Recovery and Advancement of Informal Sector Employment Project, and the Safety Nets Systems for the Poorest Project have informed the design for SSPIRIT. The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence. Since then, the World Bank has committed more than $45 billion in International Development Association (IDA) financing in the form of grants, interest-free loans, and concessional credits to help the country address its development priorities.
