Imagine, you rise early in the morning and stay up late every day, toiling for the bread to feed your family and, suddenly, a pandemic climbs off, closing all the doors to go out; but that’s not all, as a cyclone comes, damaging all the fruit you had left, destroying your house and tiny land. How would you feel?
The whimsical effect of the novel coronavirus has not only sagged our health sector but also ceaselessly forced governments and international organizations to take steps to mitigate the economic and social. In addition, Cyclone Amphan has only worsened the situation.
Living in a lower middle-income country like Bangladesh, where most people don’t have the luxury to work from home, how will they face the apocalyptic catastrophe that a pandemic and cyclone will cause?
Therefore, these people are seeking a big push to drive themselves out of their extreme poverty and vulnerabilities. Hence, they fall into the category of a “deserving group” who needs external support to rid of their hunger, to live under a roof above their heads, and simply to fulfil their basic needs. Particularly speaking, they are in considerable need of social security measures from their motherland.
According to the Labour Organization’s Social Protection Floors Recommendation, social security seeks to alleviate deprivations and vulnerabilities for all groups of people, by reducing social and economic risks such as unemployment, exclusion, sickness, disability, and old age. So, for obvious reasons, social security is a human right.
With social security as a mandate of the state in the Article 15(d) of our constitution, the Bangladesh government has formulated the National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) by expressing the commitment of the government to reduce poverty, improve human development, and reduce inequalities.
The main agenda of the NSSS programs is coordination and consolidation along lifecycle risks, with programs for children, working age people, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. No doubt the successful implementation of the NSSS will provide a strong port for Bangladesh to stretch social security to its poor and vulnerable beneficiaries but the current situation has led to extreme levels of unemployment.
Bangladesh’s economy has been significantly impacted, mostly hitting the urban poor, low-income people, especially informal workers who have limited or no access to health care or social safety nets.
Also, due to large-scale losses in work and business, there is a spiking fear that many of amongst the middle class will fall back into poverty.
Hereafter, to ensure equitable growth for these groups of people, we need to extend the beneficiary targeting process. The problem can be solved by including all relevant individuals under the banner of social security.
Hence, in the context of the crisis, institutions have to respond to an increased demand for short-term benefits and to implement a number of new social security measures.
Firstly, the combination of adaptations to social security contributions and adjustments to functional approaches can enable the social security system to contribute effectively to mitigating the economic and social impact of the crisis.
Administrative capacity building and institutional adaptability in crisis management, including emergency responses, are a crucial factor in this context.
The crisis may threaten food security, especially for the most vulnerable. So, in the short time, providing safety nets and securing access to food, medical supplies, and basic necessities for the most vulnerable will be a safer option.
To minimize short-term economic pain, the establishment of temporary work programs for unemployed workers, enacting debt relief measures for businesses and individuals, and easing inter-regional customs clearance to speed up import and export of essential goods can be framed.
In order decrease the severe risk of cross infection, all social security agencies can minimize “in-person” meetings and reduce direct personnel movement in the regular working area. This has somehow accelerated the continuation of e-services and make contact-free online services through dominant service delivery channel for many agencies.
E-prescription and online consultation can be offered in a wider range. This will enable patients, particularly at-risk groups such as older persons or people with chronic diseases to have telemedicine services at home, fix bills online, and choose the modality of medicine delivery. For people above 60-65, with chronic diseases or incapacity, the community health service agencies can deliver medicines to the door during the pandemic.
A good number of families are experiencing a mentionable drop in household income and maintaining childcare has been an important challenge in view of school and nursery closures. The programs can consist of a variety of one-off or temporary payments of cash or in-kind benefits.
These benefits can mostly be financed by general revenues as part of special emergency packages and usually by applying simple income-tests. Also, financing the low-income groups will greatly benefit families and children in addition to other vulnerable population groups.
However, in view of social distancing, lockdowns, and other restrictions, the initiative to support families and children has been particularly challenging. But to promote access to existing and new social security measures by overcoming knowledge gap, special communication efforts can be targeted at the core of eligible persons and thus a support program can be launched.
For advancing existing social security programs, self-employed groups can be benefitted with cash sickness or unemployment benefits. Some countries have adopted this initiative and highlighted gig economic workers and freelancers as an important target group for this extension.
These measures aim to provide temporary income support in the context of the coronavirus crisis to the self-employed group. This can be one of the major beneficiary targets.
Eligibility requirements can include self-quarantine, care for family members, business closures, or reductions in demand. Often based on a standardized average income or consisting of flat rate payments, most of these measures can be restricted in time, usually for up to three or six months.
Social security institutions can be challenged to rapidly implement these special measures for a “typically difficult-to-cover population group.” But administrative adjustments to standard procedures are required here as still self-employed has hitherto not been registered in existing social security systems.
This includes simplified registration and application processes, the calculation of benefits based on standardized rates, simplified income and asset testing, or the payment of flat-rate benefits. The current experience in extending social security benefits and in reaching out to the self-employed will be of high value for strategies to implement a longer-term coverage of this group in the future.
Social security schemes play a key role in cushioning the impact that this crisis has on the labour markets and on the health of workers. Major safety net programs can be offered to extend the services of regular health concern for the working-class people.
Looking to the future Bangladesh, the initiatives can not only help to overcome the hideous socio-economic effect of the crisis but also it’s an opportunity to accelerate the transformation of service delivery to digital channels. This will also support the preparedness for future crises, increasing our ability to adapt, change, and innovate.
Saharin Priya Shaoun is has been working in the development sector for the last four years in collaboration with different international organizations.
