Although Bede community comprises only a small part of the total population of Bangladesh, this particular group of population has been identified as a neglected and underprivileged group since the colonial period. It has been imperative now to bring people who fall prey to the victim of societal discriminations, under the mainstream of society and to involve them in the overall development of the country by ameliorating their socio-economic condition, education, housing, health development status and ensuring social security. According to a preliminary survey conducted by the Department of Social Services (DSS), the number of Bede and Underprivileged community people in Bangladesh is around 14,90,000. The government has taken inevitable initiative to materialize “Program for improving the living standard of Bede and Underprivileged community”. The program was initially launched in seven districts of the country as a pilot program in the year 2012-13. The program has been expanded to additional 14 districts in the financial year 2013-14. In 2015-16 additional 43 districts are brought under the coverage of this program. That is, this program covers all of the 64 districts of the country in 2015-16. The number of beneficiaries was 2975 in the starting year (2012-13) of this project. Initially, student stipend and imparting training program was carried out. In the following year, the tools of the project were increased. It included old age, disabled or insolvent allowances, student stipend, imparting training and post training financial support schemes. The number of beneficiaries was increased each year, touching a maximum of 71320 people for the year of 2019-20 (including underprivileged people).

The central objective of the study is three-fold: 

1. To evaluate the program towards improve the standard of living of the Bede community, 

2. To explore the changing role of their socio-economic condition and

3. To assess the success as well as failure of this program to create employment opportunity.

Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to capture the impact of the program. The sample individuals for questionnaire survey will be selected from those who received grants from the “Program for improving the Living Standard of Bede Community” from 2012-13 to 2018-19. The Department of Social Services provided lists of 71,320 (including underprivileged beneficiary) individuals. From these lists, statistically significant number of beneficiary will be selected systematically from 33 districts of the country. Almost similar number of sample will also be selected from non-program individuals from the same districts in order to compare the beneficiaries with non-beneficiaries. FGDs and case studies will be conducted to capture the qualitative aspects of the program.

Funding Agency: Department of Social Services (DSS)

Principal Investigator/Study Director: Dr. Mohammad Harunur Rashid Bhuyan, Research Fellow, BIDS

Duration: December 2019 to August 2020