Effectiveness of old age allowance program: A study on the beneficiaries of Savar upazila

Abstract

Bangladesh is going through a demographic transition hence new challenges are coming on the way. The government of Bangladesh should try and make efforts to achieve the targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) regarding ageing. The Old Age Allowance program under the Social Safety Net initiative is working to provide old age support for the poor elderly population of our country. In this paper a survey analysis has been carried out in Savar Upazila to analyze the effectiveness of OAA in the lives of the beneficiaries. For this a survey analysis and FGD discussion has been carried out in the 12 Unions of Savar upazila with 120 respondents to analyze their perceived opinion about the overall effectiveness of the allowance. From the analysis it has been found out that though the benefit size is too small for the beneficiaries it is still having a significant impact on their lives. 52% of the total respondents has reported that they are satisfied with OAA as it has helped them to achieve better status at their family and the regular flow of money is helping them with the basic needs of their live. However, a relatively small but significant portion has reported that the allowance is not up to the satisfactory level as the benefit amount is too small to make their life standard better. If the medical services of the beneficiaries are made free then the satisfaction level may rise as a huge portion of the benefit is spent on medication. Overall the effectiveness of the OAA can be ensured only if the benefit amount and coverage of the program is increased. Along with that transparency and proper administration in beneficiary selection needs to ensure. All the respondents has complained about the hassles regarding the benefit receiving process. For this mobile banking and incorporation of digitalization may help to make this process efficient. The matter of hope is that the government has already launched the pilot project DG Infotech to digitalize the whole selection and listing of the beneficiary process.