Social Welfare Minister Abu Zafar Md. Zahid Hossain announced today that the government is implementing a wide range of rehabilitation, social protection, and employment generation programmes to improve the living standards of the extreme-poor and disadvantaged people across the country. Speaking in the Jatiya Sangsad, the minister detailed several initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Social Welfare aimed at rehabilitating ultra-poor people and integrating them into mainstream development. Key programmes include the Rural Social Services (RSS) Programme, which supports landless and poor rural people through income-generating activities, maternal and child healthcare, sanitation, primary education, and campaigns against social problems such as child marriage and trafficking.
The Rural Mothers’ Centre (RMC) Programme empowers disadvantaged and low-income rural women by organizing them into groups, encouraging savings, and providing vocational training. Training includes bamboo and cane crafts, embroidery, cattle fattening, fish farming, and small business management. The Urban Community Development (UCD) Programme, implemented through 80 Urban Social Services offices, aims to improve the socio-economic conditions of disadvantaged urban people through community mobilization, skills development training, and interest-free microcredit.
The minister also highlighted the rehabilitation programme for burn survivors and persons with disabilities, which has been in place since the 2002-03 fiscal year. This programme provides improved treatment facilities, skills-based vocational training, and interest-free microcredit for self-employment. Additionally, the ministry implements a broad range of social safety net and welfare programmes at the upazila level, including old-age allowances, allowances for widowed and destitute women, disability allowances, and education stipends for students with disabilities.
Regarding unemployed and uneducated poor youths, the government is implementing practical and demand-driven programmes through the Department of Social Services. These programmes provide interest-free microcredit and skills development training to transform unemployed youths into skilled human resources and create sustainable employment opportunities. The government also operates two socio-economic training centres in Dhaka and Rangpur, offering vocational training to women from low- and middle-income families to enhance their employability and economic empowerment.
The overarching objective of these programmes is to create sustainable employment opportunities for educated unemployed youths, enabling them to become self-reliant and contribute to the country’s economic growth and social development.
