INCOME SUPPORT PROGRAM FOR THE POOREST EMPOWERING POOR MOTHERS TO IMPROVE CHILD NUTRITION APPROVAL DATE: END DATE: TOTAL COMMITMENT: IMPLEMENTING AGENCY BASIC December 16 June 30 $300 million Local Government Division INFORMATION 2014 2020 OVERVIEW Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty over the past two decades. Yet, the country is among the 10 countries with the highest prevalence of malnutrition. About 31 percent of children under five are stunted. The children from poor households bear a disproportionate burden of stunted growth. Ensuring nutrition prenatally and in the early years helps to maximize a child’s brain development and growth and is critical to boost the earnings capacity in the later years of life and to prevent the transmission of poverty across VOICES generations. I have my own post office The Income Support Program for the Poorest (ISPP) Project—also known as the Jawtno Program—initiated a cash benefits cash card and am very happy program for the poorest mothers and pregnant women in exchange for their participation in activities to improve their to receive payment with which children’s nutrition and cognitive development. ISPP is built upon the success of the pilot Shombhob, which found that I can act on the knowledge I learn at my beneficiary households experienced an increase in consumption of nutritious foods and children’s health outcomes community clinic sessions to improve when cash transfers were linked to the use of growth monitoring and nutritional counseling services. health and nutrition of my children.. The project will benefit 10 percent of the poorest households across 43 of poor Upazilas with high child SHEFALI BEGUM malnutrition rates. Project beneficiary, Bhurungamari 80 TOWARDS THE CHALLENGE FUTURE Well-designed safety net programs can improve child health and nutrition outcomes, while contributing to As part of building and protecting poverty reduction goals. The Government of Bangladesh currently spends over 14 percent of its budget on over human capital from the early years, the 100 safety net programs. But only a small portion of this budget supports programs that aim to improve maternal Government is designing the nationwide and child nutrition and cognitive development. Most safety net programs are implemented by Union Parishads, Child Benefit Scheme: the ISPP Project which face administrative capacity issues and operate with limited budgets. At the same time, the numerous line provides demonstrative value on the ministries responsible for the various safety nets do not systematically coordinate implementation efforts at the local design, implementation and impact of this level. Given this situation, setting up common administrative platforms at the local level for safety net beneficiary critical investment. identification, enrolment, and payment can enhance implementation capacity in safety net delivery. APPROACH The ISPP Project provides income support to the poorest mothers based on their uptake of services aimed at improving their children’s nutrition and cognitive development. Pregnant women and mothers of children below five years from poor households will be eligible for social assistance under the project. The beneficiary mothers and pregnant women will receive quarterly electronic cash transfers for utilizing services related to their children’s health and development, including antenatal care visits, child growth monitoring and early learning activities for children under the age of five at the community clinics. The project also helps improve the coordination among safety net programs at the local level by building common administrative and service delivery platforms, in partnership with the Directorate General of Health Services, the Postal Directorate, and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. EXPECTED RESULTS 600,000 poorest 2.7 million poor people Improved capacity of mothers to receive across 43 upazilas in northern local level government to deliver cash transfers Bangladesh to benefit safety net programs THE WORLD BANK IN BANGLADESH | 81