'We need to bring in social justice, tolerance as aspect of poverty reduction'

BRAC chairperson Hossain Zillur Rahman said Bangladesh needs to bring in social justice and tolerance as an aspect of poverty reduction.

"We have to look beyond good policies and understand policy understanding gaps and our limitations," said Hossain Zillur, the economist and former adviser to the caretaker government while chairing a webinar.

On the cassation of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, BRAC on Thursday organised the webinar titled ‘breaking the barriers of poverty: New priorities in poverty reduction in the backdrop of COVID-19’ .

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is annually held worldwide, says a BRAC press release.

The webinar’s main objective is to call attention to the initiatives that the government and development partners are taking to attain SDG-1 (No poverty), especially now as the economic recovery efforts of COVID-19 are underway.

Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Bangladesh's development director Judith Herbertson, World Bank Bangladesh and Bhutan's country director Mercy Miyang Tembon, World Bank former senior advisor Syed M Hashemi and BRAC and BRAC International's Microfinance and Ultra-Poor Graduation senior director Shameran Abed attended the event.

BRAC’s fight against poverty and COVID-19 response in the field level was also discussed in this webinar.

Tembon in her speech said, "Bangladesh has a very good policy, what is required is effective implementation on the ground and utilization of resources, more opportunity has to be created in the economy, and vulnerable people can use social safety nets to build their resilience against disasters."

Judith Herbertson said that more focus needs to be on the right targeting social safety net programmes. She emphasized innovation and the government’s various development planning during COVID-19 pandemics.