Social Progress Index 2014: Bangladesh bagged remarkable slot in South Asia

Based on the performance of the past one year, the Social Progress Index report has been published on 3rd April, 2014. This index ranks 132 countries over three categories: basic human needs, foundations of well being and opportunity.
Index shows that, bringing down child mortality, achieving gender parity in secondary school enrollment, improving life expectancy, showing respect to women, reduced human trafficking and child marriage and its increased demand for contraception are the relatively strong points of Bangladesh. This progress is the outcome of the relentless effort of Bangladesh Awami League and the current government. For the last six years, government has taken numerous initiatives to develop the social scenario of the country. Bringing down the child mortality is one of the goals of MDGs which Bangladesh achieved in 2013. National Education Policy, 2010 is the key to the development of the education scenario of Bangladesh. The continuous guidance and political will of Bangladesh Awami League have made the progress possible.
As the SPI report shows, in the Basic Human Needs Dimension Bangladesh does best in areas like nutrition and basic medical care. In assuring the Foundations of Wellbeing Bangladesh excels at health and wellness. On the other hand, In the Opportunity Dimension, the country outperforms in providing opportunities for people to improve their position in society and scores highly in personal freedom and choice.

Parallel Success- Economic Growth & Social Progress
The SPI findings reveal that economic growth doesn’t automatically lead to social progress. Economic growth not always confirms the basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing and equal opportunity. For example, among the giant economies- the low rankings of China (90) and India (102) show that their rapid economic growth is not yet being converted into harmonious social progress.
But Bangladesh consistently continues upholding both economic and social ladders concurrently. It is not very easy for the country like Bangladesh, being heavily densed in terms of population and hit hard by poverty and political insurgences, to maintain parallel advancement. However, by dint of the efficiency of the present government Bangladesh continues remarkable socio-economic advances.
Another important fact is that if we compare Bangladesh in terms of social progress with the countries of similar GDP per capita such as Senegal, Lesotho, Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania, Chad, Benin, Sudan, Tajikistan, Burkina Faso, Nepal, Cameroon, Djibuti, Rwanda and so on, we will find out that Bangladesh is clearly ahead in most of the areas of social development. Let’s have a look on what the index tells us about it:

Figure: Scorecard of Bangladesh compared to similar GDP per capita countries (source: SPI report)

The following pyramid suggests the areas in which Bangladesh has done comparatively better than other countries with similar GDP per Capita.

Now, we can recognize the areas too in which Bangladesh is behind from other countries with similar GDP.

However, the present Awami League led government of Bangladesh is working relentlessly in slowing down stillbirth rate & level of violence. The press freedom is very strong in Bangladesh more than many other countries of Asia, and in linage connection with the process of democratization Bangladesh is gradually improving in the areas like freedom of press, freedom of property & freedom religion. The gender disparity is gradually disappearing from the society and the government is putting a lot of emphasis in controlling the rate of violence against women. The present government pledges in their latest manifesto that in all areas of national and social life, not will only numerical equity be ensured but niches will be created in order to facilitate women’s participation in every sphere and stop all forms of violence against them.

Keys behind the Progress
Bangladesh has reached an outstanding milestone by reducing child mortality rate. UN’s MDGs are to be achieved within 2015. But Bangladesh has achieved the fourth MDG in 2012. According to UNICEF, Bangladesh brought down the under-five mortality from 146 in 1991 to 41 in 2012. This achievement became possible because of Bangladesh Awami League’s dedication to improve maternal and child health. The current government led by the party has initiated numerous programs like extended vaccination program, integrated management for pediatrics, ensuring proper treatment for Diarrhea and respiratory infections and ensuring food and nutrition to improve child health.
Bangladesh is now generating more than 6500 MW electricity with the capability to generate 10000 MW. Bangladesh Awami League has pledged in the Election Manifesto, 2014 that, power generation will reach 16000 MW by 2016 and 24000 MW by 2021. To achieve these goals, government’s promptness is remarkable. Two mega-projects, 1000 MW Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant and 1320 MW Rampal Coal Power Plant have already been initiated. Bangladesh Awami League and the government are determined to fulfill the commitment.
Awami League led government has formulated a ‘Nation Education Policy’ in 2010 for the first time in Bangladesh. This policy prioritizes on easy access to education. Primary education has been declared free for everyone. Government prioritizes to appoint women teachers for primary level. This increases the opportunity of employment too. Now, almost cent percent girls enroll in primary education and the Awami Government is planning and programming for developing gender responsive budget to establish women rights and eradicate discrimination. Nonetheless, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs under this government has introduced ‘Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2010’ to stop violence against women and National Women Development Policy 2011 has been boldly developed by the present government.

Bangladesh’s Initiatives towards Good Governance & Social Equity
The freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom of press are guaranteed in the Constitution of Bangladesh and in relation with that present government has ratified ‘Right to Information act 2009” which allow individuals and groups to understand the policies and actions of the govt. In addition to that, the National Broadcasting Policy 2013 is in process to be ratified to ensure the utmost freedom of journalism. There are 28 private TV channels and another 13 channels recently got licenses to broadcast and for the first time the present government has provided licenses for 14 community radios.
In Bangladesh the bulk of the safety net programmes are implemented through government channels. However, non-government channels also play an important supportive role with help of govt. bodies. Programme support comes in eight forms: cash allowance, food support, asset, wage-employment, training, inputs, savings and community assets.
For strengthening social safety net the Awami League led present govt. is working very hard. In every economic year a considerable amount of budget is been allocated for scaling up the programs and bring the best results.
Furthermore, the present government is working relentlessly to stop violence against minority, violent crime and ensure freedom of religion.

Bangladesh & Other South Asian Nations
The 2014 findings recognize the extraordinary regional success of Bangladesh in South Asia. Many unique aspects of progress in social development help Bangladesh bagging an ‘exemplary slot’ in this region. The improvement in Bangladesh’s standing within South Asia in respect of the social development indicators used by SPI is evident from the following figure:

Figure: Comparison among South Asian Countries

According to the index, Bangladesh did better than India in certain areas like assuring nutrition &basic medical care, assuring personal safety, providing shelter, maintaining health & wellness, sustaining ecosystem, guaranteeing personal freedom and choice, and level of tolerance & inclusion. Bangladesh also showed a lesser prevalence of underage marriage, human trafficking, and slavery. But Bangladesh lagged behind on the category like personal safety, access to basic knowledge and ICT & advanced education, and personal rights.
The index shows Bangladesh fared better than Pakistan in terms of every indicator except water & sanitation.
Nepal’s situation of accessing into basic knowledge and information & communications is better than the situation of Bangladesh. But Bangladesh is relatively stronger in terms of all other category.
Sri Lanka became the best landscape of South Asia and achieved fared better scores in the majority of categories than Bangladesh, while lagged behind in case of assuring health & wellness and personal rights.

The social progress indicator differs from the UN’s index as it includes environmental and personal rights indicators, but does not track happiness. By scrutinizing all the indicators of SPI we can draw an easy conclusion that over the last one year Bangladesh accomplished notable improvement both in its economic niches and human development indicators.