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Good practice

Bangladesh Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) Programme for Rural Women

Bangladesh · Dhaka · See the Bangladesh profile

Bangladesh's flagship rural women's safety net, running since 1975. Each 24-month cycle supports ~750,000 women with 30 kg of fortified rice monthly and livelihood training. A peer-reviewed study found severe food insecurity fell from ~50% to 6.3% among beneficiaries.

~750,000
Women supported per 24-month cycle
~50% to 6.3%
Severe food insecurity among beneficiaries (baseline to endline)
4% to 23%
Food-secure households (baseline to endline)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Bangladesh
Period
1975–present
Keywords
public sector, social protection, rural development, nutrition, gender equality

Context

Established in 1975 as post-famine relief and reoriented toward development in the 1980s, Bangladesh's Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme is a flagship social safety net for destitute rural women, providing 30 kg of fortified rice monthly plus life-skills and livelihood training across 24-month cycles.

Results

Each cycle supports approximately 750,000 women across 482 sub-districts. A peer-reviewed baseline/endline study (n=870 baseline, 800 endline) found severe food insecurity among beneficiaries fell from approximately 50% to 6.3%, and food-secure households rose from 4% to 23%; children's school enrolment, savings and non-land asset ownership also improved. An investment component (ICVGD) provided BDT 20,000 grants to 96,928 women to launch micro-enterprises.

Conclusions

A comparative study of Bangladesh social safety nets found VGD showed the most noticeable impact on recipient food and health indicators, though dietary diversity did not significantly improve -- highlighting that food-only transfers require complementary cash or nutrition-specific interventions.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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