Dhaka: A delegation from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women today met with Social Welfare and Women and Children Affairs Minister Dr AZM Zahid Hossain at his office at the secretariat here.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the delegation was led by Catherine Breen Kamkong, Country Representative of UNFPA Bangladesh, and Gitanjali Singh, Country Representative of UN Women. The discussions centered around various aspects of population, health, women and youth empowerment, gender equality, and social security programmes in Bangladesh.
Dr Zahid Hossain highlighted the progress of the government’s key election pledge known as the ‘Family Card’ programme. He noted that one of the issues in the election manifesto of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was the distribution of family cards among the poor. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman inaugurated the family card distribution programme in Dhaka on March 10, just 21 days after the formation of the government. The initiative aims to strengthen social security by providing family cards in the name of the female head of each family.
The minister further elaborated that, in the pilot phase, 37,567 families in the country have already been included in the family card programme. He stated the goal is to gradually extend the family cards to four crore families over the next five years.
The delegation from UNFPA and UN Women commended the Bangladesh government’s welfare initiatives in social security and expressed their commitment to further cooperation in areas such as population management, maternal health, family planning, prevention of child marriage, youth development, and prevention of violence against women and children. They highlighted UNFPA’s long-standing partnership in ensuring the health and rights of women and adolescents.
Present at the meeting were Social Welfare Secretary Dr Mohammad Abu Yusuf, Women and Children Affairs Secretary Yasmin Parveen, and senior officials of the ministry. Both sides agreed to enhance social development in Bangladesh through increased joint projects and technical assistance in the future.