Govt to officially launch Family Card programme on 16 Aug, targets 1.6cr families in four years

Highlights:

• Family Card programme launches on 16 August nationwide
• Government targets 1.6 crore families within four years
• Dynamic Social Registry will track household socio-economic changes
• Pilot project in 56 areas showed encouraging results
• Digital data collection begins 16 August with verification
• Programme aims to improve transparency in social safety nets

The government will officially launch its Family Card programme on 16 August after a successful pilot phase, with plans to gradually bring around 1.6 crore families under the scheme over the next four years.

Social Welfare Minister AZM Zahid Hossain made the announcement after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on the Family Card, chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury at the Secretariat today (6 August).

Speaking to reporters, Zahid said the Family Card would operate through a Dynamic Social Registry, allowing the government to regularly update information on households based on changes in their socio-economic conditions.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is scheduled to inaugurate the programme on 16 August in Ward No. 8 of Latifabad Union under Kishoreganj Sadar upazila.

The government plans to expand the programme to all upazilas and unions across the country in phases by the end of October.

Zahid said beneficiary data would be verified at the union level to ensure eligible households are included while preventing ineligible people from receiving benefits.

"The initiative aims to address long-standing weaknesses in beneficiary selection by ensuring greater transparency, accountability and accuracy," he said.

He added that no one would be included or excluded on the basis of religion, ethnicity or political affiliation, describing the programme as part of the government's efforts to build an inclusive and humane social protection system.

The minister said experience from existing social safety net programmes showed that financial assistance provided to women was more likely to be spent on children's education, nutrition and healthcare, as well as on income-generating activities such as poultry farming, tailoring, cottage industries and small businesses.

He expressed hope that the programme would contribute to women's economic empowerment and help reduce rural poverty.

According to the minister, the pilot programme, conducted in 56 areas, produced encouraging results.

Although data collection problems were identified in two pilot areas in Jashore and Netrakona, those issues have since been resolved. No major problems were reported in the remaining 54 areas, where the error rate remained below 3%, he said.

Nationwide data collection under the new system will begin on 16 August using a revised questionnaire and a fully digital process.

Household information will be updated every month to reflect deaths, changes in economic status and other developments.

To ensure transparency, the government has introduced a three-tier monitoring mechanism.

Under the system, first-class government officials will supervise data collection at the union level, while committees led by upazila nirbahi officers, deputy commissioners and divisional commissioners will oversee implementation at the upazila, district and divisional levels respectively.

A national committee headed by the finance minister will monitor overall implementation, while the prime minister will receive regular progress updates.

The minister said the Cabinet Division and the Ministry of Finance would cross-check data to prevent duplicate enrolment across social safety net programmes.

Independent evaluations will also be conducted by the Finance Division, the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), and local and international universities to assess the programme's effectiveness in reducing poverty.

The Family Card programme was one of the government's key election pledges. It aims to establish a single, regularly updated database of poor and vulnerable households, which will serve as the foundation for delivering benefits under all future social safety net programmes.