Evaluating the service quality of Bangladesh’s Open Market Sale food security programme
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Abstract
Bangladesh has implemented numerous safety net programmes since 1971 in an effort to fight against persistent and long-term poverty. Although most of these programmes are geared towards rural areas, urbanisation has led to an increase in the number of urban poor during the past 40 years. Open Market Sale (OMS) is the oldest, biggest and priciest metropolitan social protection programme, aiming to provide low-cost rice and flour to the urban poor. This study seeks to evaluate OMS’ service quality, using a qualitative, exploratory research design. It finds that the OMS programme is beset by numerous issues including poor targeting, political interference, leakages, loss of food grains, and low-quality goods – all of which impede its service quality. Moreover, it is significantly underfunded, local authorities are not always supportive, and corruption is very common among both programme administrators and local dealers. The study suggests that the government should regulate the operation of the OMS programme more efficiently, as its effectiveness largely relies on its service quality.
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