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This article examines the impact of the Social safety net program (SSNP) on poverty, food security and standard of living by focusing on types and features of SSNPs along with socio-economic and demographic characteristics in one enclave (Dahagram–Angarpota) and one ex-enclave (Dasiar Chhara) areas of Bangladesh. Quantitative and survey research methods were used for the study. The results show that amount supported under SSNPs, duration of SSNPs support and payment interval are the significant factors of poverty, food insecurity and standard of living. The results also identify some significant demographic and socio-economic factors of poverty, food insecurity and standard of living. Overall, this study suggests that a higher amount SSNPs support, longer duration of SSNPs support and shorter payment interval of SSNPs should be taken into consideration when redesigning the SSNPs. Furthermore, the significant demographic and socio-economic factors should be addressed in the policy formulation for improving poverty, food security and standard of living of the poor households in Bangladesh.

The article examines the relationship between poverty and food insecurity using a primary sample (n= 319) collected from the enclave areas of Bangladesh. The study reveals that among the poor respondents, 80% are food insecure and among the non-poor respondents 30.8% are food insecure. Uni-variate probit regressions find that per capita income, household size, number of earners, household’s head education, improved communication, suffering from disease, livestock rearing, fishing, improved crop variety, micro-credit, social safety net programme and income shock cause differential influence on poverty and food insecurity simultaneously. Marginal probability of bi-variate probit model illustrates that per capita income, household size and suffering from disease are the three most prominent factors of poverty and food insecurity concurrently that varies at individual factor level from composite factor level. The average predicted probability indicates that majority of the households are more likely to stay poor and food insecure. There is a strong and complex link between poverty and food insecurity, while some poor are food insecure and some are not. Hence, policies devised based on only one indicator may not achieve the development targets fully and resource allocation may be inefficient. The study recommends that there should be synergies between policies which should address both the social indicators jointly.