Good governance is one of the key ingredients to ensure success of any strategy aimed at alleviating poverty though it must be accepted that political implications and other factors do create situations that might not be exactly conducive for effective implementation of such programs.

The emergence of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in handling poverty alleviation programs in Bangladesh is a direct result of the mismanagement and lack of application shown by the government in ensuring effective application of these schemes. They have performed their role as effective alternative development institutions to not only pressurize the government in fulfilling their responsibilities but also introducing their own schemes to tackle the problem.

In Bangladesh access to land plays an important role in the social pecking order. More than 80 percent of the population lives in the rural areas and 32 percent of the Gross Domestic Product is derived from agriculture. Those who are landless find themselves in the poorest of poor categories and their livelihood and survival depends on access to work in the rural economy. Their fortunes are usually linked to the state of agriculture in the country during that particular year and the price of basic staples.

Natural disasters are a part of the history of Bangladesh. Bad harvests and natural disasters makes life insecure for the poor who lose their only source of livelihood if crops fail due to vagaries of the weathers or natural disasters such as heavy rains and floods. Government intervention thus plays a crucial role in providing relief to victims of natural disasters and in providing relief through strong remedial measures which ensure that the victims and their families do not starve.

The limited incidence of such programs leaves large segments of the poor and economically backward classes vulnerable to situations such as lack of food and water and without a roof over their head. Growth of GDP which in many countries has led to drastic reduction in levels of poverty has not been particularly impressive for Bangladesh.

NGOs are actively involved in implementing a variety of schemes targeted at providing relief to poorer households. However, the size of the poverty and the continuous failure of implementation of poverty relief schemes make it difficult for even the most competent of NGOs to provide succor to the poor sections of society.