Discussion Papers - Safety Nets & Transfers

Social Protection in Low Income Countries and Fragile Situations: Challenges and Future Directions (1.2mb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1209; Publication Date: 03/12
by Colin Andrews, Maitreyi Das, John Elder, Mirey Ovadiya and Giuseppe Zampaglione 

Demand for social protection is growing in low income countries and fragile situations. In recent years, the success of social protection (SP) interventions in middle income countries (MICs) like Brazil and Mexico, along with the series of food, fuel, and financial crises, has prompted policymakers in low income countries (LICs) and fragile situations (FSs) to examine the possibility of introducing such programs in their own countries. Flagship programs in countries as diverse as Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, and Rwanda have shown the adaptability of social protection interventions to the LIC context. Yet, despite growing levels of support for these initiatives, many challenges remain. In LICs and FSs, governments are confronted with a nexus of mutually reinforcing deficits that increase the need for SP programs and simultaneously reduce their ability to successfully respond. Governments face hard choices about the type, affordability, and sustainability of SP interventions. The paper reviews how these factors affect SP programs in these countries and identifies ways to address the deficits.

Rules, Roles and Controls: Governance in Social Protection with an Application to Social Assistance (1.2mb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1206; Publication Date: 03/12
by Lucy Bassett, Sara Giannozzi, Lucian Pop and Dena Ringold 

The paper develops an operational definition of governance that can be applied to social protection. The 2004 WDR accountability framework acts as a starting point, defining accountability in terms of a set of principal-agent relationships between policymakers, providers, and citizens. Applying this framework to social protection, the paper looks at three broad areas where the Bank is involved in governance in social protection: rules of the game, including clear criteria for entry and exit of programs; roles and responsibilities, including defining accountability relationships and incentive frameworks across levels of government and institutions involved in social protection; and controls and accountability measures, including the broad set of implementation mechanisms and procedures for ensuring that “the right benefit gets to the right person at the right time”. The paper applies this framework to social assistance policies and programs, reviews what is currently being done across the Bank in this area, and identifies future opportunities for clients and Bank engagement.

Productive Role of Safety Nets (1mb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1203; Publication Date: 03/12
by Harold Alderman and Ruslan Yemtsov 

The paper contains a short theoretical framework for linking social protection with growth and productivity, an updated review of the literature, new original work filling in gaps in the available evidence, and a discussion of operational implications.  The paper demonstrates that there was a shift in the economists’ view on social protection, and now they are seen as a force that can make a positive contribution towards economic growth AND reduce poverty. The paper looks at pathways in which social protection programs (social insurance and social assistance programs, as well as labor programs) can support better growth outcomes.

Measuring Governance and Service Delivery in Safety Net Programs (514kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1119; Publication Date: 09/11
by Gloria M. Rubio

This paper develops a framework to assess organizational performance in the delivery of social safety nets. Specifically, it provides guidance to task teams and program managers for identifying indicators of governance and service quality in targeted cash transfer programs. The paper identifies governance issues along the results chain of service delivery and suggests policy and performance indicators for assessing program inputs - human resources, financing and resource management; and program activities - operational procedures, MIS and control. It also suggests indicators of organizational performance and the quality of outputs, including demand-side accountability mechanisms.

Assessing Safety Net Readiness in Response to Food Price Volatility (871kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1118; Publication Date: 09/11
by Margaret Grosh, Colin Andrews, Rodrigo Quintana and Claudia Rodriguez-Alas

In 2008, when food prices rose precipitously to record highs, international attention and local policy in many countries focused on safety nets as part of the response.  Now that food prices are high again, the issue of appropriate responses is again on the policy agenda.  This note sets out a framework for making quick, qualitative assessments of how well countries’ safety nets prepare them for a rapid policy response to rising food prices should the situation warrant.  The framework is applied using data from Spring 2011, presenting a snap-shot analysis of what is a dynamically changing situation.  Based on this data safety net readiness is assessed in 13 vulnerable countries based on the following criteria: the presence of safety net programs, program coverage, administrative capacity, and to a lesser degree, targeting effectiveness.

Social Safety Nets in Fragile States: A Community-Based School Feeding Program in Togo (408kb pdf)
Also available in French (487kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1117; Publication Date: 08/11
by Colin Andrews, Elena Galliano, Carolyn Turk and Giuseppe Zampaglione

This paper reviews a small community-based school feeding program launched in Togo in response to the 2007/08 food price crisis.  The discussion focuses on the operational and policy lessons emerging from the program, to better understand opportunities for scale up and sustainability in the future. A focus of the discussion is how to build safety nets in fragile states and in situations where there is weak and fragmented government capacity to deliver services to disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. In this context school feeding is explored as an entry point through the use of informal mechanisms based on the commitment of communities and civil society. The analysis is premised on quantitative and qualitative analysis carried out at program sites. The discussion identifies the operational challenges and opportunities in customizing school feeding within Togo with an emphasis on targeting, cost effectiveness, procurement and institutional aspects.

Strengthening Governance of Social Safety Nets in East Asia (550kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1116; Publication Date: 08/11
by Sara Giannozzi and Asmeen Khan

Several East Asian countries, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, are considering an expansion of their social safety net programs. In many cases, existing delivery mechanisms for social assistance in the region tend to be basic, in line with the small size of programs. In a context of coverage expansion and proliferation of new programs, the risk of creating increasingly complex systems characterized by cross-incentives is high. Lack of coordination, ambiguous criteria for identifying and selecting beneficiaries, low administrative capacity, lack of transparency and limited beneficiary participation pose risks for program effectiveness and can decrease accountability. Good governance can improve program outcomes through effective program coordination, stronger accountability arrangements, provider incentives and greater transparency and participation.  This paper proposes an analytical framework to systematically identify governance risks and constraints which, if removed, could improve the outcomes of modern social assistance programs.

Liberia’s Cash For Work Temporary Employment Project: Responding to Crisis in Low Income, Fragile Countries (228kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1114; Publication Date: 07/11
by Colin Andrews, Prospère Backiny-Yetna, Emily Garin, Emily Weedon, Quentin Wodon and Giuseppe Zampaglione

Together with reductions in indirect taxes on food imports, cash for work programs were one of the main responses implemented by African governments following the food, fuel, and financial crisis of recent years. The main objective of those programs was to help the poor cope with the various shocks by increasing their net earnings through community-level work paid for under the programs. Yet it is unclear whether these cash for work programs indeed reached their intended beneficiaries and to what degree they generated other, potentially long-term beneficial impacts. This paper explores these issues in the context of Liberia and the performance of the Cash for Work Temporary Employment Program (CfWTEP) funded by the World Bank through an emergency crisis facility in response to the 2007/2008 food crisis. Both quantitative and qualitative data are presented, focusing on the operational and policy experiences emerging from program implementation. This paper analyzes the context that led to the creation and implementation of the CfWTEP in Liberia, the nature and administrative arrangements for the program, and its operational performance. The objective is to share the lessons learned from evaluation findings so that they can be useful for implementing similar programs in the future in Liberia itself or in other countries. Findings from the analysis highlight the possibilities of implementing public works program in low capacity, post conflict setting and the scope for using the program as a springboard towards a broader and more comprehensive social safety net.

Cash Transfers, Children and the Crisis: Protecting Current and Future Investments (169kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1112; Publication Date: 06/11
by Ariel Fiszbein, Dena Ringold, Santhosh Srinivasan

Developing countries have responded to the multiple shocks from the food, fuel and finance crises of 2008-2009 with a mix of responses aimed at both mitigating the immediate impacts of the crises on households (and particularly children), and protecting future investments in human capital. While some countries have introduced new safety net programs, others have modified and/or expanded existing ones. Since many countries have introduced conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in recent years, these programs have been used as an important starting point for a response. This paper aims to describe how conditional cash transfers have been used by different countries to respond to the crises (e.g. by expanding coverage and/or increasing benefit amounts), distill lessons about their effectiveness as crisis-response programs, identify design features that can facilitate their ability to respond to transient poverty shocks, and assess how they can complement other safety net programs.

Results Readiness in Social Protection & Labor Operations: Technical Guidance Notes for Social Service Delivery Projects (410kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1106; Publication Date: 02/11
by Julie Van Domelen

The Results Readiness Review assessed progress to date on results-based management in the Social Protection & Labor (SP&L) portfolio and generated operationally relevant knowledge on how to strengthen Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E).  Specifically, the Review took stock of the status and quality of M&E in the SP&L portfolio, including both investment and policy-based lending.  The Review identified trends, strengths and weaknesses, and good practice M&E approaches and indicators to incorporate a better results focus in project design and implementation.  This related Note provides guidance for World Bank Task Teams working on Social Service Delivery Projects.

Results Readiness in Social Protection & Labor Operations: Technical Guidance Notes for Social Safety Nets Task Teams (436kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1105; Publication Date: 02/11
by Gloria Rubio

The Results Readiness Review assessed progress to date on results-based management in the Social Protection & Labor (SP&L) portfolio and generated operationally relevant knowledge on how to strengthen Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E).  Specifically, the Review took stock of the status and quality of M&E in the SP&L portfolio, including both investment and policy-based lending.  The Review identified trends, strengths and weaknesses, and good practice M&E approaches and indicators to incorporate a better results focus in project design and implementation.  This related Note provides guidance for World Bank Task Teams working in the area of Social Safety Nets.

Natural Disasters: What is the Role for Social Safety Nets? (834kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1102; Publication Date: 02/11
by Larissa Pelham, Edward Clay and Tim Braunholz

This paper makes the case for why safety nets are an important tool for managing the risk of natural hazards. The use of safety nets is advocated both ex ante, to prevent and mitigate the impact of natural disaster and ex post, to cope with the impacts of natural shocks. Firstly, the paper explores the implications of contextual factors to be taken into account in the design of an effective safety net system to respond to the needs generated by natural disasters. Learning from the responses to a number of recent natural disasters, a typology of the different types of natural hazards which require different approaches to reduce their risk is introduced. Secondly, the paper considers some “guidelines” for improving the design and implementation of safety nets either to prevent and/or to recover from natural disasters. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations for more effective safety net and suggestions for addressing key issues are outlined.

North-South Knowledge Sharing on Incentive-based Conditional Cash Transfer Programs (124kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1101; Publication Date: 01/11
by Lawrence Aber and Laura B. Rawlings

This paper first reviews the emergence of CCTs in the context of a key theme in welfare reform, notably using incentives to promote human capital development, going beyond the traditional focus on income support. The paper then examines what has been learned to date from the experience with CCTs in the South and raises a series of questions concerning the relevance and replicability of these lessons in other contexts.  The authors then turn to the North to look at how lessons from the South have influenced the introduction of the first holistic CCT program in the North, the Opportunity New York City Family Rewards program.  The paper concludes with a call for further knowledge sharing in two areas: between the North and South as the experience with welfare reform and CCTs in particular expands, and between behavioral science and welfare policy.

Social Policy, Perceptions and the Press: An Analysis of the Media’s Treatment of Conditional Cash Transfers in Brazil (928kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1008; Publication Date: 12/10
by Kathy Lindert and Vanina Vincensini

This paper seeks to contribute to the literature on the political economy of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) by analyzing perceptions about these social policy instruments as portrayed and debated in free and independent press in Brazil.  The authors catalogued and analyzed over 6,500 articles from six newspapers over a six year period (2001-06), covering two governments and two policy regimes (the Bolsa Escola/pre-Bolsa Familia era, from 2001-03; and the Bolsa Familia era, from 2004-06).  The analysis shows that CCTs have been highly visible in the Brazilian press, and the frequency of media coverage expanded as the programs scaled up.  The authors also find that while the press may endorse the overall concept of CCTs as a social policy instrument, the quality of implementation matters not only for program effectiveness but for public acceptance.  The press will publicize perceived weaknesses with increased scrutiny, particularly in the face of elections (political interplay).  The press also reports favorably on Government actions to improve implementation quality.  Without claiming causality, the authors observed several junctures in which this interplay between vibrant public debate in the media, on the one hand, and proactive and transparent actions by the Government, on the other hand, seems to have contributed to strengthening the program through what could be viewed as a “virtuous cycle” of accountability (technical interplay).

Toolkit on Tackling Error, Fraud and Corruption in Social Protection Programs (580kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 1002; Publication Date: 03/10
by Christian van Stolk and Emil D. Tesliuc

This toolkit is intended to provide a concise but thorough resource for social protection practitioners on how to minimize error, fraud and corruption in their program(s).  It is organized in five sections.  The first section introduces the topic, by clarifying the key concepts and spelling out the rationale for this activity.  The second section provides a generic framework for combating EFC, developed around four building blocks of prevention; detection; deterrence; and measurement.  The third section reviews the instruments, tools and mechanisms used to combat EFC in social protection programs, structured by strategic actions (prevention; detection; deterrence), by level of government and over time (how these tools and instruments can be developed over time).  Section four includes generic terms of reference for the assessment of the mechanisms for combating error, fraud and corruption (EFC) in social protection programs. The last section summarizes the main findings for three such diagnostics from the Kyrgyz Republic and the Ukraine.

Building a Targeting System for Bangladesh based on Proxy Means Testing (428kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0914; Publication Date: 08/09
by Iffath A. Sharif

This paper develops and discusses a Proxy Means Test (PMT) based household targeting system for Bangladesh.  The PMT model derived from household survey data includes observable and verifiable characteristics on (i) household demographics and characteristics of household head; (ii) ownership of assets; (iii) housing quality, and access to facilities and remittances; and (iv) location variables in a formal algorithm to proxy household welfare. Simulations of the model suggest that the proposed PMT formula is able to improve the targeting efficiency a considerable amount when compared to existing targeted safety net programs. However, numerous implementation challenges remain which include but are not limited to a cost-efficient data collection process, effective management of information and a feasible and cost-efficient monitoring and verification system to minimize fraud and leakage.

How to Make Public Works Work: A Review of the Experiences (737kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0905; Publication Date: 05/09
by Carlo del Ninno, Kalanidhi Subbarao and Annamaria Milazzo

This paper reviews the experience with public works programs (PWPs) in several countries over the past 20 years to delineate use patterns and to determine the factors contributing to its use as a successful safety net program. The analysis shows that PWP have been used extensively in response to either a one-time large covariate shock, or repeated shocks. In low income countries, PWPs also have an antipoverty or poverty reduction objective. he review shows that well designed and implemented PWPs can help mitigating income shocks; the program can also be used as an effective anti-poverty instrument. The paper examines the factors behind the observed wide variation in the effectiveness of the program in accomplishing its goals and identifies prerequisites for making PWPs successful safety net interventions capable of protecting the poor from income shocks, thus reducing both temporal and seasonal poverty, while creating useful public goods or services for the communities.

Highly Labor-Intensive Public Works in Madagascar: Issues and Policy Options (499kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0836; Publication Date: 10/08
by Nirina Haja Andrianjaka and Annamaria Milazzo

High labor intensive (HIMO) public works programs have been very popular in recent years in Madagascar.  They have been one of the most common safety net programs used in Madagascar to address poverty and vulnerability.  The objectives of these programs are to provide income support to the poor after natural disasters and during seasonal agricultural employment slack period (soudure), and to improve much needed local infrastructures.  This paper assesses the effectiveness of HIMO interventions in addressing the needs of poor and vulnerable households using the data from 15 projects implemented between 2006 and 2008 by several agencies.  The main finding of this study is that despite their great potential, HIMO projects have shown the following limitations in the Madagascar context: a) lack of coordination among projects implemented by different agencies; b) ineffective targeting and poor selection of projects; c) lack of monitoring and supervision.  The paper identifies four areas for improvement: a) better harmonization and coordination of HIMO projects to ensure consistency of approaches among interventions; b) better geographical targeting and selection of projects; c) setting the wage rate according to the local socio-economic conditions to promote self selection of the poor; d) better collection of information for monitoring and evaluation of the impact of projects.

Can Conditional Cash Transfer Programs Play a Greater Role in Reducing Child Undernutrition? (588kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0835; Publication Date: 10/08
by Lucy Bassett

Conditional Cash Transfers programs (CCTs) - which grant cash to poor families provided they make specified investments in the human capital of their children - have been championed as an effective intervention for social protection.  Some CCTs include requirements (called conditionalities) related to health and nutrition.  Yet while there is evidence indicating that some CCTs have improved the nutritional status of beneficiary children, there has been little commentary on the potential for CCTs to make a greater contribution to improving nutritional status, nor on the programmatic and contextual issues affecting their ability to do so.  This paper finds that where utilization of nutrition interventions is low, there is significant potential for CCTs to play a greater role in reducing undernutrition by encouraging groups at high risk of undernutrition to utilize effective nutrition services and by encouraging improved quality of these services.  Several key design modifications - e.g. limiting CCT eligibility to the “window of opportunity” for nutrition impact, prioritizing nutrition - related conditionalities based on best practices in nutrition, increasing attention to supply-side investments for nutrition and health services, and improving coordination with other agencies and stakeholders - could allow CCTs to better contribute to eliminating child undernutrition in the developing world.  At the same time, there is much to be learned about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of various design options, as well as their appropriateness in different country contexts.

Management Information Systems in Social Safety Net Programs: A Look at Accountability and Control Mechanisms (370kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0819; Publication Date: 08/08
by Cesar Baldeon and Maria D. Arribas-Baños

This paper is intended to provide task managers and World Bank Group clients working on Social Safety Net (SSN) programs with practical and systematic ways to use information management practices to mitigate risks by strengthening control and accountability mechanisms. It lays out practices and options to consider in the design and implementation of the Management Information System (MIS), and how to evaluate and mitigate operational risks originating from running a MIS.  The findings of the paper are based on the review of several Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs in the Latin American Region and various World Bank publications on CCTs.  The paper presents a framework for the implementation of MIS and cross-cutting information management systems that is based on industry standards and information management practices.  This framework can be applied both to programs that make use of information and communications technology (ICT) and programs that are paper based. It includes examples of MIS practices that can strengthen control and accountability mechanisms of SSN programs, and presents a roadmap for the design and implementation of an MIS in these programs.  The application of the framework is illustrated through case studies from three fictitious countries. The paper concludes with some considerations and recommendations for task managers and government officials in charge of implementing CCTs and other safety nets program, and with a checklist for the implementation and monitoring of MIS.

Levels and Patterns of Safety Net Spending in Developing and Transition Countries (421kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0817; Publication Date: 06/08
by Christine Weigand and Margaret Grosh

This paper offers a new set of data compiled from individual World Bank country reports.  The authors give a brief textual description of patterns and trends in spending, and provide the raw data and documentation of its sources in the appendix.  The data are also provided in an Excel spreadsheet on the safety nets website so that others may use them.  Mean spending on safety nets is 1.9 percent of GDP and median spending is 1.4 percent of GDP. For about half of the countries, spending falls between 1 and 2 percent of GDP.  Some variation is apparent. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, for example, spend considerably less than 1 percent of GDP, while spending on social safety nets in Ethiopia and Malawi is nearly 4.5 percent of GDP because international aid is counted, but would be more like 0.5 percent if only domestically financed spending were counted. Other high-spending countries - Mauritius, South Africa, and the Slovak Republic - finance their safety nets domestically.  Spending on safety nets is less variable than spending on social protection or the social sectors.

Social Safety Nets in World Bank Lending and Analytical Work: FY2002–2007 (1.1mb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0810; Publication Date: 05/08
by Annamaria Milazzo and Margaret Grosh

This paper summarizes the state of the portfolio of World Bank lending activities and analytic work on Social Safety Nets between fiscal year 2002-2007. It presents a description of the methodology used for compiling the inventories and analyses by region, type of intervention involved, sector board and instrument. The World Bank has engaged with 118 countries on safety nets issues over the six years under review, providing lending in 68, analytic products in 86, training in 87, and a combined package of all three services in 42, demonstrating the increased sophistication and the important role of safety nets in social policy. There is noticeable variability over time as the portfolio and analytic effort expand when large or multiple countries face economic crises. The regional distribution of safety net activities shows the dominance of Latin America. The analysis also shows the diversity within the portfolio, with respect to both the type of intervention supported and the range of sectors involved in Safety Net work. Finally, it delineates implications and outlook for the future.

Social Safety Nets and Targeted Social Assistance: Lessons from the European Experience (376kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0718; Publication Date: 11/07
by Chris de Neubourg, Julie Castonguay and Keetie Roelen

The performance and design of targeted income support to the poor differ across the advanced countries analysed.  Yet in most European countries, social assistance can be seen as an instrument of last resort after all other components of the Social Protection system have contributed to lower inequality and reduced poverty levels.  The European Social Protection systems are effective and efficient, but reforms are needed as a response to changing socio-economic conditions.  Of special importance are the reforms with respect to the provision of incentives for beneficiaries to become more active on the labour market, for providers to operate to be more critical when handing our benefits by changing entitlement rights as well as the containing operational costs.  After all, it is the design and adjustment to local circumstances that matter when the role of social assistance in a broader SP system has been well understood.

Performance of Social Safety Net Programs in Uttar Pradesh (538kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0714; Publication Date: 10/07
by Mohamed Ihsan Ajwad

Ajwad assesses the effectiveness of core social protection programs in Uttar Pradesh using the following criteria: i) coverage, ii) targeting efficiency; and iii) adequacy and potential impact on household welfare.  The study is largely a quantitative assessment.  Five main findings emerge from the study.  First, many of the social safety net programs implemented in Uttar Pradesh have very low coverage rates, which in turn imply that exclusion errors are very large.  Second, although the beneficiaries are disproportionately from poor households, non-poor households are benefiting from the program – hence, inclusion errors are also a problem.  Third, across caste groupings, program beneficiaries from SC/ST households exceed beneficiaries from other caste groups.  Fourth, there is considerable geographic variation in program coverage, implying heterogeneity in the effectiveness of service delivery.  Fifth, many of the programs have a very small impact on household welfare, even for poor households.

The Nuts and Bolts of Brazil’s Bolsa Família Program: Implementing Conditional Cash Transfers in a Decentralized Context (773kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0709; Publication Date: 05/07
by Kathy Lindert, Anja Linder, Jason Hobbs and Bénédicte de la Brière

This paper is one in a series of World Bank Working Papers that seeks to document the experience of Brazil’s Bolsa Família Program. It highlights the key “nuts and bolts” of designing and implementing the BFP in Brazil’s decentralized context. Like other conditional cash transfers (CCTs), the BFP seeks to help (a) reduce current poverty and inequality, by providing a minimum level of income for extremely poor families; and (b) break the intergenerational transmission of poverty by conditioning these transfers on beneficiary compliance with human capital requirements (school attendance, vaccines, pre-natal visits). The program also seeks to help empower BFP beneficiaries by linking them to other complementary services.

Social Safety Nets in World Bank Lending and Analytic Work: FY2002 – 2006 (847kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0705; Publication Date: 03/07
Compiled by Annamaria Milazzo and Margaret Grosh

This paper summarizes the state of the portfolio of World Bank lending activities and analytic work on Social Safety Nets between fiscal year 2002-2006. It presents a description of the methodology used for compiling the inventories and analyses by region, type of intervention involved, sector board and instrument. The World Bank has engaged with 116 countries on safety nets issues over the five years under review, providing lending in 62, analytic products in 84, training in 85, and a combined package of all three services in 35, demonstrating the increased sophistication and the important role of safety nets in social policy. There is noticeable variability over time as the portfolio and analytic effort expand when large or multiple countries face economic crises. The regional distribution of safety net activities shows the dominance of Latin America and Europe and Central Asia. The analysis also shows the diversity within the portfolio, with respect to both the type of intervention supported and the range of sectors involved in Safety Net work. Finally, it delineates implications and outlook for the future.

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Redistributing Income to the Poor and the Rich: Public Transfers in Latin America and the Caribbean (899kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0605; Publication Date: 08/06
by Kathy Lindert, Emmanuel Skoufias and Joseph Shapiro

This study measures the extent to which publicly-subsidized transfers in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) redistribute income. The redistributive power of 56 transfers in eight countries is measured by their coverage, size, absolute incidence, simulated impacts on poverty and inequality, and by their distributional characteristic, a statistic derived from taxation literature.

The author's findings suggest that public transfers can be effective instruments to redistribute income to the poor. Yet frequently they have not managed to do so. Indeed, Robin Hood works in both directions in LAC, with public transfers redistributing income to both the rich and the poor. The redistributive impacts from social insurance are limited – and even regressive in some countries. This regressivity derives from two main design factors: a truncation in coverage due to requirements of membership in formal labor markets which exclude the majority of the poor, and highly generous unit benefits for those in the upper quintiles. Moreover, this regressivity applies to net social insurance transfers, which are subsidized by government budgets at the expense of all taxpayers. The more recent emergence of social assistance only partially offsets this historical “truncation” of public transfers in LAC. Despite coverage and distributional patterns that favor the poor, small unit subsidies limit the redistributive, poverty and inequality impacts of even the most targeted social assistance programs. The author's also find considerable variation among social assistance programs, with many food-based programs and scholarships being regressive. Governments should reconsider these programs – or at least strengthen their design. They could look to the targeting mechanisms used by conditional cash transfers – with impressive rewards for progressivity.

Uninsured Risk and Asset Protection: Can Conditional Cash Transfer Programs Serve as Safety Nets? (250kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0604; Publication Date: 06/06
by Alain de Janvry, Elisabeth Sadoulet, Pantelis Solomon and Renos Vakis

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have proved to be effective in inducing chronic poor households to invest in the human capital of their children while helping reduce poverty.  They have also protected child human capital from the shocks that affect these households.  In this paper, the authors argue that many non-poor households exposed to uninsured shocks have to use children as risk coping instruments, creating long term irreversibilities in child human capital development.  The authors explore how CCT programs can be designed to serve as safety nets for the vulnerable non-poor when hit by a shock  This would help them not use children as risk coping instruments, thus avoiding long term irreversibilities in child human capital development and creation of a source of new poor.

Examining Conditional Cash Transfer Programs: A Role for Increased Social Inclusion? (173kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0603; Publication Date: 06/06
by Bénédicte de la Brière and Laura B. Rawlings

Conditional Cash Transfer programs (CCTs) provide money to poor families contingent upon certain verifiable actions, generally minimum investments in children’s human capital such as regular school attendance or basic preventative health care.  This approach addressed demand-side barriers, has a synergistic focus on investments in health, education and nutrition, and combines short-term transfers for income support with incentives for long-run investments in human capital.  These programs have often also introduced modern administrative practices including poverty targeting, beneficiary registries, monitoring systems and strategic evaluations.  CCT programs are facing a number of challenges as they evolve, from reaching vulnerable groups to fostering transparency and accountability, especially at the community level.  Centralized programs have been criticized for limiting the engagement of local governments and civil society and it is clear that in limited capacity environments, a greater reliance on communities is warranted.  In sum, these programs are promising but are not a panacea against social exclusion and should form part of comprehensive social and economic policy strategies and be applied carefully in different contexts.

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Brazil’s Bolsa Escola Program: The Role of Local Governance in Decentralized Implementation (267kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0542; Publication Date: 12/05
by Alain de Janvry, Frederico Finan, Elisabeth Sadoulet, Donald Nelson, Kathy Lindert, Bénédicte de la Brière and Peter Lanjouw

This study analyzes the role of local governance in the implementation of Bolsa Escola, a decentralized conditional cash transfer program for child education in Brazil.  It is based on a survey of 260 municipalities in four states of the Northeast. The analysis focuses on program implementation. Results show that there was considerable confusion over the municipality’s role in beneficiary selection and consequently much heterogeneity in implementation across municipalities.  Social Control Councils as direct accountability mechanisms were often not in place and poorly informed, weakening their role.  However, electoral support for incumbent mayors rewarded larger program coverage, presence of Councils, and low leakages of benefits to the non-poor.

Food Aid and Food Security in the Short- and Long Run: Country Experience from Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (674kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0538; Publication Date: 11/05
by Carlo del Ninno, Paul A. Dorosh and Kalanidhi Subbarao

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the experiences from four major recipients of food aid (India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Zambia) in normal time and after a natural disaster and draw implications for the design of effective food aid and food security policies in Africa. The study summarizes the food and agricultural policies and medium-term outcomes regarding food production, trade, markets, consumption and safety nets, as well as the policy responses to food emergencies.  The experiences of the study countries suggest that food aid that supports building of production and market enhancing infrastructure, is timed to avoid adverse price effects on producers, and is targeted to food insecure households can play a positive role in enhancing food security.  However, food aid is not the only, or in many cases, the most efficient means of addressing food insecurity.  In many cases private markets can more effectively address shortfalls in food availability and cash transfers may be a viable alternative to food transfers in-kind.  Thus, most important is a balanced, mutually-reinforcing mix of policies and programs that address both the production and marketing constraints to food availability and that raises the real incomes of the poor and thereby increase their access to food.

Household’s Vulnerability to Shocks in Zambia (282kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0536; Publication Date: 09/05
by Carlo del Ninno and Alessandra Marini

Zambia is a county characterized by a high incidence of poverty and exposure to several types of shocks like HIV/AIDS, macroeconomic instability and periodic droughts.  In this paper we conduct an in depth analysis of the incidence and impact of those shocks on poverty.  The analysis of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, carried out using the data on the occurrence of the death of an adult in the previous 12 months and the existence of foster children, shows the existence of a general decrease in consumption with the exception of non poor rural families.  The deterioration of the economic situation and the related high level of unemployment resulted in a lower level of economic well-being.  Finally, the analysis of the impact of the drought shows that while a significant percentage (17%) of the poorest households in rural areas would experience significant losses in maize production (covering 8% of all the households), they are concentrated in a few communities in Southern, Central and Western provinces.

Implementing Means-Tested Welfare Systems in the United States (277KB PDF).  Also available in Russian (629KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0532; Publication Date: 06/05
by Kathy Lindert

While targeting can effectively channel resources to the poor, implementation details matter tremendously to distributive outcomes.  Several key factors affect performance, including: data collection processes; information management; household assessment mechanisms; institutional arrangements; and monitoring and oversight mechanisms.  This report conducts an in-depth assessment of key design and implementation factors and their potential impact on outcomes for the household targeting system used in the United States to target social programs to the poor and vulnerable.

La Focalización En El Programa De Desarrollo Humano Oportunidades De Mexico (307KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0531; Publication Date: 06/05
by Mónica Orozco y Cecilia Hubert

Aunque la focalización pueda canalizar con eficacia recursos a los pobres, los detalles de la implementación importan mucho para los resultados distributivos.  Varios factores claves afectan la ejecución, incluyendo: los procesos de la colección de datos; la gerencia de información; los mecanismos de evaluación de los hogares; los arreglos institucionales; y los mecanismos de monitoreo y de supervisión.  Este informe conduce una evaluación profunda de los factores claves del diseño, de la implementación, y de su impacto potencial en los resultados del sistema de focalización usado por el Programa de Desarrollo Humano Oportunidades en México para focalizarlo a los pobres y vulnerables.

Sistema de Identificación de la Población Objetivo: SIPO en Costa Rica (327KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0530; Publication Date: 06/05
by Roxana M. Víquez

Aunque la focalización pueda canalizar con eficacia recursos a los pobres, los detalles de la implementación importan mucho para los resultados distributivos.  Varios factores claves afectan la ejecución, incluyendo: los procesos de la colección de datos; la gerencia de información; los mecanismos de evaluación de los hogares; los arreglos institucionales; y los mecanismos de monitoreo y de supervisión.  Este informe conduce una evaluación profunda de los factores claves del diseño, de la implementación, y de su impacto potencial en los resultados del sistema de focalización SIPO usado en Costa Rica para focalizar programas sociales a los pobres y vulnerables.

Targeting Social Spending to the Poor With Proxy–Means Testing: Colombia’s SISBEN System (301KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0529; Publication Date: 06/05
by Tarsicio Castañeda

While targeting can effectively channel resources to the poor, implementation details matter tremendously to distributive outcomes.  Several key factors affect performance, including: data collection processes; information management; household assessment mechanisms; institutional arrangements; and monitoring and oversight mechanisms.  This report conducts an in-depth assessment of key design and implementation factors and their potential impact on outcomes for the household targeting system SISBEN used in Colombia to target social programs to the poor and vulnerable.

Focalización De Programas En Chile: El Sistema CAS (220KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0528; Publication Date: 06/05
by Osvaldo Larrañaga

Aunque la focalización pueda canalizar con eficacia recursos a los pobres, los detalles de la implementación importan mucho para los resultados distributivos. Varios factores claves afectan la ejecución, incluyendo: los procesos de la colección de datos; la gerencia de información; los mecanismos de evaluación de los hogares; los arreglos institucionales; y los mecanismos de monitoreo y de supervisión. Este informe conduce una evaluación profunda de los factores claves del diseño, de la implementación, y de su impacto potencial en los resultados del sistema de focalización CAS usado en Chile para focalizar programas sociales a los pobres y vulnerables.

Reforming Brazil’s Cadastro Único to Improve the Targeting of the Bolsa Família Program (188KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0527; Publication Date: 06/05
by Bénédicte de la Brière and Kathy Lindert

While targeting can effectively channel resources to the poor, implementation details matter tremendously to distributive outcomes.  Several key factors affect performance, including: data collection processes; information management; household assessment mechanisms; institutional arrangements; and monitoring and oversight mechanisms.  This report conducts an in-depth assessment of key design and implementation factors and their potential impact on outcomes for the household targeting system Cadastro Único used in Brazil to target social programs to the poor and vulnerable.

Designing and Implementing Household Targeting Systems: Lessons from Latin American and The United States (605KB PDF).  Also available in Portuguese (703KB PDF)  ◘  Russian (1.3MB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0526; Publication Date: 06/05
by Tarsicio Castañeda and Kathy Lindert, with Bénédicte de la Brière, Luisa Fernandez, Celia Hubert, Osvaldo Larrañaga, Mónica Orozco, and Roxana Viquez

While targeting can effectively channel resources to the poor, implementation details matter tremendously to distributive outcomes.  This report conducts an in-depth assessment of key design and implementation factors and their potential impact on outcomes for household targeting systems in six countries (the United States, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico).  Several key factors affect performance, including: data collection processes; information management; household assessment mechanisms; institutional arrangements; and monitoring and oversight mechanisms.  Chile’s system performs impressively in terms of targeting outcomes, cost efficiency and transparency.  Brazil and Mexico’s systems perform well in terms of targeting and cost efficiency.  The registries in the United States perform extremely well in terms of maximizing targeting accuracy and transparency, but the system is costly and errors of exclusion are high.  Both Colombia and Brazil are currently undertaking to implement significant reforms to strengthen their registries, particularly for cost efficiency, which should improve their performance over time.

A Technology White Paper on Improving the Efficiency of Social Safety Net Program Delivery in Low Income Countries: An Introduction to Available and Emerging Mobile Technologies (2.1MB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0522; Publication Date: 05/05
by Mike Gallaher

This document outlines various available and emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) and provides a framework to assess how these technologies may be used to improve the efficiency of the delivery of safety net programs.  These technologies include: mobile computing, biometrics, satellite communications, simple and smart cards, global positioning systems, radio frequency identification tags, automated teller machines and solar power.

Aging and Poverty in Africa and the Role of Social Pensions (329KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0521; Publication Date: 05/05
by Nanak Kakwani and Kalanidhi Subbarao

In many low income African countries, three factors are placing an undue burden on the elderly.  First, the burden on the elderly has enormously increased with the increase in mortality of prime age adults due to HIV AIDS pandemic and regional conflicts.  Second, the traditional safety net of the extended family has become ineffective and unreliable for the elderly.  Third, in a few countries, the elderly are called upon to shoulder the responsibility of the family as they became the principal breadwinners and caregivers for young children.  While a number of studies have examined the welfare consequences of these developments on children, few studies have systematically analyzed the poverty situation among the elderly (relative to other groups) in low income countries Africa, and the role of social pensions. This study aims to fill this gap.

Delivery Mechanisms of Cash Transfer Programs to the Poor in Bangladesh (584KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0520; Publication Date: 05/05
by Shaikh S. Ahmed

This study carries out an analysis of the practical issues and the financial costs relative to the transfer of cash benefits from source to recipients and the cost effective way of transferring funds to the beneficiaries. The study analyzes and compares three alternative delivery mechanisms: The Income Generation Vulnerable Group Development (IGVGD), the Primary Education Stipend Program (PESP) and the Rural Maintenance Program (RMP). This study also looks into targeting and leakage issues that affect delivery mechanism. A field level survey has been conducted to assess beneficiaries view on the existing delivery mechanism and on the prospect of using technologically advanced alternative delivery mechanisms in the rural setup.

Disability and Social Safety Nets in Developing Countries (195KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0509; Publication Date: 05/05
by Sophie Mitra

This paper deals with how social safety nets may reach the poor with disabilities in developing countries. It presents a framework for analyzing the inclusion of disability in social safety nets. The paper first reviews evidence on the relation between disability and poverty, and discusses the roles that safety nets may play with regard to disability. Safety nets can reach persons with disabilities through inclusive mainstream programs as well as disability targeted programs. The advantages and challenges of disability targeting are then discussed. The paper proceeds to analyze different ways that can be used to include disability considerations in the implementation of mainstream safety nets through the reduction of physical, communication and social barriers surrounding such programs and through the careful design and evaluation of safety nets. The use of disability targeting versus or in combination with disability mainstreaming is then discussed.

Community-Based Health Insurance and Social Protection Policy (456KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0503; Publication Date: 03/05
by Steven R. Tabor

In this paper, the author reviews the role of community health financing in providing financial protection against the cost of illness and improved access to basic health services for low income rural populations.  It is one of a collection of reports commissioned by the Bank to understand better the policy options available to low- and middle-income countries that are trying to expand coverage, secure sustainable financing to pay for health care, and protect the population against the impoverishing effects of illness.

A Lecture on the Political Economy of Targeted Safety Nets (706KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0501; Publication Date: 01/05
by Lant Pritchett

This paper is the written version of a lecture that draws principally on the author's research on safety nets and on the operational experience with the implementation of safety nets, drawing heavily on the crisis safety net programs in Indonesia from 1998 to 2000.  As such it provides more views than reviews of the literature on the principal issues in the political economy of targeted safety net programs. Five major issues are reviewed:  First, the implications of some simple models of electoral politics which make the budget allocated to programs endogenous to their targeting design highlight the dangers in ignoring political economy.  Second, the political economy of “safety net” versus “safety rope” programs is reviewed.  Third, some of the literature on the perception of fairness of the targeting criteria is reviewed.  Fourth, the issue of local versus central targeting of programs is discussed.  Fifth, the political economy of program implementation that considers the fit between program targeting and the organizational culture of the implementing organization is considered.

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Institutional Analysis Toolkit for Safety Net Interventions (215KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0418; Publication Date: 08/04
by Inke Mathauer

The toolkit provides key questions on issues of institutional and organizational capacity in order to (i) better understand the causes of poor performance of a program from an institutional point of view, and (ii) propose the optimal institutional arrangements for existing or planned programs.  In fact, one may glean further insights to outcome problems through a detailed institutional analysis that goes down to the local level, and propose solutions.  More so, an institutional analysis may reveal that a safety net strategy is inadequate in the given context.  Thus, the toolkit sheds light on key performance issues, such as staffing and skills, staff incentives, service delivery procedures, accountability mechanisms and incentives, supervision structures, and interorganizational relations, social protection system, and their long-term effectiveness in preventing the inter-generational transmission of poverty.

A New Approach to Social Assistance: Latin America’s Experience with Conditional Cash Transfer Programs (126KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0416; Publication Date: 08/04
by Laura B. Rawlings

Conditional cash transfers represent an innovative and increasingly popular form of social assistance. They provide money to poor families contingent upon certain behavior, usually investments in human capital such as sending children to school or bringing them to health centers on a regular basis. As such, they seek to address both traditional short-term income support objectives, as well as promote the longer-term accumulation of human capital by serving as a demand-side complement to the supply of health and education services. Evaluation results reveal that this innovative design has been quite successful in addressing a number of issues such as poor poverty targeting, disincentive effects, and limited welfare impacts. There is clear evidence of success from the first generation of programs in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua in increasing enrollment rates, improving preventive health care and raising household consumption. Despite this promising evidence, many questions remain unanswered about conditional cash transfer programs, including the replicability of their success under different conditions, their role within a broader social protection system, and their long-term effectiveness in preventing the inter-generational transmission of poverty.

Costs of Projects for Orphans and other Vulnerable Children: Case Studies in Eritrea and Benin (130KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0414; Publication Date: 07/04
by Menahem Prywes, Diane Coury, Gebremeskel Fesseha, Gilberte Hounsounou and Anne Kielland

Very little information is available on the ex-post cost of delivering services to orphans & other vulnerable children (OVC). This hinders large scale planning of interventions for OVC. This study responds by estimating the costs of some recent projects for OVC in Benin and in Eritrea. The study shows that the cost of institutional solutions is high relative to family-based solutions.

Transferring Cash Benefits Through the Banking Sector in Colombia (366KB PDF).  Also available in Spanish (429KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0409; Publication Date: 05/04
by Maria Teresa Lafaurie and Claudia A. Velasquez Leiva

This paper reviews the experience in transacting payments through the commercial banking system to beneficiaries in Colombia's Familias en Acción program.  The story told will be useful to those trying to solve the operational problem of moving cash cost-effectively to large numbers of beneficiaries in social assistance or similar programs.  It shows the options considered, their advantages, disadvantages and costs.  Though some of the details may be specific to the country and program, the approach to the analysis is broadly applicable.

Mitigating Social Risks in Kyrgyz Republic (188KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0408; Publication Date: 04/04
by Emil Daniel Tesliuc

The paper reviews the effectiveness and efficiency of the Kyrgyz Republic's numerous social protection programs in reducing poverty and vulnerability, with the aim of highlighting priorities for poverty alleviation policy.  Protecting the poor and vulnerable has been a constant policy priority of the Kyrgyz Government throughout the '90s.  Despite the low level of GDP and a shrinking revenue base, the magnitude of resources channeled transparently or via quasi-fiscal means for social protection was remarkably high.  However, we found that even programs that have explicit poverty reduction goals inadequately cover the extreme poor, while entailing substantial leakage to the non poor.  Benefits are transferred through a complicated web of programs and policies, that are difficult to monitor, stretch the implementation capacity of the administration asked to perform cumbersome means-tests, and impose substantial costs on beneficiaries, the private sector and society as a whole.  There is scope for improvements in both program mix and program design, to generate a larger reduction in poverty under the same resource envelope.

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Community-Based Social Services: Practical Advice Based upon Lessons from Outside the World Bank (930KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0327; Publication Date: 12/03
by Dinah McLeod

The purpose of this paper is to gather information outside of the Bank, in both developed and developing countries, on design and delivery of community-based social service initiatives. While the field is sufficiently new that "best practice" may not yet be fully identifiable, there are many initiatives funded by other governments, NGOs, and donor agencies, which taken along with acknowledged good practice from the industrialized world, can help task managers with the design of community-based social service projects.

Testing Vietnam's Public Safety Net (116KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0319; Publication Date: 10/03
by Dominique van de Walle

Using panel data, the paper investigates whether Vietnam's main social welfare transfers promoted poor people out of poverty and whether they protected the non-poor from becoming poor.  It also explores the role transfer programs played in the country's dramatic reduction of poverty in the 1990s.  Counterfactual consumption levels without transfers allow for behavioral responses.  The findings suggest that transfer programs helped few people escape poverty and protected even fewer from falling into poverty.  The public safety net appears to have been largely irrelevant to the country's recent poverty reduction record.

Social Safety Net Assessments from Central America: Cross-Country Review of Principal Findings (181KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0316; Publication Date: 08/03
by José Silvério Marques

This paper reviews the first generation of Social Safety Net Assessments (SSNAs) conducted in Central America, including those of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.  The World Bank supports SSNAs to help identify strengths and weaknesses in social protection policies and recommend improvements in the programs for the consideration of governments and other stakeholders.  The paper provides an overview of social protection systems in the region, summarizes findings and policy recommendations, and outlines the implications for future analyses.

Benchmarking Government Provision of Social Safety Nets (714KB PDF).  Also available in  Russian  (883KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0315; Publication Date: 08/03
by Timothy Besley, Robin Burgess and Imran Rasul

The question of how much governments should spend on social programs generally, or safety nets in particular, is of great obvious interest to policymakers but is extremely difficult to address empirically.  The approach in this paper differs from others by assuming that what governments can potentially do in terms of spending on social programs is given by what governments across the world are actually observed to be doing on average.  After first briefly reviewing the existing methodologies, their limitations, and what can be learned, an analysis of 63 countries spending patterns from 1972-1997 is presented using a comparative benchmarking methodology.

Targeted Transfers in Poor Countries: Revisiting the Trade-Offs and Policy Options  (129KB PDF).  Also available in Spanish (144KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0314; Publication Date: 05/03
by Martin Ravallion

This paper revisits the role of targeted transfers in poor countries in light of the new theories on the social costs of uninsured risks and unmitigated inequalities.  This body of theory and evidence offers a new perspective on social protection policies in poor countries, suggesting that there is scope for using these policies to compensate for the market failures that help perpetuate poverty, particularly in high-inequality settings.  While acknowledging caveats to policy implementation, the paper suggests that it is time for a pragmatic and open-minded approach to this class of interventions, recognizing the potentially important role they can play, but using careful design and evaluation to assure that the potential is realized.

Redirecting Resources to Community Based Services: A Concept Paper (362KB PDF) 
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0311; Publication Date: 04/03
by Louise Fox and Ragnar Götestam

A legacy of the command economy in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union is a social protection system that emphasizes institutional care for vulnerable individuals.  It has been well established that in many cases institutionalization can be more expensive per client served and produce inferior welfare outcomes than more inclusive approaches designed to support individuals within their families and communities.  But countries seeking to change the model of services face a number of financial constraints, including redirecting resources away from institutions.  How can countries develop the new programs in an affordable manner?  How should they change the financing flows to support the new options, without putting the burden of financing on the vulnerable themselves?  The objective of this paper is to provide a framework to help countries re-orient their financing systems for social care.  The paper first reviews key concepts in social care financing and then applies them to the problem of changing social care models in ECA countries.

Waivers and Exemptions for Health Services in Developing Countries (550KB PDF).  Also available in French (587KB PDF)  ◘  Spanish (671KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0308; Publication Date: 03/03
by Ricardo Bitrán and Ursula Giedion

In response to shortages in public budgets for government health services, many developing countries around the world have adopted formal or informal systems of user fees for health care.  In most countries user fee proceeds seldom represent more than 15 percent of total costs in hospitals and health centers, but they tend to account for a significant share of the resources required to pay for non-personnel costs.  The problem with user fees is that the lack of provisions to confer partial or full waivers to the poor often results in inequity in access to medical care.  The dilemma, then, is how to make a much needed system of user fees compatible with the goal of preserving equitable access to services.  Different countries have tried different approaches. This review examines various approaches taken by countries, but assessing their relative practical merits is difficult, as the evidence is scattered and mixed.

Safety Nets in Transition Economies: A Primer (158KB PDF).  Also available in French (173KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0306; Publication Date: 03/03
by Louise Fox

This paper focuses on the experience of the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia in providing adequate safety nets for the poor during the last 10 years.  The paper discusses the problem of poverty and vulnerability – who were the poor, and how did the answer to this question change over the decade, it looks at the typical types of interventions offered by governments, and how this package changed over the period.  It surveys the evidence on effectiveness of these programs in reaching the poor, in reducing their income poverty, or reducing other aspects of poverty (e.g. social exclusion).

Systemic Shocks and Social Protection: Role and Effectiveness of Public Works Programs (139KB PDF).  Also available in French (126KB PDF)  ◘  Spanish (162KB PDF)  ◘ Russian (382KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0302; Publication Date: 01/03
by Kalanidhi Subbarao

Public workfare programs have been important counter-cyclical program interventions in both developed and developing countries.  In the developing world generally and in Africa and Asia particularly, public works programs have been significant policy instruments for mitigating the negative effects of climatic and systemic risks on poor farmers and unskilled and semi-skilled workers.  The paper first discusses the rationale behind workfare programs in the context of social risk management and goes on to give an overview of workfare programs in Africa and Asia with respect to such design features as wage rates and labor intensity and to how they were selected and implemented.  Using available estimates and evaluations, the evidence on whether these programs have achieved their goals and are cost-effective is presented.  Finally, the paper concludes with summary lessons from experience.

What Role for Safety Net Transfers in Very Low Income Countries? (170KB PDF).  Also available in French (223KB PDF)  ◘  Spanish (204KB PDF)  ◘  Russian (442KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0301; Publication Date: 01/03
by W. James Smith and Kalanidhi Subbarao

Smith and Subbarao consider the vexing question of what role safety net transfers should play in very low income countries where a large share of the population lives in absolute poverty and the state has very limited resources to fund transfers. They explore three fundamental constraints, all of which are accentuated in these countries, the availability of accurate information to identify beneficiaries, the administrative capacity to target them, and the fiscal affordability of transfers and assess the implications for program choice and design.

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Public Attitudes Matter: A Conceptual Frame for Accounting for Political Economy in Safety Nets and Social Assistance Policies (179KB PDF) .  Also available in French (194KB PDF)  ◘   Russian (542KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0233; Publication Date: 12/02
by Carol Graham

Political economy influences the design, implementation, and outcome of safety net and other social insurance programs, but there is no general consensus among policymakers about how to account for political economy concerns in policy decisions.  This paper tries to provide a conceptual framework for doing so, with a focus on the establishment of permanent systems of social assistance and social insurance.  This framework attempts to incorporate political attitudes about redistribution and equality of opportunity versus equality of outcomes, attitudes that vary a great deal among countries and regions.  This paper discusses the instruments available to policymakers for evaluating their own political contexts, as well as strategies for introducing new approaches to safety nets and social welfare policy in the face of entrenched political attitudes.

Ensuring Access to Essential Services: Demand-Side Housing Subsidies (104KB PDF).  Also available in French (111KB PDF)  ◘  Russian (288KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0232; Publication Date: 12/02
by Harold M. Katsura and Clare T. Romanik

This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of demand-side subsidy approaches for improving poor households' access to housing services.  It begins with a discussion of the rationale for stand-alone housing assistance programs and a description of the ongoing transition away from traditional supply-side housing assistance to demand-side subsidies.  The paper presents model demand-side approaches, but also draws on real world examples to highlight various aspects of program design related to targeting, transparency, price distortion, institutional capacity, administrative complexity, and funding.  It also describes how variations in the design of housing-related subsidy programs can appear in response to philosophical, political, and resource considerations.  The paper concludes with a discussion of the appropriateness of different subsidy approaches for various situations.

Gender and Risk in the Design of Social Protection Interventions (200KB PDF).  Also available in French (227KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0231; Publication Date: 12/02
by Kene Ezemenari, Nazmul Chaudhury and Janet Owens

This paper outlines a framework for analyzing the gender dimensions of risk and its effects on the outcomes of individuals, households, and various vulnerable groups.  The paper proceeds by first documenting, based on available empirical evidence, the gender disaggregated impact of shocks. Results from the studies reviewed lead to the following conclusions:

• Current evidence suggests that shocks can lead to differences in outcomes by gender.
• The most important factor that mitigates against adverse shocks is household level assets (the evidence shows that differences in gender outcomes are largest for the poorest households).
• Men and women may be exposed to different risks or may experience varying degrees of vulnerability; these differences in vulnerability are strongly influenced by differences in asset ownership.
• Gender roles and social norms determine whose labor is used as a buffer against shocks.

Given these results, and the review of gender issues specific to a subgroup of social protection programs (namely, safety nets, pensions, and unemployment programs), the paper proceeds to outline specific steps that can be taken to incorporate gender considerations in the design of these programs.

Vulnerability and Poverty Measurement Issues for Public Policy (153KB PDF).  Also available in French (159KB PDF)  ◘  Spanish (161KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0230; Publication Date: 12/02
by Jean-Yves Duclos

This paper presents the main approaches and tools to measuring poverty and vulnerability.  This involves among other things the important issues of the setting of poverty lines, of the statistical use of surveys, of the empirical measurement of living standards, and of making poverty comparisons.  The computation of aggregate poverty indices and the use of poverty dominance testing are also described.  Throughout, implications for the understanding of the effects of public policy are highlighted, in particular those related to the design of safety nets.

Emerging from Ethnic Conflict: Challenges for Social Protection Design in Transition Countries(179KB PDF).  Also available in Russian (553KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0229; Publication Date: 12/02
by Christian Bodewig

This paper is an attempt to shed some light on issues relating to social protection in transition countries emerging from ethnic conflict. It analyzes how constraints posed both by conflict itself and its ethnic nature affect social protection policies and suggests ways out.  Both conflict and continuing ethnic tensions thereafter affect labor markets, as well as render social safety net policies difficult to implement.

Strengthening Public Safety Nets from the Bottom Up (117KB PDF).  Also available in French (126KB PDF)  ◘  Spanish (117KB PDF)  ◘  Russian (325KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0227; Publication Date: 09/02
by Jonathan Morduch and Manohar Sharma

Helping to reduce vulnerability poses a new set of challenges for public policy.  A starting point is understanding the ways that communities and extended families try to cope with difficulties in the absence of public interventions.  Coping mechanisms range from the informal exchange of transfers and loans within families and communities to more structured institutions that enable an entire community to provide protections to their neediest members.  This paper describes ways to build public safety nets to complement and extend informal and private institutions.  The most effective policies will combine both transfer systems that are sensitive to existing mechanisms and new institutions for providing insurance and credit and for generating savings.

Incentives and the Role of Institutions in the Provision of Social Safety Nets (114KB PDF).  Also available in French (127KB PDF)  ◘  Russian (329KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0226; Publication Date: 09/02
by Chris de Neubourg

Institutions matter in the design and implementation of social programs in general and for social safety net programs in particular.  This paper argues that what matters most for the success of programs are the incentives that are provided to stakeholders and actors through institutions.  The paper critically examines the effects of different incentive structures that operate between program providers and the sponsors of programs and between providers and clients, illustrated with reference to developed and developing country examples.  In light of these incentive effects, the paper then examines possible strategies for safety net implementation under three distinct institutional settings, including limited institutional capacity, nascent development, and more mature environments.

Food-Based Safety Nets and Related Programs (227KB PDF).  Also available in French (238KB PDF)  ◘  Spanish (244KB PDF)  ◘  Russian (633KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0225; Publication Date: 09/02
by Beatrice Lorge Rogers and Jennifer Coates

This paper discusses the range of food-based transfers that are typically used in social safety net programs.  The authors have tried to provide guidance as to the appropriate context for different kinds of programs, the necessary operational considerations in implementing them, and reasonable expectations for their effectiveness in achieving a variety of objectives.  Safety net programs have the goal of assuring household income, either directly or through the provision of goods and services. However, food-based programs are usually implemented with other goals in mind, related to dietary adequacy, nutrition and health and to the increased use of social services that contribute to human capital formation.  The programs discussed here include the direct provision of food and the provision of benefits that are linked to food.  Because of the potential costs and distortions involved in using food-based programs, cash-based programs may be considered as the benchmark against which food-based programs should be judged.  It is very difficult to generalize about the effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of different kinds of food-based safety net programs because the details of implementation—such as the size of the transfer or wage, its specific composition, the target group reached, and the severity of the problem addressed—vary so widely.  It is these details, not only the choice of program, that determine both cost and impact.

Subsidies as a Social Safety Net: Effectiveness and Challenges (145KB PDF).  Also available in French (166KB PDF)  ◘  Spanish (151KB PDF)  ◘  Russian (370KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0224; Publication Date: 09/02
by Harold Alderman

This paper will consider a range of consumer-oriented subsidy instruments including general subsidies and tax exemptions as well as targeted quotas.  Section II discusses the distribution or incidence of the subsidy expenditures for all of these instruments.  It focuses primarily on food as the means by which the subsidy is delivered, although the section concludes with a brief comparison of food subsidies with energy subsidies.  The following section asks whether food subsidies actually achieve the nutritional and stabilization goals that they are often claimed to achieve.  Some of the administrative concerns about market interventions that policymakers must consider are discussed in Section IV.  These administrative concerns as well as their effects on beneficiaries point to possibilities for program reform, which are discussed in the final section.

Assisting the Poor with Cash: Design and Implementation of Social Transfer Programs (452KB PDF).  Also available in French (401KB PDF)  ◘  Spanish (453KB PDF)  ◘  Russian (765KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0223; Publication Date: 09/02
by Steven R. Tabor

Cash transfers can be defined as the provision of assistance in the form of cash to the poor or to those who face a probable risk, in the absence of the transfer, of falling into poverty.  Either governments or the private sector can provide cash transfers.  Governments provide social assistance and social insurance programs, while private transfers include those made between households and those made by enterprises to households.  While not all of these transfers are unique to a social safety net, each can serve as an important source of income protection for households during shocks or economic downturns.  The relative importance of statutory and private cash transfers and of social assistance and social insurance varies by country and circumstance.  In this paper, the author discusses cash transfers in the widest sense, recognizing that such programs serve multiple objectives, of which social safety net protection is just one.

Supporting and Expanding Community-Based HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Responses: A Report on Save the Children (US) Malawi COPE Project (156KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0211; Publication Date: 05/02
by Susan S. Hunter

In 1995, Save the Children/US-Malawi introduced a small pilot project called COPE-Community-based Options for Protection and Empowerment, to provide direct services to prevent and mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on children, families and communities in one district.  Over the past six years, the program has evolved and expanded to four districts, covering 9% of the national population.  The goal of COPE is to mobilize sustainable community action utilizing existing indigenous social infrastructures and a three tier structure – District AIDS Coordinating Committees (DACCs), Community AIDS Committees (CACs) and Village AIDS Committees (VACs).  The program is multisectoral and involves partnerships with government, business communities, local leaders, other NGOs/CBOs and religious organizations.  Program success and challenges included.

World Vision's Experience Working with HIV/AIDS Orphans in Uganda 1990-1995 (123KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0210; Publication Date: 05/02
by Joe Muwonge

Uganda, projected to have 3.5 millions orphans by 2010, was the site of World Vision's first major program of assistance to orphans of HIV/AIDS and war.  This paper examines how the program, which was implemented in the rural districts of Masaka, Rakai and Gulu from 1990 to 1995, addressed the critical challenge of ensuring sustainable orphan welfare in a family and community setting.  The paper considers how impact was achieved through activities that focussed on direct support to vulnerable children (access to education and vocational training skills), while at the same time as strengthening the capacity of families and communities to cope (increasing food production of foster families, strengthening basic social services in the area, and mobilizing the community for orphan care).  Community participation and collaboration with government and other NGOs were important elements in all components.

Long-Term Welfare and Investment Impact of AIDS-Related Changes in Family Composition: Evidence from Uganda (100KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0207; Publication Date: 05/02
by Klaus Deininger, Anja Crommelynck and Gloria Kempaka

Although availability of quantitative information on the extent of AIDS in Africa is improving, the socio-economic implications of the epidemic remain poorly understood.  This paper explores this issue for Uganda focusing on households who received foster children between 1992 and 2000, a phenomenon that affected more than 15% of households.

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Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children: What Role for Social Protection? (191KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0126; Publication Date: 10/01
Edited by Anthony Levine

This report records the proceedings of the conference "Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children: What Role for Social Protection?" which took place in Washington, DC in June 2001. Co-sponsored by the World Bank and World Vision, the two-day conference sought to promote awareness of the extent of this crisis, to provide practitioners with a forum to share best practices and other insights, and to probe the role of social protection in implementing a balanced response.

Social Services Delivery through Community-Based Projects (310KB PDF).  Also available in  Spanish (344KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0118; Publication Date: 07/01
by Dinah McLeod and Maurizia Tovo

The World Bank is financing an increasing number of community-based social services projects. The objective of this paper is to review and categorize the extent, scope and mechanisms of these projects in the current Bank portfolio, and to identify good practices and potential pitfalls. The authors identify 99 projects that finance at least $1.6 billion in social services.  While most of the projects surveyed deliver "traditional" services such as nutrition, maternal and child care, and literacy, the scope of many projects has expanded to include newer services such as counseling, home-based care for the elderly and disabled, and early childhood development.

Community Based Targeting Mechanisms for Social Safety Nets (255KB PDF).  Also available in Spanish (444KB PDF)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0102; Publication Date: 01/01
by Jonathan Conning and Michael Kevane

This paper interprets case studies and theory on community involvement in beneficiary selection and benefit delivery for social safety nets.  Several considerations should be carefully balanced in assessing the advantages of using community groups as targeting agents.  First, benefits from utilizing local information and social capital may be eroded by costly rent-seeking.  Second, the potential improvement in targeting criteria from incorporating local notions of deprivation must be tempered by the possibility of program capture by local elites, and by the possibility that local preferences are not pro-poor.  Third, performance may be undermined by unforeseen strategic targeting by local communities in response to national funding and evaluation criteria, or by declines in political support.

1999 

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