The Human Development Unit in LAC and the Social Protection Team in the Human Development Network are pleased to sponsor this BBL by

Manuel Salazar and Bénédicte de la Brière

Chaired by Margaret Grosh

Evidence shows that Conditional Cash Transfer programs (CCTs) are well targeted, effective anti-poverty programs which improve school enrollment and access to preventive health services and contribute to reducing poverty and inequality.  However they are challenging to implement, requiring considerable institutional coordination and administrative capacity.

Demand for World Bank assistance to CCTs has grown considerably.  Beyond its financial support to fund the transfers to households, client countries increasingly ask the Bank for knowledge and technical assistance to improve institutional and operational arrangements of these programs.  As a response, the Bank is changing its approach and seeks to integrate across analytical and operational supports and across sectors.

The Bank assistance to the Government of Panama to prepare and scale up its flagship conditional cash transfer program – Red de Oportunidades – illustrates the challenges that effective support implies, and provides some lessons for future operations.  This presentation highlighted the operational tasks in preparing a project which involves multiple sectors on the Bank and client’s sides and requires coordination among multi-level government agencies and donors active in these sectors to address specific poverty issues in a middle-income country and provide tailored, innovative technical assistance.

Presentation (173kb pdf)

Manuel Salazarand Bénédicte de la Brière are are both senior social protection specialists in the LAC region and co-task team leaders of the Panama Social Protection Project.