Toolkits

Determining how well a safety net functions is a common, but somewhat complex task.  We offer the resources below to assist.

 Toolkit on Simulating the Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs on Children Behavior (2mb ZIP)

Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs have been successfully implemented in many middle countries but despite a large literature about their impact on children behavior and on poverty, many relevant questions about the program design features (e.g. benefit amount, conditional or unconditional programs …) remains unanswered. In order to help practitioners and policymakers (re)designing cash transfer programs either conditional or unconditional that intends to improve human capital accumulation of children through education, this toolkit provides a how-to guide in the application of a micro-simulation model that enables users to analyze and compare several alternative scenarios on the basis on representative household survey data. It can thus be used in selecting the most cost-effective design or it can be used for sensitivity and cost-benefit analysis.

Public Works Toolkit in English (2.2mb pdf) ¦ Français (1.3mb pdf)

The objective of this Toolkit is to provide guidance to policy makers and practitioners on ‘how to’ aspects in designing and implementing public works programs. The toolkit draws on past experiences of several country typologies where programs have been in operation and will propose a prototype set of procedures based on existing implementation manuals and documented experiences.

Toolkit on Tackling Error, Fraud and Corruption in Social Protection Programs (580kb pdf)

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.

Social Protection Chapter of the Public Expenditure Review Toolkit contains three elements:

• A checklist of issues that might be included in analysis;
• Notes with elaboration or references to standards, methodological guidance or international comparators; and
• Examples of the treatment of each specific issue drawn from a large body of analytic work done within the World Bank.

The chapter covers social protection as a whole, but all of the issues mentioned are applicable to the subset of social protection comprised by safety net programs, and many of the examples and comparators provided are for safety nets.  The guidance is divided into two parts: consideration of the system of complementary programs and analysis of how well each individual program functions.

A Toolkit for Calculating Indicators of Coverage, Generosity and Incidence of Programs

ADePT SP is part of the suite of software toolkits freely available from the World Bank’s research department that produce rapid diagnostics of poverty, labor market, gender, and social protection based on STATA/SPSS routines.  The module creates about 15 standardized benefit incidence publication-ready tables and graphs based on household survey data.

Download Software

Download Manual (1.6mb pdf)

Reference to analysis for other than the target country can provide helpful ideas and comparators.  Extensive references, with links to the source documents, are available in:

"Spending on Social Safety Nets: Comparative Data Compiled from World Bank Analytic Work" (1.3mb excel)  provides comparative figures on expenditures for safety nets and social protection.  The information is provided in a manipulable spreadsheet to assist in new comparative analyses.

"Safety Nets in World Bank Lending and Analytic Work: FY2002-2007" (1.1mb pdf) provides a comprehensive list of all such work.