The role of safety nets in reducing poverty and vulnerability is increasingly recognized in social policy. As non-contributory transfer programs targeted to the poor or vulnerable, well designed safety nets can play a productive role in promoting development, as well as redistributing wealth to the most vulnerable.  Drawing on the international literature and operational documents from the World Bank's experience in over 100 countries, this book provides comprehensive guidance on the design and implementation of cost-effective safety nets, including how to define eligibility and select beneficiaries, set and pay benefits, and monitor and evaluate programs and systems. Marking the first major World Bank publication on the topic in over ten years, the book synthesizes the literature to date and enriches it with new examples on various program options - cash transfers (conditional and unconditional), in-kind transfers, price subsidies, fee waivers, and public works. It concludes with a comprehensive diagnostic for fitting safety net systems and programs to specific circumstances.

Speaker	 Presentation/Video
Shanta Devarajan, Chief Economist, Africa Region, World Bank
Robert Holzmann, Director, Social Protection & Labor Department, Human Development Network, World Bank
Margaret Grosh, Lead Economist, Social Protection Department, Human Development Network, World Bank	(905kb pdf)
H.E. Ato Mekonnen Manyazewal, State Minister, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Ethiopia
Diego Molano Aponte, Former Director of Social Policy of the Presidential Agency for Social Action and International Cooperation, Colombia
Rakesh Nangia, Operations Director, World Bank Institute, World Bank