The HDN Social Safety Nets Team, South Asia Social Protection and the Social Development Department are pleased to sponsor a presentation by

Maitreyi Das
Lead Social Development Specialist, SDV

Jessica Leino
Economist, SASSP

Chair
Michal Rutkowski
Director, SASHD

Presentation

Can Social Safety Nets Help Peace Building in Nepal? (775kb pdf)

Abstract

After emerging from a decade of conflict in 2006, Nepal stands out as an example of how progress towards the MDGs continued despite political crisis.  In the intervening years, Nepal has made “social protection for all” its avowed goal. The accompanying large increase in social safety net spending and programs has been related to the needs and priorities of a post conflict and fragile state – a state which is focused on the goals of social inclusion, realizing that without this, peace will remain ephemeral. Nepal’s safety net programs have expanded greatly since 2008, but there is currently not yet an overarching framework in place to guide this expansion. The SASSP team recently completed a report offering the first review of the major social protection initiatives in Nepal in the post-conflict period.  The report is based on analysis of the first representative household survey on social safety nets in Nepal as well as administrative data, other national surveys, and qualitative assessments.

This presentation will discuss Nepal’s political and social context before assessing sources of risk and vulnerability in Nepal, evaluating the performance of existing programs in terms of coverage and benefit incidence, and will conclude by suggesting ways forward in developing a consolidated social protection framework and system. 

About the Presenters
 
Maitreyi Bordia Das is Lead Social Development Specialist and Team Leader for Social Inclusion in the Social Development Department. She works on issues of inequality and exclusion and on the design and implementation of social policy and programs.  She started her career as a lecturer in St Stephen's College, University of Delhi, has been a MacArthur Fellow at the Harvard Center of Population and Development Studies and has worked as advisor to the United Nations Development Program. She has a PhD in Sociology (Demography) from the University of Maryland.  Before joining the World Bank, Maitreyi was in the Indian Administrative Service.

Jessica Leino is an Economist in the South Asia Social Protection Unit, and joined the World Bank as a Young Professional.  She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and was a Giorgio Ruffolo Doctoral Fellow at Harvard’s Center for International Development.  She previously worked at the Brookings Institution and as a project evaluation consultant for several NGOs in East Africa.

For more information, contact:
Phillippe Leite - HDNSP, pleite@worldbank.org 
Rodrigo Quintana - HDNSP, rquintana@worldbank.org