This paper uses the FINDEX and administrative data toestimate the gender, ageand income compositionof workers covered bya mandated pensionscheme in a large numberof developing countries.
... See More + It find that the pension coverage gender gap isaround 25 percentage points;men and women are 63 and 37 percent of those covered,respectively. It also provides evidence on the determinants ofvoluntary savings for old age. Along with the expected positive relationship with income levels within and across countries, It find that individuals are less likely to save for old agethe more the government spends on public pensions. Other things constant, men and individuals with an account in a formal financial institution are more likely to voluntarily save for old age.
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Global interest around humanitarian and social protection issues is remarkable. These feature prominently in some of today’s most complex development challenges, whether supporting poor people in times of crises or providing them with a steady hand while pursuing opportunity.
... See More + To some extent, there is a common thread of themes that underpin both humanitarian and social protection matters, and which, at its core, is about state formation and its strengthening. The objective of this note is to map out some key issues relevant to humanitarian and social protection work, that is, to basically explore their interface. Yet as this note argues, they tend to differ in some fundamental aspects. It then briefly reviews the rationale for public interventions, examines how the debate is panning out in different contexts, and identifies a set of strategic and practical questions for further work in the area.
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Co-residence is an important source of support for the elderly, especially in countries where pension systems do not cover most of the population.
... See More + This note provides new evidence regarding elderly co-residence patterns in more than 100 developing countries that represent over 90 percent of the developing world population. The authors find a wide range of co-residence rates across countries, ranging from 29 to nearly 100 percent, and a strong inverse relationship between the receipt of a pension and co-residence. The results show the importance of informal support, and have implications for the choice and design of policy instruments aimed at the elderly, including social insurance and assistance.
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This note presents a framework for designing and implementing social protection and labor (SPL) systems in middle and low income countries. It argues that enhancing coordination across SPL policies, programs, and administrative tools has the potential to enhance both individual program performance as well as the overall provision of social protection across programs.
... See More + The general goal is to improve the implementation of the three core social protection functions: (i) protecting income and consumption in the face of shocks such as, disease, unemployment, or disability in old-age; (ii) reducing poverty and deprivation; and (iii) improving individuals labor market and earnings opportunities. A systems view of social protection takes a general perspective, focusing on how basic instruments can work together to deliver the three core functions. Thus, it looks at how programs interact and complement each other across risks/shocks.
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Disaster and climate related events exacerbate chronic and transitory poverty because poor and near-poor people have fewer coping and recovery mechanisms.
... See More + In vulnerable countries, the increase in frequency and severity of such events will lead to a growing need for effective social protection policies and programs.
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Having in place flexible benefit mechanisms which can provide timely and appropriate levels and types of benefits following disasters and climate change related events is critical.
... See More + Doing so ensures that social protection benefits are responsive to changing needs that people who were not covered by a social protection program beforehand do not fall into poverty.
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The choice of targeting methods for a particular social program depends on the objective of the program and the particular countrys circumstances and experience.
... See More + Literature suggests that three methods geographical targeting, community-based targeting, and (proxy) means-testing can be used in combination to identify households that are chronically poor or food-insecure, or that are vulnerable to these conditions. These methods must be flexible enough to be used across safety net programs of harmonized interventions.
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For social protection spe¬cialists, effective stake¬holder communication takes on a heightened importance in the post disaster context. By definition, the socially marginalized are among the most vulnerable.
... See More + Their voices which are difficult to hear in ideal circumstances can become even more muted in the aftermath of a disaster. Therefore it is essential to identify outreach mechanisms capable of accurately as¬sessing the needs of the socially marginalized people; involving them in decision making, and providing them with pre¬cise, timely, and relevant information that allows them to access services.
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The adverse impacts of natural disasters and climate change constitute a major risk to the poor and near-poor. Poor men and women face disproportionately higher risks from these events because of their limited ability to cope with shocks.
... See More + Therefore, they require more support from social protection programs in order to protect their livelihoods. The increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters make it imperative that governments be prepared to respond.
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Developing and low-income countries around the world have been unable to provide old-age income security to all through contributory pensions. Neither reforms to pension systems nor general growth and development have helped countries to increase coverage much.
... See More + In frustration, many countries are considering or have implemented non-contributory social pensions, aiming to reduce poverty and vulnerability among the elderly. It is therefore important to consider how such programs fit into social assistance programming. This note discusses the horizontal equity of programs that are solely for the elderly and the option of targeting such programs differently. It then sheds empirical light on the issue with simulations based on data from the Kyrgyz Republic, Niger, Panama and Yemen.
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Early integration of disaster risk management/climate change adaptation criteria into social protection programs monitoring and evaluation plans, systems, and budgets allows for more effective capture of necessary information, including proxy indicators to measure the reduction of risk exposure.
... See More + Organizations such as the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP) have documented international experience in developing monitoring and evaluation systems that measure disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. Monitoring and evaluation systems have also been used after disasters to provide rapid real-time feedback on the appropriateness and coverage of the response, so that adjustments can be made.
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Safety nets are on the rise in Africa, and beginning to evolve from scattered standalone programs into systems. Until recently, many African countries approached social protection on an ad-hoc basis.
... See More + But when the global crisis threatened recent progress in poverty reduction, safety nets increasingly began to be viewed as core instruments for poverty reduction in the region. Social protection programming has started to develop from emergency food aid programs to one-off interventions to regular and predictable safety nets, such as targeted cash transfers and cash-for-work programs. Some countries, such as Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda and Tanzania, now seek to consolidate programs into national systems. But as our review shows, there is still a long way to go.
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The recently released United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) social protection strategic framework and the World Bank social protection and labor strategy call for taking a systems approach to social protection as a way to help countries, communities, families and children enhance resilience, equity and opportunity.
... See More + This note outlines common ground in the World Bank and UNICEF approaches to building social protection systems, using a focus on children to illustrate the premise and promise of a systems approach. It is part of a broader commitment by both agencies to increase collaboration across different stakeholders governments, development partners, and others in developing and strengthening social protection systems and expanding their coverage.
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Adolescence is a demanding and critical period in life. Failure to meet certain developmental milestones can have serious short- and long-term implications for the individual and society at large.
... See More + This note provides an overview of how economic shocks can affect adolescent development, and how policies and programs can protect and promote human development in the face of adversity. Policies and programs to prevent and mitigate the negative impact of crises on schooling, employment, mental health and risky behaviors can be made more effective by incorporating psychosocial support and mentoring.
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Development from conception to five years of age can determine later life outcomes ranging from educational achievement, labor market success, to risky and delinquent behaviors.
... See More + Crises can cause nutritional deprivation which can negatively affect physiological and neurological development during gestation and infancy. This can have potentially serious physical and mental consequences. Crises can also cause stress and mental health issues of primary caregivers hampering the process of establishing secure attachment relationships and reducing stimulating interactions. These factors are known to be key to the healthy development of socio-emotional, behavioral and cognitive competencies. Successful safety net programs will address not only the resource constraints at the household level, but find ways to address the psychosocial aspects of economic hardship, strengthen the child-caregiver relationship, and make sure that the program reaches the most vulnerable: women of child bearing age, especially pregnant women, and very young children and their caregivers.
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Middle childhood (approximately 6-12 years old) is a crucial time for developing cognitive and socio emotional competencies, and economic crises can affect children's development with long-lasting consequences for adolescence and adulthood.
... See More + This note provides an overview of how economic shocks can affect children and their environment, and how policies and programs can protect and promote the child's development in the face of adversity. Negative impact of crises on learning and other outcomes can be prevented and mitigated through targeted investments at the family and school level.
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This note summarizes activation policy strategies in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Policy makers can choose from a broad menu of options.
... See More + Each of them comes with potential strengths and weaknesses, but there can also be important links between them. To understand countries' overall activation stance, it is useful to look across individual policy measures. The note considers benefit generosity and work incentives (section two); eligibility conditions and obligations of job seekers and benefit recipients (section three); and active labor market programs (ALMPs) (section four). Section five characterizes aspects of countries' overall policy stance by discussing the balance of policies and links between them. A concluding section suggests priorities for knowledge work in World Bank client countries.
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The new social protection and labor strategy 2012-2022 recognizes the potential of social protection as an integrated policy response for protecting populations against shocks, including the growing frequency of disasters.
... See More + Safety net programs and social funds in many countries already are playing a growing role in post-disaster response and building livelihood resilience. By integrating climate and risk considerations into the planning and design of social protection programs, the sector can help prevent poor and vulnerable households from falling deeper into poverty, reduce their overall risk exposure, and contribute to long term adaptation to climate change.
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The new social protection and labor strategy 2012-2022 recognizes the potential of social protection as an integrated policy response for protecting populations against shocks, including the growing frequency of disasters.
... See More + Safety net programs and social funds in many countries already are playing a growing role in post-disaster response and building livelihood resilience. By integrating climate and risk considerations into the planning and design of social protection programs, the sector can help prevent poor and vulnerable households from falling deeper into poverty, reduce their overall risk exposure, and contribute to long term adaptation to climate change.
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The rapid expansion of social protection programs in response to growing economic volatility at the country and household levels has heightened interest from governments and donors alike in their governance.
... See More + One reason is to ensure the efficient and effective use of public funds. A second reason is the growing recognition that good governance is central to improving service delivery and development outcomes. Governance is not just about reducing corruption, it is also about improving incentives for policymakers and providers, and the accountability of services to citizens. Roles and responsibilities set clearly across levels of government and involved institutions are critical for making accountability relationships work and balancing incentives at all levels of a program. Controls and accountability mechanisms support the enforcement of rules, and thus contribute to program equity by ensuring that eligibility criteria are applied fairly, and improve efficiency by detecting/deterring leakage of funds.
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