Ratings for the Second Northern Uganda Social Action Fund Project for Uganda were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, the risk to development outcome was moderate, the Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and the Borrower performance was satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: Project design ensured that government machinery was engaged in the project at all levels, from national to local government levels. Community-driven Development (CDD) needed to be integrated well into local government structures to avoid duplication with their regular infrastructure work and to ensure ownership and maintenance budget once the projects are complete. In the Second Northern Uganda Social Action Fund Project (NUSAF2), the GoU mainstreamed CDD operations into the decentralized service delivery mechanisms. Low level of benefit for the PWP affected delivery of the initial intention of the project to reduce vulnerability and provide alternative employment to vulnerable people with labor. strengthening institutional capacity is to assist communities to realize their development needs, efforts such as training and technical backstopping of communities need to be sustained. Anti corruption measures in the project can become models for broader social accountability. Project implementation at the local level use of participatory approaches to identify beneficiaries and community priorities empowered the local people to articulate and share their own opinions, needs, problems, and abilities. Capacity enhancement and consolidation of capacities over time has shown positive outcomes. The participation of community facilitators proved vital in facilitating sub project generation. The mainstreaming of the project within local government, through engagement with district officers and the identification of NUSAF2 desk officers, strengthened the delivery of the project at the local level and provided space for communities and local authorities to work jointly in the delivery of the project at the community level. Delivery of social protection programs in contexts of post conflict and fragility.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR3805 AUG 23, 2016
This paper assesses the extent to which social assistance programs in Turkey impact the labor market behavior of those who receive benefits. Theoretically, the possible channels through which the receipt of social assistance may disincentivize work are quite clear, even if the substantial literature analyzing these dynamics is somewhat inconclusive.
... See More + The analysis confirms that even when controlling for the relevant factors, social assistance beneficiaries are significantly more likely than non-beneficiaries to be unemployed or informally employed, and therefore less likely to be formally employed. Furthermore, among the unemployed, the probability of moving into informal employment is found to be significantly larger for beneficiaries than for non-beneficiaries. The paper concludes that there are potential disincentive effects at play in the decision to work, but particularly in whether to work formally or informally. Finally, an interesting and perhaps counterintuitive finding is that beneficiaries who are inactive are less likely to stay inactive in comparison with non-beneficiaries, which suggests that social assistance may be playing an activation role rather than leading to increased dependency. This, coupled with the previous findings, would indicate that disincentives to work, based on current design parameters, may not be the primary concern. Rather, disincentives to formality may be the prevailing channel through which social assistance affects labor market outcomes. More attention to designing programs that are incentive-compatible with formal employment would be a useful next step for public policy in this area.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7801 AUG 22, 2016
At the end of 2013, the government of Georgia (GoG) began a technical review of its main social assistance program, Targeted Social Assistance (TSA).
... See More + The government was concerned that too many poor people would not be covered by the TSA and, conversely, that too many others would benefit from it, and therefore drain resources.This report assesses the policies taken concerning the TSA in 2015 and provides an initial and basic set of recommendations for building a comprehensive and efficient social protection and labor system. The various policy actions were supported by sound technical work that is presented and evaluated in this report. The study comprises the estimation of the formula to determine eligibility to the program, the analysis of the expected distributional impact of the policies undertaken, and a brief discussion on the pretesting of the implementation of the changes and the compensation measures adopted soon after initiating implementation. The report does not delve into the revision of the administrative and business processes of the program. It includes only a brief description of them in order to provide a context for the technical work and recommendations about how to continue improving them. In this way, the report also aims to set the agenda for future policy actions and to build institutional memory. The latter is of particular importance given the high turnover of officials (technical staff and decision makers) working with the TSA since 2013. In addition, the report provides guidance about next steps in light of its findings and the political actions taken by the government.
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The development objective of the Second Shared Prosperity Development Policy Loan Project for Panama of the Development Policy Financing (DPF) series are to support the Government of Panama’s efforts to (i) strengthen the frameworks for international tax transparency, financial integrity, and fiscal management; (ii) strengthen institutional arrangements to support social assistance and education; and (iii) enhance the regulatory and financial sustainability framework of service delivery in the energy and water sectors.
... See More + The proposed Development Policy Financing (DPF) is the second operation in a programmatic series of three, aimed at accompanying Panama’s efforts to advance the country’s shared prosperity agenda. The operation supports reforms in three main areas of the Government’s Economic and Social Strategy 2015-19: (i) international tax transparency, financial integrity, and fiscal management; (ii) social inclusion; and (iii) water and energy service delivery. The proposed operation, for an amount of US 300 million dollars, is consistent with the World Bank (WB) Group’s Country Partnership Framework for 2015-2018. Over the past 15 years, sound macroeconomic and structural policies have contributed to remarkable economic growth and poverty reduction in Panama.
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This study conducted a randomized control trial in rural Burkina Faso to estimate the impact of alternative cash transfer delivery mechanisms on education, health, and household welfare outcomes.
... See More + The two-year pilot program randomly distributed cash transfers that were either conditional or unconditional and were given to either mothers or fathers. Conditionality was linked to older children enrolling in school and attending regularly and younger children receiving preventive health check-ups. Compared with the control group, cash transfers improve children's education and health and household socioeconomic conditions. For school enrollment and most child health outcomes, conditional cash transfers outperform unconditional cash transfers. Giving cash to mothers does not lead to significantly better child health or education outcomes, and there is evidence that money given to fathers improves young children's health, particularly during years of poor rainfall. Cash transfers to fathers also yield relatively more household investment in livestock, cash crops, and improved housing.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7730 JUN 27, 2016
Ratings for First, Second and Third Support to Social Protection System Projects for Rwanda were as follows: outcomes were satisfactory, risk to global environment outcome was negligible or low, Bank performance was satisfactory, and Borrower performance was satisfactory.
... See More + Some of the lessons learned included: (i) sector policy reform takes time and requires Government commitment and continuity for success; (ii) coordinated efforts across development partners well aligned with Government priorities provide important support to reforms; (iii) the programmatic Development Policy Loan (DPL) has provided a powerful instrument in support of Rwanda’s efforts to establish an effective and efficient integrated Social Protection System (SPS), responding flexibly to support its rapid evolution; (iv) development of consolidated Management Information System (MIS) requires several iterative steps and takes time; programs and projects that support this type of activity should factor this into implementation schedules; and (v) poverty targeting can take different forms and it is important to balance community prioritization and engagement with national, survey-based poverty categorizations.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR3785 JUN 23, 2016
The relationship between violence and chronic poverty has been studied mostly in the context of war or long-term episodes of conflict. In contrast to previous studies, this paper explores whether violence that does not include the shattering of infrastructure impacts the chance that poverty may remain chronic.
... See More + A long-run perspective is gained by analyzing unique, recently gathered panel data at the municipality level in the Mexican context, covering the period from 1990 to 2010. Violence is measured as the number of non-drug-related homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. A municipality is classified as chronically poor if the percentage of people in food poverty remains above the national average during two consecutive periods. Econometric analysis is carried out through discrete choice models. Putting the results in context, consider of a chronically poor municipality in 2005 in which average household income is below the 25th percentile in 2000. If this municipality had a 10.47 non-drug-related homicide rate, the 75th percentile in 2000, its chance of remaining chronically poor into 2005 was almost double the corresponding chance of a municipality with the same mean household income but at the national median of violence in 2000 (zero non-drug-related homicides).
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7706 JUN 16, 2016
Ratings for the Social Investment Program Project for Bangladesh were as follows: outcome was moderately unsatisfactory, risk to development outcome was significant, Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: (i) in rural areas, where citizens lie outside the reach of the state, facilitating the formation of strong institutions is fundamental to enabling the poor to access different sources of social and economic prosperity; (ii) gender inclusion, including female leadership, in village development programs is a positive but insufficient tool to ensure high quality, sustained and effective leadership over a multi-year program period; and (iii) community-driven development (CDD) projects offer a ready platform for outreach to disaster-affected populations, but additional disaster-related activities require thorough assessment of an implementing agency’s capacity to adapt, to manage quick influxes of Additional Financing (AF), and to reach disaster-affected populations outside of a project area.
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Project Performance Assessment Report 106442 JUN 16, 2016
This brief has the analysis of poverty, growth and inequality in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India and is home to 200 million people, 60 million of who are poor.
... See More + The pace of poverty reduction in the state has been slower than the rest of the country. Poverty is widespread. The central and eastern districts in particular have very high levels of poverty. The state is also experiencing widening consumption inequality in urban areas. Growth is slow and is driven mainly by services.
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This brief has the analysis of poverty, growth and inequality in Odisha, India. Odisha is the eleventh most populous state in India and home to 42 million people.
... See More + Poverty reduced sharply in the state after 2005, but is still very high. Districts in the south and west are among the poorest in the country and the state is home to 14 million poor. Growth is higher than in some Low Income States, but has slipped below the national average in the recent period. Consumption inequality has increased marginally after 2005, mostly in urban areas.
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This brief talks about poverty, growth and inequality in Jharkhand, India. Jharkhand is the fourteenth most populous state in India and home to 33 million people, 13 million of who are poor.
... See More + There was rapid poverty reduction in the state between 1994 and 2005. Thereafter, the state has lagged behind other Low Income States in reducing poverty. Poverty is among the highest in the country today, particularly in the state’s southern and eastern districts. Growth, which is driven mainly by industry, is slow and volatile. Consumption inequality in the state increased marginally after 2005, but remains lower than in most other states.
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This report presents graphical and tabular presentation of poverty; demographics; main sources of income; household consumption expenditure; assets and education; and services.
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Chhattisgarh is India’s 18th most populous state and home to 26 million people, 10 million of who are poor. The state has the highest poverty rate in the country.
... See More + After a decade of status quo poverty started declining in the state post 2005. The pace of poverty reduction however has been slower than in other low income states. The state has lagged behind in growth as well. Uneven performance by industry puts growth at risk. In addition, consumption inequality has increased, particularly in urban areas.
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Madhya Pradesh is the fifth most populous state in India and home to 73 million people. Poverty in Madhya Pradesh was similar to the national average in 1994, but since then poverty reduction has lagged the rest of the country.
... See More + Consumption inequality has increased marginally during this period. The state today has high levels of poverty, especially in the eastern and southern districts, and is home to 24 million poor. Growth is lower than in other states, and is driven mainly by industry and services.
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Rajasthan is the 7th most populous state in India, home to 69 million people of whom 10 million are poor. Since 2005, the state has made tremendous progress in poverty reduction supported by faster growth that had a stronger than usual impact on poverty reduction.
... See More + In addition, consumption inequality increased only marginally in this period. As a result, Rajasthan stands out among India’s low-income states. However, some areas within the state have yet to benefit from progress and growth tends to be volatile.
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Bihar is the 3rd most populous state in India. It is home to over 100 million people, 36 million of whom are poor. Bihar is one of the faster growing Low Income States.
... See More + Since 2005, the pace of poverty reduction in the state has picked up. Despite this, large parts of the state remain very poor. Consumption inequality has remained largely unchanged. Growth is driven mainly by services, but fluctuations in agricultural output put it at risk.
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