Social Safety Nets Primer

28 items available

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This series is intended to provide a practical resource for those engaged in the design and implementation of safety net programs around the world. Readers will find information on good practices for a variety of types of interventions, country contexts, themes and target groups, as well as current thinking on the role of social safety nets in the broader development agenda.

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    Levels and Patterns of Safety Net Spending in Developing and Transition Countries
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-01) Andrews, Colin
    This paper offers a new set of data compiled from individual World Bank country reports and covering 87 developing and transition countries during 1996-2006. The findings show that mean spending on safety nets is 1.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and median spending is 1.4 percent of GDP across developing and transition countries. For about half of these countries, spending falls between 1 and 2 percent of GDP. Some variation is apparent. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, for example, spend considerably less than 1 percent of GDP, while spending on social safety nets in Ethiopia and Malawi is nearly 4.5 percent of GDP because international aid is counted, but would be more like 0.5 percent if only domestically financed spending were counted. Other high-spending countries, Mauritius, South Africa, and the Slovak Republic, finance their safety nets domestically. Spending on safety nets is less variable than spending on social protection or the social sectors.
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    Social Safety Nets in World Bank Lending and Analytical Work : FY2002–2007
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-01) Andrews, Colin
    During FY 2002-2007 the World Bank engaged with 118 countries on social safety net (SSN) issues, providing lending in 68, analytic products in 86, training in 87, and a combined package of all three services in 42. A review of these safety net activities shows a strong diversity with respect to the regions, types of intervention, sectors and financing instruments. This reflects evolving thought within the Bank with respect to the role of safety nets in broad development strategies, not just immediate or temporary programs. The findings of the portfolio review take into account all project and analytic documents where a thematic code of 'social safety nets' was assigned. The analysis shows a noticeable variability over time, particularly as the portfolio expanded when large or multiple countries faced economic crises. The regional distribution of safety net activities reflects the dominance of Latin America, with emerging activities in the African and South Asian context.
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    Management Information Systems in Social Safety Net Programs : A Look at Accountability and Control Mechanisms
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-01) Andrews, Colin
    The paper aims to provide practitioners working on Social Safety Net (SSN) projects with practical ways to use information management practices to mitigate accountability and control risks. The paper outlines a Management Information System (MIS) framework for SSN projects, as well as identifying risk mitigation strategies to be considered in MIS design and evaluation. The analysis draws on several Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs in Latin America that incorporate industry standards and information management practices for both automated and paper-based projects.