Person:
Monsalve, Emma
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Social protection and jobs,
Education,
Health and poverty
Degrees
Departments
Social Protection and Labor Global Practice for Africa, World Bank
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Emma Monsalve is a Social Protection Specialist (STC consultant) in the World Bank’s Social Protection and Labor Global Practice in Africa. She joined the Bank in 2014 and worked with the Social Protection and Labor Global Practice and the Poverty and Equity Global Practice in the LAC region. Before joining the Bank, she worked with the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Central Bank of Colombia. She has developed technical and analytical expertise in a wide array of human development topics, including social protection and labor, poverty, education and health. She has participated in several lending operations such as The Rwanda Strengthening Social Protection Project, the Honduras Additional Financing Social Protection Program, Bono 10 mil, and is currently task team member of the Social Protection and Skills Development Project in São Tomé and Príncipe. Complementary to her operational experience, she has led and participated in several Advisory Services and Analytics, Public Expenditure Reviews, Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCDs), the ASPIRE and the LAC Equity Lab (LEL) database and The Universal Basic Income Study. She holds an M.A. in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Antioquia in Colombia.
Publication Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
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Publication
Public Works Programs and Crime: Evidence for El Salvador
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)Most evaluations of public works programs in developing countries study their effects on poverty reduction and other labor market outcomes (job creation, earnings, and participation). However, very few look at other collateral effects, such as the incidence of violence. Between 2009 and 2014, El Salvador implemented the Temporary Income Support Program, which aimed to guarantee a temporary minimum level of income to extremely poor urban families for six months, as well as provide beneficiaries with experience in social and productive activities at the municipal level. Making use of a panel data set at the municipal level for 2007 to 2014, with monthly data on different types of crime rates and social program benefits by municipalities, this paper assesses the effects of the program on crime rates in municipalities in El Salvador. There are several possible channels through which the Temporary Income Support Program can affect crime. Since the program is associated with cash transfers to beneficiaries, a reduction in economically motivated crimes is expected (income effect). But since the program enforces work requirements and community participation, this could generate a negative impact on crime, because the beneficiaries will have less time to commit crime and because of community deterrence effects. Overall, the paper finds a robust and significant negative impact of the Temporary Income Support Program on most types of crimes in the municipalities with the intervention. Moreover, the negative effects of the program on some types of crime rates hold several years after participation. Positive spillover effects for municipalities hold within a radius of 50 kilometers. -
Publication
Realizing the Full Potential of Social Safety Nets in Africa
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018-07-17)Poverty has been declining in Sub-Saharan Africa, but millions are still poor or vulnerable. To address this ongoing and complex problem, all countries in the region have now deployed social safety net programs as part of their core development plans. The number of programs has skyrocketed since the mid-2000s, although many interventions are still modest in size. This notable shift in social policy reflects an embrace of the role that social safety nets can play in the fight against poverty and vulnerability, and more generally in building human capital and spurring economic growth. Realizing the Full Potential of Social Safety Nets in Africa provides evidence that positive impacts on equity, resilience, and opportunity are growing, and it is clear that these programs can be good investments. For the potential of social safety nets to be realized, however, they need to expand with smart technical and design choices. Beyond technical considerations, and at least as important, this book argues that a series of decisive shifts needs to occur in three critical spheres: political, institutional, and financial: First, to recognize the role of politics in offering opportunities for expansion and in guiding design and program choice; Second, to anchor safety net programs in strong institutional arrangements that facilitate their expansion and sustainability; And third, to build sustainable financing through greater efficiency, more varied and predictable resources, and shock-responsive resources. Ignoring these spheres may lead to technically sound, but practically impossible, choices and designs. A deliberate focus on these areas is essential if social safety nets are to be brought to scale and sustained at scale. Only then will their full potential and their contribution to the fight against poverty and vulnerability be realized.