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del Ninno, Carlo

Global Practice for Social Protection and Labor, The World Bank
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Social protection
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Global Practice for Social Protection and Labor, The World Bank
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Last updated: January 31, 2023
Biography
Carlo del Ninno is a senior economist in the Social Protection Africa Unit of the World Bank, working on several aspects of safety net policies and programs. He previously worked in the Social Protection and Labor practice of the Human Development Network at the World Bank. Over the past 10 years, he has worked on analytical and operational issues on safety net programs covering several countries in Africa and South Asia. Before joining the World Bank, he worked on food security for the International Food Policy Research Institute in Bangladesh, and on poverty analysis in several countries for the Policy Research Division of the World Bank and Cornell University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and has published on safety nets, food policy, and food security.
Citations 28 Scopus

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Publication
    For Protection and Promotion : The Design and Implementation of Effective Safety Nets
    (Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008) Grosh, Margaret; del Ninno, Carlo
    All countries fund safety net programs for the protection of their people. Though an increasing number of safety net programs are extremely well thought out, adroitly implemented, and demonstrably effective, many others are not. This book aims to assist those concerned with social policy to understand why countries need social assistance, what kind of safety programs will serve those best and how to develop such programs for maximum effectiveness. Safety nets are part of a broader poverty reduction strategy interacting with and working alongside of social insurance; health, education, and financial services; the provision of utilities and roads; and other policies aimed at reducing poverty and managing risk. Though useful, safety nets are not a panacea, and there are real concerns over whether they are affordable and administratively feasible or desirable in light of the various negative incentives they might create. In most settings where there is political will to do so, such concerns can be managed through a number of prudent design and implementation features. Much information and innovation exist on these topics; this book summarizes, references, and builds on this knowledge base to promote well-crafted safety nets and safety net policy.
  • Publication
    Burkina Faso Social Safety Nets
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-01) Cherrier, Cecile; del Ninno, Carlo; Razmara, Setareh
    This report provides an inventory of safety net programs in Burkina Faso and suggests policy measures that could increase their coverage, efficiency, and sustainability. It shows that the scope and coverage of the existing safety nets is too limited. Most interventions are small and temporary. On average, excluding subsidies, annual spending on safety nets constituted only 0.6 percent of GDP while about 20 percent of the population is food-insecure and chronically poor. Food transfers are the main safety net program, accounting for 69 percent of total spending and over 80 percent of all beneficiaries. Most of the financing for safety nets is external. The report recommends developing a safety net system that adequately responds to the needs of the poor.
  • Publication
    Safety Nets in Transition Economies
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-01) del Ninno, Carlo
    Transition economies are commonly understood to be countries that have moved or are moving from a primarily state-planned to a market-based economic system with private ownership of assets and market-supporting institutions. These countries include those of the former Soviet Union, those of Eastern and Central Europe closely allied with the Soviet Union and those in Asia and Africa recently undergoing market transformations of various degrees, such as China, Mongolia and Vietnam.
  • Publication
    Adaptive Social Protection: Building Resilience to Shocks
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-05-20) Bowen, Thomas; del Ninno, Carlo; Andrews, Colin; Coll-Black, Sarah; Gentilini, Ugo; Johnson, Kelly; Kawasoe, Yasuhiro; Kryeziu, Adea; Maher, Barry; Williams, Asha
    Adaptive social protection (ASP) helps to build the resilience of poor and vulnerable households to the impacts of large, covariate shocks, such as natural disasters, economic crises, pandemics, conflict, and forced displacement. Through the provision of transfers and services directly to these households, ASP supports their capacity to prepare for, cope with, and adapt to the shocks they face—before, during, and after these shocks occur. Over the long term, by supporting these three capacities, ASP can provide a pathway to a more resilient state for households that may otherwise lack the resources to move out of chronically vulnerable situations. Adaptive Social Protection: Building Resilience to Shocks outlines an organizing framework for the design and implementation of ASP, providing insights into the ways in which social protection systems can be made more capable of building household resilience. By way of its four building blocks—programs, information, finance, and institutional arrangements and partnerships—the framework highlights both the elements of existing social protection systems that are the cornerstones for building household resilience, as well as the additional investments that are central to enhancing their ability to generate these outcomes. In this report, the ASP framework and its building blocks have been elaborated primarily in relation to natural disasters and associated climate change. Nevertheless, many of the priorities identified within each building block are also pertinent to the design and implementation of ASP across other types of shocks, providing a foundation for a structured approach to the advancement of this rapidly evolving and complex agenda.
  • Publication
    Niger : Food Security and Safety Nets
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-02) Aker, Jenny C.; del Ninno, Carlo; Dorosh, Paul A.; Mulder-Sibanda, Menno; Razmara, Setareh
    This study aims to assist the Government of Niger in developing a multi-sectoral approach to reducing the population s vulnerability to food insecurity. The study reviews food security policies and programs in Niger, and provides an action plan for strengthening the existing system and developing an effective safety net strategy. The study finds that targeting of food aid has been either weak with significant leakages. Moreover, although the need to support poor and food insecure households is substantial, safety nets are small, receive limited funding, and are designed for emergency food crises. The study recommends to improve the efficiency and scope of safety net programs in Niger and to promote effective strategies to improve food availability and the emergency response systems.
  • Publication
    Cameroon Social Safety Nets
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-06) del Ninno, Carlo
    This report lays the groundwork for a safety net system that can address the needs of the poor in Cameroon. Cameroon does not have a coordinated system of safety nets; rather, small, isolated interventions which together do not address the needs. Moreover, food and fuel price subsidies which mainly benefit the rich cost around 2 percent of GDP/year much more than total safety net spending. There is a need for a social protection strategy and an effective safety net system to address chronic poverty and food insecurity in Cameroon. This strategy should identify risks and vulnerabilities so they can be addressed by appropriate programs. Investments in human capital and in geographic areas most affected by poverty the North and Far North should be priority.
  • Publication
    Social Protection Programs for Africa's Drylands
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-08-09) del Ninno, Carlo; Fallavier, Pierre
    Social Protection Programs for Africa’s Drylands explores the role of social protection in promoting the well-being and prosperity of people living in dryland regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Based on a review of recent experience, it argues that social protection policies and programs have an important role in promoting the resilience of the people residing in these areas. Social protection programs, when well designed and carefully implemented at scale, can reduce vulnerability to droughts and other shocks and promote coping capacity. If present trends continue, by 2030 dryland regions of East and West Africa will be home to an estimated 429 million people, up to 24 percent of whom will be living in chronic poverty. Many others will depend on livelihood strategies that are sensitive to the shocks that will hit the region with increasing frequency and severity, making them vulnerable to falling into transient poverty. Social protection programs will be needed in the drylands to provide support to those unable to meet their basic needs. Some of these people will require long-term support, while others will require periodic short-term support because of income losses due to shocks (for example, crop failure following a drought) or as a result of lifecycle changes (for example, loss of a breadwinner). Safety net programs can increase resilience in the short term by improving coping capacity of vulnerable households. Rapidly scalable safety nets that provide cash, food, or other resources to shock-affected households can allow them to recover from unexpected shocks. Scaling up an existing safety net program can be far less expensive than relying on appeals for humanitarian assistance to meet urgent needs. Social protection programs can increase resilience over the longer term by reducing sensitivity to shocks of vulnerable households especially if combined with other development programs. Providing predictable support to chronically poor households and enabling them to invest in productive assets and access basic social services can effectively reduce these households’ sensitivity to future shocks, help them participate in the growth process, and take advantage of the investments made in agricultural and pastoralist activities proposed in the drylands.