Publication: Lesotho : A Safety Net to End Extreme Poverty
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2006-10-16
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2013-10-02
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The objective of this study is to help the government to decide what role safety net and transfer programs should play in the coming 5 to 10 years. It seeks to answer following three questions: (i) can increased spending on transfers accelerate poverty reduction in the medium to long term?; (ii) which groups and aspects of poverty will it make sense to target with transfers?; and (iii) which programs will have the greatest impact at an affordable cost? This study examined such programs in Lesotho both ones that currently exist, and the potential scope for using instruments that may not currently exist. It also widened its scope to examine all programs that transfer public resources directly to households such as agricultural subsidies and university bursaries. It analyzed them through the lens of their impact on the poor because it is important to evaluate public spending and trade-offs in the context of where public funds are currently being spent and what distributional impact they are having. The assumption underlying this analysis throughout the report is that the over-riding objective of both the government and its development partners is to reduce the high levels of poverty and inequality that persist in Lesotho. This report is organized as follows: chapter one explores the country context and fiscal space for public expenditure on social safety nets. Chapter two examines the dynamics of poverty in Lesotho and the characteristics of the major vulnerable groups and discusses which of these groups it will make most sense for the social safety net to target. Chapter three analyzes Lesotho's existing transfer programs. Chapter four reviews institutional and capacity issues. Chapter five presents options for a long-term package of social safety nets and associated costs, makes some recommendations for strengthening existing programs, and suggests which type of programs it might be cost-effective to expand.
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“World Bank. 2006. Lesotho : A Safety Net to End Extreme Poverty. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16020 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Lesotho : A Safety Net to End Extreme Poverty(Washington, DC, 2013-06-13)The objective of this study is to help the government to decide what role safety net and transfer programs should play in the coming 5 to 10 years. It seeks to answer following three questions: (i) can increased spending on transfers accelerate poverty reduction in the medium to long term?; (ii) which groups and aspects of poverty will it make sense to target with transfers?; and (iii) which programs will have the greatest impact at an affordable cost? This study examined such programs in Lesotho both ones that currently exist, and the potential scope for using instruments that may not currently exist. It also widened its scope to examine all programs that transfer public resources directly to households such as agricultural subsidies and university bursaries. It analyzed them through the lens of their impact on the poor because it is important to evaluate public spending and trade-offs in the context of where public funds are currently being spent and what distributional impact they are having. The assumption underlying this analysis throughout the report is that the over-riding objective of both the government and its development partners is to reduce the high levels of poverty and inequality that persist in Lesotho. This report is organized as follows: chapter one explores the country context and fiscal space for public expenditure on social safety nets. Chapter two examines the dynamics of poverty in Lesotho and the characteristics of the major vulnerable groups and discusses which of these groups it will make most sense for the social safety net to target. Chapter three analyzes Lesotho's existing transfer programs. Chapter four reviews institutional and capacity issues. Chapter five presents options for a long-term package of social safety nets and associated costs, makes some recommendations for strengthening existing programs, and suggests which type of programs it might be cost-effective to expand.Publication Lesotho : A Safety Net to End Extreme Poverty(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06)This report shows that while more inclusive growth is the ultimate solution to poverty in Lesotho, the country can and should use selective social transfers to reduce poverty more rapidly among the extreme poor. But because the majority of the transfers are received by people who are not among the extreme poor there is room for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of spending on safety nets which. These programs should be productive and concentrate on the extreme poor Basotho. In the long run, Lesotho should move towards a more consolidated safety net and strengthen existing programs, such as the Child Grants Program, that already provide some important and positive outcomes and enjoy strong popular and political support.Publication Tanzania Poverty, Growth, and Public Transfers : Options for a National Productive Safety Net Program(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-09)This report reviews the role that safety nets have played in Tanzania and explores options on how they can contribute in accelerating poverty reduction in Tanzania, focusing on mechanisms for giving transfers to the poor. The report shows that given the large numbers of poor in Tanzania and the country s limited resources, it is essential that safety net interventions be well-targeted and efficiently organized. Significant amounts of money are already being spent on transfer programs in Tanzania, but their impact has been limited. The report recommends that for Tanzania, a single intervention will not be enough to effectively tackle extreme poverty but a combination of different type of cash transfer options is more likely to make a difference in the strategy to reduce extreme poverty and food insecurity.Publication Zambia : Using Social Safety Nets to Accelerate Poverty Reduction and Share Prosperity(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-03)Despite robust annual growth of 5.7 percent in the recent past, poverty in Zambia remains stubbornly high. The poverty headcount rate is 60 percent (as of 2010), and 39 percent of the population live in extreme poverty, with insufficient consumption to meet their daily minimum food requirements. Chronic malnutrition remains very high, with 47 percent of children under the age of 5 being stunted in 2010, close to the high levels of the early 1990s. The report recommends a unified National Safety Net Program comprising cash transfers and public works to reach the poorest 20 percent of the population. The estimated cost is about US$100 million per year. This is less than 2 percent of public spending and around 15 percent of the current subsidies programs benefiting the non-poor.Publication Mali Social Safety Nets(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-01)This report shows that Mali s safety nets are insufficient to address the needs of the population and suggests ways to improve them. There is a need to devise a set of cost effective programs to expand the scope and coverage of the national safety net. Given that any reform plan must be financially feasible, the government must allocate its scarce resources to programs that are well targeted and efficient. Creating the fiscal room for safety nets will also depend on political will. The government needs to: (i) strengthen the strategic, institutional, and financial frameworks for designing, implementing, and monitoring and evaluating safety nets; and (ii) increase the effectiveness of the safety net system by strengthening existing programs and designing new ones.
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