Publication: South Africa - Social Assistance Programs and Systems Review
Loading...
Date
2021
ISSN
Published
2021
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Despite being an upper middle-income country, South Africa’s high inequality and the long-lasting legacies of apartheid mean that the country is faced with numerous development challenges, many of which are characteristic of countries with much lower incomes. Poverty and inequality remain two of the country’s most pressing concerns. Alongside extreme inequalities, South Africa struggles with high unemployment, low labour market participation rates, and widespread poverty, including pockets of deep deprivation. In this context, social assistance is a critical policy response on the part of government and represents one of the important successes of the post-apartheid era. This report provides a review of the South African social assistance system and consists of three broad thrusts. First, the review provides a sense of the operation of the social assistance system, the types of benefits it provides through its key programmes, and the tools and administrative systems that support its functioning. Second, it reviews the performance of the social assistance system in terms of coverage, targeting, benefit incidence, adequacy, cost-effectiveness, and outcomes. Third, it assesses the extent to which the system is aligned and equipped to address the so-called “triple challenge” of poverty, inequality, and unemployment as shown by data, and reviews its limitations in the design, delivery systems, and institutional coordination at different administrative levels. The core focus of this paper is on social assistance and, specifically, the system of social grants in South Africa.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2021. South Africa - Social Assistance Programs and Systems Review. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37713 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Pakistan - Towards an Integrated National Safety Net System : Assisting Poor and Vulnerable Households, An Analysis of Pakistan's Main Cash Transfer Program(Washington, DC, 2013-01-24)The vision of Pakistan's social protection strategy to reach the poor and vulnerable (2007) is 'to develop an integrated and comprehensive social protection system, covering all the population, but especially the poorest and the most vulnerable'. Consistent with this vision, the goals of the strategy are identified as: 1) to support chronically poor households and protect them against destitution, food insecurity, exploitation and social exclusion; 2) to protect poor and vulnerable households from the impacts of adverse shocks to their consumption and well-being that, if not mitigated, would push non poor households into poverty, and poor households into deeper poverty; and 3) to promote investment in human and physical assets, including health, nutrition, and education, by poor households capable of ensuring their resilience in the medium run and of interrupting the intergenerational cycle of poverty. This vision is fully consistent with the World Bank's social protection and labor strategy for 2012-2022, which recognizes that effective social protection and labor policies and programs help create the resilience, equity and access to jobs and opportunities essential to save lives, reduce poverty and promote sustainable growth. The focus of this report is Pakistan's main safety net program: the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), which is only one part of the broader poverty reduction and social protection interventions. In particular, social protection includes labor policy, contributory social insurance, and social care services as well as safety nets. Pakistan's social protection system comprises safety nets, social security and employment promotion and protection.Publication Timor-Leste Social Assistance : Public Expenditure and Program Performance Report(Washington, DC, 2013-06-24)The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste is a young, post-conflict nation endowed with significant oil revenues. Timor-Leste has one of the highest birth rates in the world (2.41 percent population growth) with over 44 percent of the population below 15 years of age (Timor-Leste Census, 2010). Since the 2006 crisis, the Government of Timor-Leste has shown a clear commitment to social assistance. Globally, poverty persistence is closely related to major life-cycle disadvantages resulting in low human capital outcomes, and yet large-scale poverty remains unaddressed by current social protection efforts. This expenditure review and performance evaluation report is part of the technical assistance provided to Timor-Leste's Ministry of Social Solidarity (MSS) in response to the lack of any national level evaluation of the safety nets system since its inception. To that end, this study seeks to assess the social assistance policy, as well as the performance of the main MSS social assistance programs. More specifically, the aims are to: (1) determine whether existing programs are efficient, effective and sufficient in addressing main vulnerabilities; (2) assess the adequacy and composition of the allocation of financial resources for delivery of government social assistance; (3) review operational and administrative issues; and (4) make recommendations for improving the delivery of social safety nets. Some of the questions that this report seeks to answer include: what are the main risks facing the vulnerable groups in Timor-Leste?; what types of programs are in place to address those risks?; is the range of programs and their financial allocations appropriate for the country's needs?; is the institutional arrangement adequate?; are these programs effective and reaching the intended beneficiaries?; and are they implemented cost-effectively? The report is organized as follows: chapter one gives context, purpose and conceptual framework. Chapter two describes the attributes of the poorest 40 percent and the main vulnerabilities and risks that low-income families in Timor-Leste face. Chapter three provides a historical overview of the social assistance policy and programs that emerged after the 2006-2007 conflict. A summary of levels and trends in aggregate public expenditure on safety nets, composition of spending as well as program-specific budget analysis is presented in chapter four. Chapter five assesses performance of the safety nets by analyzing coverage, targeting effectiveness, and generosity. Chapter six examines impact and targeting efficiency using simulation techniques. Chapter seven assesses implementation capacity, and business processes, and in particular, the following: ID systems, enrollment, payments arrangements and monitoring and evaluation. Chapter eight concludes with implications for social response and policy considerations.Publication Kenya Social Protection Sector Review : Executive Report(Nairobi, 2012-06)There is now broad consensus among policymakers that social protection is a powerful way to fight poverty and promote inclusive growth. This international consensus is most clearly articulated in the African Union's Social Policy Framework (SPF), which was endorsed by all African heads of state in 2009. The SPF explains that social protection includes 'social security measures and furthering income security; and also the pursuit of an integrated policy approach that has a strong developmental focus, such as job creation' the SPF commits governments to progressively realizing a minimum package of essential social protection that covers essential health care and benefits for children, informal workers, the unemployed, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Kenya has a long history of investing in social protection. Social protection in Kenya is defined as 'policies and actions, including legislative measures, that enhance the capacity of and opportunities for the poor and vulnerable to improve and sustain their lives, livelihoods, and welfare, that enable income-earners and their dependents to maintain a reasonable level of income through decent work, and that ensure access to affordable healthcare, social security, and social assistance.' However, the coverage of its social insurance schemes and safety net programs has tended to be low and their effectiveness limited. In 2005/06 the rate of poverty was 47 percent, although poverty rates were markedly higher in rural areas (50 percent) than in urban areas (34 percent). They also varied among provinces from a high of 74 percent in the North Eastern province to a low of 22 percent in Nairobi. This persistent poverty highlights the fact that social protection can play an important role in the effort to reduce poverty and promote human development in Kenya.Publication South Africa Social Assistance Programs and Systems Review(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-05)South Africa’s social assistance system represents a major intervention by government in addressing the deprivation amongst the country’s population. The system is extensive in terms of both the number of people it covers, directly and indirectly, as well as in terms of the amount of scarce resources it consumes. This brife summarizes findings and recommendations from a study that assesses the performance of South Africa’s social assistance programs and systems, based on recent national household survey data and program administrative information, in three broad thrusts. Firstly, the study provides a sense of the operation of the social assistance system, the types of benefits it provides through its key programmes, and the tools and administrative systems that support its functioning. Secondly, it reviews the performance of the social assistance system in terms of coverage, targeting, benefit incidence, adequacy, cost-effectiveness, and outcomes. Thirdly, it assesses the extent to which the system is aligned with and equipped to address the so-called “triple challenge” of poverty, inequality, and unemployment as shown by data, and reviews some limitations in the design, delivery systems, and institutional coordination at different administrative levels.Publication Review of Program Design and Beneficiary Profiles of Social Welfare Programs in Mongolia(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015)The report begins with a summary of programs reviewed, a description of the PMT targeting system, and the profile of individuals in the database. It then presents key findings from the review of budgets and the analysis of SW Admin/PMT data on program coverage and distributional equity of program benefits. The report concludes with a discussion of policy implications and recommendations that emerged from the key findings and the process of data gathering and analysis. The Annexes include program descriptions based on the corresponding laws; the estimated benefit levels per individual; government expenditure and budget trends for each program since 2010; and information on social welfare program beneficiaries, by program grouping.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication The Journey Ahead(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31)The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.