Publication: Tanzania Poverty, Growth, and Public Transfers : Options for a National Productive Safety Net Program
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2011-09-21
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2014-02-03
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Tanzania has made significant economic progress in the recent past, with per capita national income almost doubling from United States (U.S.) 230 dollars equivalent in the late-1990s to U.S. 440 dollars. This report explores the role safety nets and transfers can play in reducing poverty more rapidly in Tanzania. It presents the potential need and costs, to inform a debate of options. The report reviews existing programs, and provides recommendations for an action plan to strengthen the current system and develop a more unified national program, one which will have a greater impact on poverty levels at reasonable cost, in line with the Government's poverty reduction strategy, known by the Swahili acronym MKUKUTA. The report looks at transfers to the poor, including public works employment, subsidies, food distribution programs, cash and in-kind transfers, and vouchers. This paper is organized in following chapters: chapter one gives introduction; attempts to lay out what the options might be, within an analytical assessment of the nature of poverty and shocks faced by the poor in Tanzania is given in chapter two; chapter three examines the effectiveness of existing transfer programs; at a strategic level it then evaluates the capacity of the state to spend on transfers, and how safety net programs can fit into the wider national development agenda is given in chapter four. The paper concludes by discussing some of the institutional and administrative concerns that effect program design in chapter five; and outlines for a series of immediate steps to improve the effectiveness of existing programs; as well as a medium-term strategy for moving towards a more unified national program is discussed in chapter six.
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“World Bank. 2011. Tanzania Poverty, Growth, and Public Transfers : Options for a National Productive Safety Net Program. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16788 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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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. 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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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