Publication: Evidence at your Fingertips Series: Operational and Design Choices of Social Assistance Programs
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2024-06-14
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2024-06-14
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To help policy makers make practical programmatic design choices, the “Evidence at Your Fingertips Series” explains how the design of cash transfer programs can affect outcomes. The review is largely based on impact evaluations published in the past decade. The series is launched with an initial set of five thematic briefs on benefit size, timing (frequency and duration), transfer modality (cash versus in-kind), payment mechanism (physical versus digital), and gender. While the impacts of cash transfers can vary depending on the context, this overview brief aims to present key take aways on how design features can impact cash transfer outcomes.
Evidence at Your Fingertips Series:
• Evidence Briefs on Cash Transfers: Overview and Ten Key Messages
• Cash Transfer Size: How Much Is Enough?
• Cash Transfer Timing: How Transfer Duration and Frequency Contribute to Outcomes?
• Cash Transfer Payment Mechanisms: Do Outcomes Vary According to Payment Mechanism?
• Cash or In-Kind Transfers: Do Outcomes Vary According to Transfer Modality?
• Can Safety Nets Reduce Gender-Based Violence? How?
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“World Bank; Innovations for Poverty Action. 2024. Evidence at your Fingertips Series: Operational and Design Choices of Social Assistance Programs. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41715 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Cash or In-Kind Transfers(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-14)As a part of “Evidence at Your Fingertips Series”, this note summarizes how the transfer modality can affect outcomes based on a literature review of impact evaluations published in the past decade. In general, cash transfers appear to be more effective than in-kind transfers or vouchers at improving a range of outcomes, including decreasing monetary poverty, improving health and nutrition, and increasing food security, across diverse country contexts, program objectives, and design features. However, identifying a superior modality can be challenging due to the heterogeneity in context, program design, and objectives of the studies reviewed, despite evidence generally favoring the effectiveness of cash transfers and acknowledging the enhanced effectiveness of a combination of modalities, referred to as cash plus, in specific cases. For example, in-kind transfers may be preferred when the markets are not functioning, have limited stock, or when programs are designed to influence behaviors, such as consumption patterns, or provide basic needs in the face of crises.Publication Cash Transfer Timing(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-14)As a part of “Evidence at Your Fingertips Series”, this note summarizes the impacts of cash transfers based on the duration and frequency of transfers. The review is largely based on the impact evaluations published in the past decade, finding that the impact of cash transfers varies based on duration, depending on whether they are distributed over a short (24 months or less) or long (more than 24 months) period. Cash transfers distributed over a long period provide predictability that is associated with greater impact, particularly with transfers distributed to improve children’s health, nutrition and education, and employment and labor. A longer duration of transfers allows for households to plan, which in turn allows households to engage in riskier yet more-profitable income-generating activities, when available. While the evidence suggests that frequency of cash disbursements alone does not significantly affect outcomes, it is important to remember that the confluence of size, frequency, and duration of cash transfers may produce different results than any single factor in isolation.Publication Cash Transfer Payment Mechanisms(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-14)As a part of “Evidence at Your Fingertips Series”, this note aims to summarize the impacts of cash transfers based on payment mechanisms which have diversified greatly in recent years. The review is largely based on the impact evaluation published in the past decade, finding that the payment mechanism—whether physical (in-person) or digital— does not have notably different impacts on how recipients use cash or on key outcome indicators related to consumption, gender, and financial inclusion. That said, digital transfers may be more cost-effective for both implementers and beneficiary households than physical cash payments, expand customer coverage for participating mobile network operators, and provide avenues to increase financial inclusion for the poor. While digital payments can offer opportunities, it is essential to invest in appropriate infrastructure and mechanisms to reach digitally excluded populations.Publication Cash Transfer Size(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-14)As a part of “Evidence at Your Fingertips Series”, this note summarizes the impacts of cash transfers on a range of outcomes, depending on the size (adequacy, benefit level or amount) of transfer values. The review is largely based on the impact evaluations published in the past decade, finding that high(er)-value cash transfers typically produce greater impacts. However, low(er)-value transfers can also achieve measurable impacts, particularly when accompanying by behavior change communication. Provided in lumpsum, high-value transfers may allow beneficiary households to invest or save more compared to smaller transfers provided over time in a frequent manner. While cash transfers show positive impacts in reducing gender related violence, high-value transfers can have the potential to increase physical abuse in certain demographic tiers more than less-conspicuous low-value transfers. Although the size is a key parameter, it is important to consider the confluence with other factors including target population, duration, frequency, timing, and payment modalities when designing and implementing a program.Publication Belarus - Social Assistance Policy Note : Improving Targeting Accuracy of Social Assistance Programs(Washington, DC, 2011-05)Belarus has a large and extensive social protection system (SP) covering a significant share of the population. Belarus has adopted a single methodology for calculating income to target Public Targeted Social Assistance (GASP). This methodology also is used when testing an applicant's income/means for some of the child benefits. 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Section two reviews the targeting accuracy of existent SP programs in Belarus. Section three analyzes whether HMT can be an option for targeting in Belarus. Section four presents the HMT formulae. In section five the authors describe how HMT also can be used for client profiling of beneficiaries. In section six, the authors conclude by discussing the results of some simulations about the targeting accuracy of the HMT method.
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