Publication: Urban Safety Nets – Experiences from Three Countries: Benin, Republic of Congo, and Mali
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2016-12
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2016-12-14
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Moreira, Vanessa
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Abstract
As countries implement social safety nets programs, a range of technical hurdles affects their implementation differently in rural and urban areas. In urban areas, the focus of this study, living in is expensive and more vulnerable at economy slowdowns. Poverty can be more severe than in rural areas and accompanied by high malnutrition rates. Challenges faced by poor populations in most urban areas related to the lack of proper identification,outreach, intake and registration of potential beneficiaries in part due to the lack of social cohesion and the existence of multiple channels of communication, challenging the delivery of any messages quickly and efficiently. Therefore social workers have a fundamental part during program implementation and Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) process.
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“Moreira, Vanessa; Gentilini, Ugo. 2016. Urban Safety Nets – Experiences from Three Countries: Benin, Republic of Congo, and Mali. Social Protection and Labor Discussion Paper;No. 1614. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25751 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Urban Social Assistance(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-12-01)As countries implement social assistance (or safety net) programs, a range of technicalhurdles can affect their implementation differently in rural and urban areas. In urban areas,the focus of this study, cost of living can be higher and more prone to economic slowdowns.Poverty can be more severe than in rural areas and accompanied by high malnutrition rates.Implementation challenges in most urban areas relate to the lack of proper identification,outreach, intake, and registration of potential beneficiaries. These are in part due to thelack of social cohesion and different channels of communication. 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The country is undergoing an unprecedented economic contraction, and severe fiscal imbalance that will require major reforms, notably to the pension program, before achieving macroeconomic stabilization. Therefore, the report takes into account the complex, and changing socioeconomic conditions, exacerbated by the protracted internal conflict. Such situation calls for supporting institutional viability, building on Colombia's strengths in the social sectors. Social assistance was not included in the social sector reforms for the 1990s, and the lack of strategic safety net is underscored by the fragmentation of programs within institutions, and overlapping program objectives across institutions. Targeted technical reforms should address budgeting, monitoring and evaluation to orient social assistance programs; existing programs reformed to improve quality and coverage; and, longer-term strategic reforms should focus on improving the operation of social safety nets, based on national debate, consensus, and political will.Publication Results Readiness in Social Protection and Labor Operations(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-02)Social Safety Nets (SSN) are defined as non?contributory transfer programs targeted to the poor or those vulnerable to poverty and shocks. About half of World Bank social protection projects in the reviewed cohort are SSN. They are mostly non-emergency investment operations with a higher presence in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa regions. Projects aimed at strengthening country's safety nets system, including their targeting, administration and service quality, are the most common type of SSN interventions (25 percent). 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