Social Protection in Low Income Countries and Fragile Situations : Challenges and Future Directions
Demand for social protection is growing in low income countries and fragile situations. In recent years, the success of social protection (SP) interventions in middle income countries (MICs) like Brazil and Mexico, along with the series of food, fu...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/03/15961866/social-protection-low-income-countries-fragile-situations-challenges-future-directions http://hdl.handle.net/10986/13553 |
| Summary: | Demand for social protection is growing
in low income countries and fragile situations. In recent
years, the success of social protection (SP) interventions
in middle income countries (MICs) like Brazil and Mexico,
along with the series of food, fuel, and financial crises,
has prompted policymakers in low income countries (LICs) and
fragile situations (FSs) to examine the possibility of
introducing such programs in their own countries. Flagship
programs in countries as diverse as Ethiopia, India,
Pakistan, and Rwanda have shown the adaptability of social
protection interventions to the LIC context. Yet, despite
growing levels of support for these initiatives, many
challenges remain. In LICs and FSs, governments are
confronted with a nexus of mutually reinforcing deficits
that increase the need for SP programs and simultaneously
reduce their ability to successfully respond. Governments
face hard choices about the type, affordability, and
sustainability of SP interventions. The paper reviews how
these factors affect SP programs in these countries and
identifies ways to address the deficits. It supports the
establishment of resilient SP systems to address specific
needs and vulnerabilities and to respond flexibly to both
slow and sudden onset crises. To achieve this, both
innovation and pragmatism are required in three strategic
areas: (i) building the basic blocks of SP systems (e.g.,
targeting, payments, and monitoring and evaluation); (ii)
ensuring financial sustainability; and (iii) promoting good
governance and transparency. These issues suggest the
possibility of a different trajectory in the development of
social protection in LICs than in MICs. The implications for
World Bank support include the need to focus on increasing
knowledge and operational effectiveness of SP programs,
fostering institutional links between multiple SP programs,
and using community capacity and technological innovations
to overcome bottlenecks in operations. |
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