ESCWA is Hosting an Event on Conditional Cash Transfers
On 19 and 20 July, ESCWA is hosting a Workshop on Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes in the Arab Region.
The workshop is an opportunity for experts to discuss the potential of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in the Arab region. The event’s objectives are to:
- share a range of experiences in designing and implementing CCT schemes;
- discuss the role that CCTs can play in providing rights-based social protection in the Arab region; and
- identify challenges and opportunities for policy makers in the region in administering CCT programmes.
Following the workshop, ESCWA will publish a report on CCT schemes in Arab countries.
Context
The MENA region has relatively low social protection coverage, especially among the most vulnerable groups — including those living in rural areas and people in informal urban settlements. Of those who work, only about one-third have access to social insurance. Informal and agricultural workers are particularly vulnerable to shocks.
Governments in the region are restructuring currently existing food and fuel subsidies to reach those most in need of social services. To this end, ESCWA, as well as ILO, FAO and UNICEF are hosting a series of regional events to help researchers, policy makers and practitioners from the region as they develop new social protection schemes drawing on the experiences of experts from around the world.
Both unconditional and conditional cash transfers have gained increasing exposure worldwide over the past few decades. In Latin America, where programmes such as Brazil’s Bolsa Familia and Mexico’s Prospera (formerly Oportunidades) have had notable achievements in reducing poverty, increasing rates of school attendance and improved health among programme beneficiaries.
Sub-Saharan African countries have also conducted schemes in countries such as GiveDirectly, a UCT programme in Rarieda, a rural district in Kenya, with significant improvements in household assets, food security and income. UCTs have also been implemented in emergency situations.
For more information on conditional cash transfers, read UN Women and UNICEF’s joint report, Conditional Cash Transfers: Learning from the literature.
See also Superfluous, Pernicious, Atrocious and Abominable? The Case Against Conditional Cash Transfers by Nicholas Freeland.
For more information on the event, please contact Gisela Nauk.
Photo credit: Woman from Chenini by Pietro Izzo (CCBY 2.0 via Flickr).