Social Protection in Asia and the Pacific: Inventory of non-contributory programmes
Social protection programmes are now widely recognised as key policy instruments for developing countries to combat poverty. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has explicitly recognised the importance of implementing “nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors” as an explicit target under Sustainable Development Goal...
Read MoreNon-contributory social protection through a child and equity lens in Oman (One Pager 397)
Voisin de l’Arabie saoudite, des Émirats arabes unis et du Yémen, Oman se trouve sur la pointe sud-est de la péninsule arabique et figure parmi les six pays du Golfe à revenu élevé. Sa population compte environ 4,5 millions d’habitants, dont 1,1 million (25 pour cent) et 0,4 million...
Read MoreNon-contributory social protection through a child and equity lens in Libya (One Pager 395)
Bordée par la mer Méditerranée au Nord et voisine de la Tunisie, de l’Algérie, du Niger, du Tchad, du Soudan et de l’Égypte, la Libye comptait en 2016 une population de plus de 6 millions d’habitants, dont et 10 pour cent étaient alors respectivement âgés de moins de 18...
Read MoreThe role of zakat in the provision of social protection: a comparison between Jordan, Palestine and Sudan (One Pager 381)
Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam and considered a religious duty for wealthy people to support those in need. In Muslim-majority countries, zakat has a long tradition of providing income, goods for consumption and other basic services such as health care and education to poor and...
Read MoreThe role of zakat in the provision of social protection: a comparison between Jordan, Palestine and Sudan
Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam and considered a religious duty for wealthy people to help those in need through financial or in-kind contributions. In Muslim-majority countries, it has a long tradition of being part of the provision of social welfare. Countries vary significantly in the...
Read MoreMalawi’s Social Cash Transfer Programme (One Pager 398)
Malawi has a population of over 17 million people, 50.5 per cent of whom are poor, and 25 per cent of whom are extremely poor. Some 10 per cent of the total population are thought to be living below the extreme poverty line in households with a high dependency...
Read MoreA brief history of Malawi’s Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP)
This paper presents some of the challenges the SCTP faced between 2006 and 2016. It starts by presenting the relevant features, actors and episodes of the social protection system for the reader to understand the SCTP and its main operational challenges. It then proceeds to describe the governance and...
Read MoreBasic Income as a Policy Option: technical background note illustrating costs and distributional implications for selected countries
The concept of a Basic Income (BI), an unconditional transfer paid to each individual is not new. However, although many OECD countries have non-contributory, non-means tested benefits for certain groups (most commonly children or pensioners) no country has made a BI the central pillar of its social security system....
Read MoreDatabase: Non-Contributory Social Protection Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean
Link to database (English) Link to database...
Read MoreFrom Evidence to Action: The story of cash transfers and impact evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa
Impact evaluations must be embedded in the ongoing process of policy and programme design in order to be effective in influencing country policy. This is the primary lesson found in this book, which is based on the rigorous impact evaluations and country-case study analysis of government-run cash transfer programmes...
Read MoreSuperfluous, Pernicious, Atrocious and Abominable? The Case Against Conditional Cash Transfers
In 1792, the first consumer boycott was organised to protest against the inhumane treatment of slaves in the production of sugar in the West Indies. In his comic novel of the time, Melincourt, Thomas Love Peacock (1817) wrote of the trade in sugar that it was “economically superfluous, physically...
Read MoreHow Does Nepal’s Child Grant Work for Dalit Children and Their Families? A mixed-methods assessment of programme delivery and impact in Bajura and Saptari
This study examines the delivery and impact of Nepal’s Child Grant, so as to identify implementation barriers and recommend ways to improve effectiveness. The cash transfer is targeted at all households with children aged up to five years in the Karnali zone and at poor Dalit households in the...
Read MoreNepal’s Child Grant – How is it Working for Dalit Families? (Briefing Paper)
Social protection has become an increasingly prominent public policy tool in Nepal over the past two decades. Since the insurgency’s end in 2006, the government, with the support of development partners, has explicitly integrated social protection programming into its broader post-conflict development and reconstruction agenda (Holmes and Uphadya, 2009;...
Read MoreThe Political Economy of “Targeting” of Social Security Schemes
This paper examines the evidence on the political economy of “targeting.” It will begin by examining the history of social security in developed countries, focusing in particular on the evolution of Poor Relief in 19th Century Europe. It will then examine contemporary tax-financed old age pensions and Poor Relief...
Read MoreThe Impact of Social Cash Transfer Programmes on Community Dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa
This brief describes key findings of a four-year research project, From Protection to Production (PtoP), which is implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with UNICEF. Oxford Policy Management partnered with FAO to design and implement the qualitative field research component. The PtoP project analyzed the...
Read MoreSocial security coverage extension in the BRICS: A comparative study on the extension of coverage in Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa
This comparative study of the International Social Security Association ISSA presents the diverse approaches of the BRICS for the extension of social security coverage. It shows how responses take into account the local realities and environment in each country, with a focus on innovations that measurabley extend and improve...
Read MoreSocial Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102)
A reference for the development of social security systems, Convention No. 102 is the flagship of the up-to-date social security Conventions since it is deemed to embody the internationally accepted definition of the very principle of social security. Convention No. 102 is unique for both its conceptual formulation of social security,...
Read MoreSocial Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202)
Recommendation No. 202 is the first international instrument to offer guidance to countries to close social security gaps and progressively achieve universal protection through the establishment and maintenance of comprehensive social security systems. To this aim, the Recommendation calls for (1) the implementation, as a priority, of social protection...
Read MoreAdministration of non-contributory schemes
The effective administration of non-contributory social protection schemes is key to ensuring that people can realize their human rights. This includes adequate administrative capacities, human and financial infrastructure, as well as administrative procedures. Photo credit: “family planning counseling in Cambodia” via ILO in Asia and the Pacific (CCBY...
Read MoreConditionality and Human Rights
Across the world, states have made binding commitments under international human rights law to do what they can to ensure all their population attains its basic material needs. And yet, governments in numerous countries have been introducing so-called conditional cash transfer schemes (CCTs) based on the imposition of forms...
Read MoreConditionalities, Cash and Gender Relations
Is the empowerment of women through conditional cash transfers illusory as women are ‘empowered’ by these programmes only as the nodal points receiving cash for the family and not as independent persons with their own economic, social and cultural rights? First, it is important to distinguish between the positive...
Read MoreIncorporating a Rights-based Perspective into the Administrative Activities of Government Programmes
As the role of social protection in social development is increasingly emphasized, there is a need to ensure that social protection programmes are not only efficiently managed but express core values such as rights which have played a vital role in shaping social development practice over the years. However,...
Read MoreDo Targeting Techniques Tend to be Incompatible with the Human Rights Standards of Transparency and Access to Information?
Targeting Techniques and Human Rights Standards of Transparency and Access to Information Poverty targeting presents many problems in terms of accuracy and reliability, but common methods for identifying the poor are also problematic in terms of human rights standards of transparency and access to information. Let us look from...
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