| |||
Cash Transfers (cash + transfer)
Kinds of Cash Transfers Selected AbstractsReducing Child Labour Through Conditional Cash Transfers: Evidence from Nicaragua's Red de Protección SocialDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 6 2010Kevin A. Gee Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programmes, providing eligible households with periodic cash payments, contingent on their children's adherence to school enrolment and attendance requirements, hold considerable promise for reducing levels of child labour across the developing world. This article presents the results of an analysis of a CCT programme in Nicaragua, Red de Protección Social, and compares them with those of other CCT programmes, discussing how the structure of each programme's incentives, including differences in targeting, subsidy amounts and educational requirements, contributes to the variation in their effectiveness at reducing child labour. [source] The Experience of Conditional Cash Transfers in Latin America and the CaribbeanDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 5 2006Sudhanshu Handa This article discusses the experience of six conditional cash transfer programmes in Latin America, a model of social safety-nets which has grown to dominate the social protection sector in the region during the past decade. While they have been generally successful in terms of achieving their core objective, it is still not clear whether these programmes constitute the most cost-efficient or sustainable solution to the development bottleneck they seek to address. Furthermore, the almost exclusive focus on the human capital accumulation of children leads to missed opportunties in terms of impact on household welfare and the broader rural development context. [source] Reducing Child Poverty with Cash Transfers: A Sure Thing?DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 5 2006Armando Barrientos Children are disproportionately represented among the income-poor, many suffer from severe deprivation, and their poverty and vulnerability have cumulative and long-term consequences. This article provides a comparative examination of the poverty-reduction effectiveness of cash transfer programmes targeting children, focusing on three types of such programmes: the Child Support Grant in South Africa, family allowances in transition countries, and targeted conditional cash transfer programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean. It finds that, despite differences in design, cash transfer programmes targeting children in poor households are an effective way of reducing poverty. [source] Brazil's Bolsa Família: A Double-Edged Sword?DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 5 2008Anthony Hall ABSTRACT In common with most Latin American countries, as governments embrace safety nets to attack poverty, conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes have become part of mainstream social policy in Brazil. Under president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995,2002), and especially since Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in 2003, targeted assistance in education, health and nutrition, now united under Bolsa Família, have expanded rapidly to benefit forty-four million (24 per cent of the total population), absorbing almost two-fifths of the social assistance budget earmarked for the poorest sectors. Despite its operational problems, Bolsa Família appears to have been effective in providing short-term relief to some of the most deprived groups in Brazil. Yet it could prove to be a double-edged sword. There is a risk that, due to its popularity among both the poor and Brazil's politicians, Bolsa Família could greatly increase patronage in the distribution of economic and social benefits and induce a strong dependence on government handouts. There are also early signs that it may be contributing to a reduction in social spending in key sectors such as education, housing and basic sanitation, possibly undermining the country's future social and economic development. [source] Simple Transfers, Complex Outcomes: The Impacts of Pensions on Poor Households in BrazilDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 5 2006Peter Lloyd-Sherlock ABSTRACT Drawing on quantitative survey data and in-depth interviews, this article seeks to map out the potential direct and indirect effects of simple cash transfers on households in impoverished rural and urban settings. Brazil is shown to have an extensive system of old age pensions, which affords almost universal coverage to households containing older people. These benefits have a significant impact on levels of poverty and vulnerability in recipient households. They also facilitate access to essential healthcare items, such as drugs, which are seldom freely available through the state health system. The in-depth interviews reveal that pensions can have important effects on intra-household relations, but these effects were not generalizable nor easily captured by quantitative survey tools. There was clear evidence that pensions reduced the propensity of older people to remain economically active, but this must be understood in a context of limited employment opportunities for all age groups and a high prevalence of disability. Overall, the article demonstrates the complex effects of a relatively simple cash transfer, which policy makers need to take into account. [source] Developments in National Policies for Food and Nutrition Security in BrazilDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2009Cecilia Rocha Brazil is on track to achieve many of the Millennium Development Goals, and this is widely credited to bold and innovative government policies backed by new forms of popular participation in social policy. This article examines evaluation evidence on two of the most important recent initiatives in Brazil's policies for food and nutrition security (conditional cash transfers through Bolsa Família and support for family agriculture through the Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos). It also considers advances in older policies (such as the School Meals programme) and the work of the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security, which has culminated in national legislation establishing food and nutrition security as a right. [source] Helping South Asia Cope Better with Natural Disasters: The Role of Social ProtectionDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 6 2007Rasmus Heltberg Social protection (income) support to households in the wake of major natural disasters is assuming a growing role for the World Bank, and major cash transfers in Turkey, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Pakistan are reviewed in this article. Such support is usually best provided directly as cash to affected households; it complements other relief and reconstruction efforts, is demanded by client countries and has a positive impact on short-term food security and long-term recovery. It could be geared for greater impact and more efficient delivery in future by the use of a best-practice toolkit and a right-on-time technical assistance facility, and its integration in emergency preparedness and capacity-building for implementing agencies. [source] The Use of Remittance Income in MexicoINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 4 2007Jim Airola Immigration affects sending countries through the receipt of remittance income. The impact of these cash transfers on households and communities has brought attention to remittances as a development mechanism. This study attempts to understand the degree to which household consumption is affected by the receipt of remittance income and the ways in which the broader communities may be impacted. Using household income and expenditure data for Mexico, expenditure patterns of remittance-receiving households are analyzed. Regression analysis indicates that remittance-receiving households spend a greater share of total income on durable goods, healthcare, and housing. [source] Can paying for results help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals?JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE, Issue 2 2009Overview of the effectiveness of results-based financing Abstract Objective Results-based financing and pay-for-performance refer to the transfer of money or material goods conditional on taking a measurable action or achieving a predetermined performance target. Results-based financing is widely advocated for achieving health goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. Methods We undertook an overview of systematic reviews of the effectiveness of RBF. We searched the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and MEDLINE (up to August 2007). We also searched for related articles in PubMed, checked the reference lists of retrieved articles, and contacted key informants. We included reviews with a methods section that addressed the effects of any results-based financing in the health sector targeted at patients, providers, organizations, or governments. We summarized the characteristics and findings of each review using a structured format. Results We found 12 systematic reviews that met our inclusion criteria. Based on the findings of these reviews, financial incentives targeting recipients of health care and individual healthcare professionals are effective in the short run for simple and distinct, well-defined behavioral goals. There is less evidence that financial incentives can sustain long-term changes. Conditional cash transfers to poor and disadvantaged groups in Latin America are effective at increasing the uptake of some preventive services. There is otherwise very limited evidence of the effects of results-based financing in low- or middle-income countries. Results-based financing can have undesirable effects, including motivating unintended behaviors, distortions (ignoring important tasks that are not rewarded with incentives), gaming (improving or cheating on reporting rather than improving performance), widening the resource gap between rich and poor, and dependency on financial incentives. Conclusion There is limited evidence of the effectiveness of results-based financing and almost no evidence of the cost-effectiveness of results-based financing. Based on the available evidence and likely mechanisms through which financial incentives work, they are more likely to influence discrete individual behaviors in the short run and less likely to create sustained changes. [source] |