Social protection is commonly understood as ‘all public and private initiatives that provide income or consumption transfers to the poor, protect the vulnerable against livelihood risks and enhance the social status and rights of the marginalised; with the overall objective of reducing the economic and social vulnerability of poor, vulnerable and marginalised groups’ (Devereux ...» more
Social assistance
Social Safety Nets in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States
Social safety nets in fragile and conflict-affected states often include cash and in-kind transfers, school feeding programmes and public works programmes (O’Brien, Scott, Smith, Barca, Karden, Holmes, Watson & Congrave, 2018). Programmes often target vulnerable households, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in order to reduce their exposure to shocks and ...» more
Cash-Based Initiatives for Refugees in Jordan: Annotated Bibliography
The available literature tells us little about the effectiveness of targeting of cash-based initiatives (CBIs) for refugees in Jordan. However, it suggests there are positive impacts on food security for refugees, their ability to pay for rent and utilities and their psycho-social well-being, as well as some reduction in resort to negative coping strategies. The impact of CBIs ...» more
Assistive technologies in developing countries
Assistive technologies enable people to live healthy, productive, independent and dignified lives, yet most people who need them are currently unable to access them. This rapid review looks at examples of existing literature on the availability of assistive technologies and efforts to make these technologies more affordable and accessible in developing countries. ...» more
Conflict-sensitive cash transfers: social cohesion
The literature suggests that the effects of social protection initiatives such as cash transfers and vouchers on social cohesion are positive, but there is very little empirical evidence to back this. This review found no research comparing cash transfers and vouchers from the perspective of social cohesion. Experience of cash transfers in developing countries, including ...» more
Conflict-sensitive cash transfers: unintended negative consequences
Risks associated with cash transfer programmes in fragile contexts include theft, diversion, corruption, security, targeting, misuse by beneficiaries and inflationary effects. However, the literature indicates that – while different – these risks are no greater than those associated with other forms of aid, e.g. vouchers or in-kind goods, and could even be less. Cash transfer ...» more
Social protection and child labour in Asia
Social protection is increasingly recognised as a key route to reducing children’s poverty and vulnerability. It is assumed to have direct or indirect effects on specific challenges that children face, such as child labour. Child labour is not often included as a main aim of social protection, and therefore is not commonly tracked systematically (de Hoop & Rosati, 2014). ...» more
Civil society organisations supporting accountability in cash transfer programmes
This five day rapid review looks at the experiences globally of civil society organisations providing or supporting accountability mechanisms in cash transfer programmes. Bhargava and Raha’s (2015: 12) review of civil society engagement with cash transfer programme accountability found only few studies, suggesting to them that there is a significant knowledge gap. A mixture of ...» more
Decentralisation and cash transfer programmes
In many countries, national governments have delegated the implementation of public programmes, including cash transfers (CTs), to lower levels of the political administration. This rapid literature review found very little research or empirical evidence on the relationship between federal and provincial government in regard to cash transfer programmes. Much scholarship has ...» more
Social assistance and idiosyncratic shocks
While there is a growing literature documenting and analysing how social assistance programmes can help in reducing income poverty and food insecurity, very little systematic empirical research has been done concerning their effectiveness in reducing individual and household vulnerability to idiosyncratic shocks. This rapid review focuses on cash transfers and public works ...» more
Perceptions of different modalities of social assistance in the Levant
Major international aid actors worldwide have been moving away from in-kind food aid and turning towards food vouchers and cash transfers. International agencies working in the Levant – i.e. the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria – have tried to reconcile this general shift with the historical, political and social specificities of social ...» more
Evidence on the comparative cost efficiency and effectiveness of varying social assistance modalities
There is limited literature that rigorously measures cost efficiency of programme modalities, or that compares modalities. The key points raised in the literature include the following: Transfer appropriateness is context-specific and determined by multiple factors including programme objectives Cash transfers are generally found to be the least-cost modality – which ...» more
Design and implementation
This section provides links to key manuals, guidance and other practical resources. General manuals Devereux, S. (2008). Innovations in the Design and Delivery of Social Transfers: Lessons Learned from Malawi. IDS and Concern Worldwide. See full text Grosh, M., del Ninno, C., Tesliuc, E. & Ouerghi, A. (2008). For Protection and Promotion: The Design and Implementation ...» more
Vulnerable groups: needs and challenges
Women and girls It is often women who require social protection interventions, as they are disproportionately vulnerable due to lack of capital, high wage differentials and gendered work norms, bearing the responsibility for childcare, and exclusion from basic services. Social assistance programmes, particularly conditional cash transfers, are often aimed at women as the ...» more
Policy objectives and evidence of impacts
Social protection can have a wide range of objectives and impacts, from food security, access to services, gender equality, and state-building, to social transformation. The emphasis in developing countries has been on poverty and vulnerability reduction, and human development, for which there is good evidence. There is less evidence on longer-term developmental impacts such as ...» more
Types of social protection
Social assistance Social assistance is direct, regular and predictable cash or in-kind resources transfers to poor and vulnerable individuals or households (Arnold et al., 2011: 91). It is usually provided by the state and financed by national taxes (Barrientos, 2010). Support from donors is also important in lower income contexts. Transfers are non-contributory, i.e. the full ...» more
Evidence of impact of emergency cash transfers on gender and protection
Key messages: The major trends and gaps in the evidence in this report are: On the whole, ‘gender’ is used to refer to women. More recent papers include more analysis of how CTs impact men, especially on if they find it disempowering for women to be favoured as beneficiaries. Gender analysis is not deeply ingrained into emergency CT programme evaluation. Many papers include a ...» more
Theories of change for cash transfers
This report gathers together examples from the literature which attempt to explain how and why change happens as a result of cash transfers (CTs). While there is a large body of literature examining social protection and cash transfers’ impacts on poverty reduction and development, there is much less on understanding the mechanisms and pathways by which this happens. The report ...» more
Beneficiaries’ perspectives in research on cash transfer and social protection programmes
The extent to which beneficiaries are included in cash transfer/social protection programmes, and the success and nature of this inclusion depends on a variety of factors, including the circumstances surrounding the programme’s inception and implementation; the ethos of the organisation(s) involved; and the nature of the programme itself. Researchers recognise that ...» more
Financing and Cost-effectiveness of Cash Transfer Schemes
There is widespread agreement in the literature that cash transfers are effective in achieving a range of development objectives and that fears of creating dependency or enabling misuse of funds by recipients are groundless. While there are many impact evaluations of cash transfer programmes, there is very little hard data on cost-effectiveness, particularly compared with ...» more
