Empowered lives. Resilient nations.

Ensuring Inclusion: e-Discussion on Social Protection

Asia-Pacific Inclusive Growth and Development
Summary of e-Discussion

Ensuring Inclusion: e-Discussion on Social Protection

Asia-Pacific Inclusive Growth and Development
Summary of e-Discussion

ASIA-PACIFIC INCLUSIVE
United Nations Development

SOCIAL PROTECTION

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Programme Asia-Pacific Regional Centre

E-DISCUSSION

Abbreviations
ADB ART AIDS BIG BISP CDC DIBI ERD GBV GDP GoB GoI GIZ FP FSP FSSP HDSP HIV IDA IDS ILO IMF IPC-IG LGCDP MDG M&E MGNREGA MHT MLD MIS Asian Development Bank antiretroviral treatment acquired immunodeficiency syndrome Namibias Basic Income Grant Benazir Income Support Programme Community Development Council Data and InformasiBencana Indonesia European Report on Development gender-based violence gross domestic product Government of Bangladesh Government of India Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Internationale Zusammenarbeit facilitation partners Food Support Programme (Pakistan) Bangladesh Female Secondary/High School Stipend Project Human Development and Social Protection Pilot human immunodeficiency virus International Development Association Institute of Development Studies International Labour Organization International Monetary Fund International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Local Governance and Community Development Programme (Nepal) Millennium Development Goal monitoring and evaluation Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Mahila Housing Trust Ministry of Local Development (Nepal) Management Information System

MoLSAMD MSS NADRA NCMS NSPS NREGS NGO ODA PKH PLWH P4P PNG PNPM Mandiri PPTCT PSNP RHVP RCIW SCTS SOE SPI SRM SWF UN UNDP UNICEF UHCS WB WFP WHO

Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (Afghanistan) Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity, and Senior Citizens Welfare and Reform Institutions (Mauritius) National Database Registration Agency New Cooperative Medical Scheme (in China) National Social Protection Strategy National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme non-governmental organization official development assistance Program KeluargaHarapan people living with HIV Partners for Prevention Papua New Guinea National Programme for Community Empowerment prevention of parent-to-child transmission of HIV Productive Safety Net Project Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme Rural Community Infrastructure Works Social Cash Transfer Scheme state owned enterprise Social Protection Index Social Registry of Mauritius Sovereign Wealth Fund United Nations United Nations Development Programme United Nations Childrens Fund Universal Health Coverage Scheme World Bank World Food Programme World Health Organization

INTRODUCTION

81 141

PART 1

PART 2

CONCLUSION

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Launch Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Part 1: Key Features of Successful Social Protection Schemes . . . . 9

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Individual Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Richard Marshall, Majeda Haq, and Gran Jonsson, UNDP Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 S. Mahendra Dev, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Faiza Effendi, UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Vita Febriany, SMERU Research Institute, Jakarta, Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Aniruddha Bonnerjee, Independent Consultant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Fatma Gul Unal, UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Katharine Vincent, Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Bishwa Nath Tiwari, Human Development Report Unit, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre . . . . . 36 Professor Darshini Mahadevia, Faculty of Planning and Public Policy and Member-Secretary, the Centre for Urban Equity, CEPT University, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Sanny Jegillos, Rajesh Sharma and Radhika Behuriafrom the Regional Crisis Prevention and Recovery team, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Haris Gazdar, Collective for Social Science Research, Pakistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Pramod Kumar and Kazuyuki Uji, HIV, Health and Development Team, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Sharmistha Dasbarwa, UNDP Afghanistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Dr. S.M. Sirajuddin, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, Government of Afghanistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Alexandre R.B. Sarmento, Office of the Prime Minister, Timor-Leste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Hussain Bux Mallah, Collective for Social Science Research, Karachi, Pakistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Neera Burra, Independent Consultant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Alessandra Heineman, Feisal Hussain, Jill Engen and Neil Webster UNCDF and UNDP Nepal . . . . . 69 Dayachund Bundhoo, UNDP Mauritius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Hou Xinan and Yu Hua, UNDP China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Part 2: What Constitutes Social Protection? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Individual Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Anuradha Rajivan, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Gabriele Koehler, Institute of Development Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Christoph Hamelmann, UNDP Europe and CIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Fabio Veras Soares, UNDP International Poverty Centre for Inclusive Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Armando Barrientos, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Taimur Khilji, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 Sarah Cook, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 Carol Flore-Smereczniak and Peterson Magoola, UNDP Papua New Guinea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106 Raymond Brandes and James Lang, Partners for Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111 Giorgia Giovannetti, University of Firenze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112 Bishwa Nath Tiwari, Human Development Report Unit, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre . . . . .114 Gran Jonsson, UNDP Bangladesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116 Upendranadh Choragudi, ActionAid International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119 Julia Kercher, Shivani Nayyar and Claudia Vinay, Poverty Practice, UNDP Bureau of Development Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122 Rui Gomes, UNDP Timor-Leste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126 Roula Koudsi, UNDP Syria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128 Henry Jackelen and Subathirai Sivakumaran, Private Sector Division, UNDP Partnership Bureau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133 Anuradha Rajivan and Ryce Chanchai, Inclusive Growth and Poverty Reduction, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135 Qimti Paienjton, UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137 Katja Hujo, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) . . . . . . . . . . . .138

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

BIGSTOCK

IntroductIon

Introduction
Social protection instruments are a key priority in international development, gaining in prominence in recent years . A series of recent crisesfinancial, oil, food, and climatehave sparked renewed interest in issues of social protection . Moreover, persistent development deficits, new challenges of rapid urbanization, and widening economic and social disparities have led to greater vulnerability among the poor and marginalized in the Asia-Pacific region, exacerbating the risk of social and political stability . Interest in social protection continues to expand as policy makers aim to shore up hardwon gains in human development . As traditional social support systems break down, policy-backed systems of social protection are increasingly viewed as providing a basic minimum response to crises by managing risks and reducing vulnerabilities of those likely to be most affected . Concurrently, social protection instruments may help sustain and consolidate gains and form a basis for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with greater equity .1

1 UN General Assembly, Outcome Document of the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the 65th session of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), A/65/L .1, 17 September 2010 (The MDG Summit 2010) .

Introduction

ASIA-PACIFIC INCLUSIVE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

United Nations Development Programme Asia-Pacific Regional Centre

SOCIAL PROTECTION E-DISCUSSION

Launch Message
Nicholas Rosellini Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific United Nations Development Programme Dear Colleagues: I am pleased to announce the launch of an e-discussion on social protection . The set of recent crises, rapid urbanization, and widening economic and social disparities has led to greater vulnerability in Asia and the Pacific . Given the importance of social protection instruments in addressing social and economic vulnerability, we would like to gain from your knowledge and experience as practitioners, as experts and as UN colleagues in country offices . The primary aim of this e-discussion is to deepen our knowledge on waysand means of making social protection instruments work for countries in Asia and the Pacific . Asia and the Pacific has a lot to be proud of; it has recorded high levels of sustained growth, made large reductions in poverty, achieved greater gender parity in primary, secondary and tertiary education enrolment, reversed the spread of HIV, and managed to curb ozone depleting substances and expanded access to safe drinking water . What is perhaps missing is consistency in achievement across countries and within countries . Aggregate figures mask the reality; where high growth has not significantly improved the plight of vulnerable and marginalized groups; where chronic hunger continues to persist at a large scale, especially in South Asia despite marked increases in GDP per capita; where easy and equitable access to key services and goods, especially at the more local level, remains unrealized in many countries . It is this Asia, where a great deal is still left to be desired . Social protection measures, while not a panacea for development challenges, aim to target many of these deprivations . The objective is to better manage risks and reduce vulnerabilities so that societies are more resilient . We know that the recent set of crises and disasters has set back development gains, pushed

vulnerable populations to the brink, and made employment less secure . While a number of countries have embarked on social protection initiatives, these measures remain fragmented . Expenditure on social protection programmes and their overall coverage remain low . With this in mind, this e-discussion on social protection seeks to draw from your expertise, knowledge and experience so that we can better serve the countries we work in, both at the policy and programmatic level . I invite all of you to actively participate and contribute . The discussion kicks off today and will be conducted on both this email group and UN Teamworksa collaborative platform which allows you to share and access knowledge on development issues, engage in interactive discussions with colleagues, share your updates, blogs, success stories, etc ., and access available and continuously updated good practices . UNDP staff may directly access the Teamworks space, Ensuring Inclusion: An e-Discussion on Social Protection .2 For others, instructions to sign-up to Teamworks will follow . Please feel free to share this widely to broaden participation . We hope to build on this small but significant step .

Background
Asia-Pacific has emerged as engine of global growth, with several economies achieving consistently high growth rates for over a decade . It is seen as a region whose demand for goods and services could provide a way out of the global economic downturn . But despite impressive economic performance, the region continues to have the largest population living in poverty compared to other regions . Over a billion people live under $2-a-day, making them highly vulnerable and sensitive to economic fluctuations and shocks . Moreover, increasing economic disparities and social cleavages are putting strains on the fabric of societies by increasing the risk of social and political upheaval . Marginalized populations and groups including women find it difficult to access basic services and resources, have little control (and ownership) over their assets, and often lack the means of production to escape poverty . While many countries in the Asia-Pacific region have already implemented a variety of social protection interventions, they remain fragmented, inadequate and often problematic . Social protection schemes generally analyse the risks
2 UN Teamwork Space, Ensuring Inclusion: An e-Discussion on Social Protection, available at https:// undp .unteamworks .org/node/124146

Introduction

and vulnerabilities of categories of poor and excluded social groups, differentiated according to age, health status and relationship to formal labour markets . This has led to the exclusion of women from social protection schemes since they are not represented in large numbers in formal labour markets . In addition, women and men face different vulnerabilities and risks, some caused or worsened by discrimination and inequality and others specific to their gender . For the same reasons, the impacts of social protection programmes are gendered, and poorly designed programmes can exacerbate or contribute to inequalities . However, experience across other countries and regions suggests that well designed, context-specific social protection policies can be effective in providing minimum safety nets . Simultaneously, the region can benefit from other countries and regions experiences in strengthening design and financing of social protection policies and programmes . Although social protection is not a panacea, it can help in reducing economic risk and managing vulnerability as countries continue towards empowering their populations .

Objectives
As social policies and programmes expand and take hold in countries in AsiaPacific, there is a need to bring the variety of fragmented social protection instruments under a comprehensive approach . Also, conceptually there is a need to draw boundaries between social protection measures and general areas of development policy and programmes . The objective of the e-discussion is to explore the potential of social protection across the wide range of policies and sectors, bringing in comparative strengths of different agencies to enhance collaboration, synergies and better utilization of UNDPs expertise to improve social protection systems at the country level . By using a regional platform for the e-discussion, we hope to make the discussion on social protection relevant for UN country office programming as well as other development partners . The value addition is consolidation of directly applicable expertise, knowledge, and experiences from other countries within and outside the region . Also, given that social protection programs are often capacity intensive, in the sense of demanding complex institutional and financing arrangements, it is also critical that UNDP be able to identify appropriate entry points and offer targeted strategies to address institutional capacity constraints and implementation bottlenecks of social protection schemes .

HO NGOC-SON/ UNDP

The substantive contributions of the e-roundtable discussion provided a basis for Session 2: Social Protection for Accelerating and Sustaining the MDGs at the UNDP Regional Meeting on the MDG Acceleration Policies, Strategies and Good Practices: Towards Inclusive and Sustainable Development, Bangkok, Thailand 5 October 2011 .

Introduction

The discussion aimed to achieve the following: Identify the key challenges and opportunities for UNDP on social protection in relation to other key donor and development partners in the Asia-Pacific region; Draw implications for setting up the relevant working priorities on social protection in the Asia-Pacific region in light of practical experiences and insights from countries in the region; and Explore the gender-differentiated impacts of social protection programmes .

Contributors
We thank the following contributors for their responses:

Part 1:
Richard Marshall, Majeda Haq, and Gran Jonsson, UNDP Bangladesh S . Mahendra Dev from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, India Faiza Effendi, UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific Vita Febriany, SMERU Research Institute, Jakarta Indonesia Aniruddha Bonnerjee, Independent Consultant Fatma Gul Unal, UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific Rathin Roy, UNDP International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Katharine Vincent, Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) Bishwa Nath Tiwari, Asia Regional Human Development Report Unit, UNDP Darshini Mahadevia, Faculty of Planning and Public Policy and MemberSecretary, the Centre for Urban Equity, CEPT University in Ahmedabad, India Sanny Jegillos, Rajesh Sharma and Radhika Behuria, Regional Crisis Prevention and Recovery, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Haris Gazdar, Collective for Social Science Research, Pakistan Pramod Kumar and Kazuyuki Uji, HIV, Health and Development, UNDP AsiaPacific Regional Centre Sharmistha Dasbarwa, UNDP Afghanistan S .M . Sirajuddin, Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, Government of Afghanistan Alexandre R .B . Sarmento, Office of the Prime Minister, Timor-Leste Hussain Bux Mallah, Collective for Social Science Research, Pakistan Neera Burra, Independent Consultant Alessandra Heineman, Feisal Hussain, and Jill Engen, UNCDF; and Neil Webster, UNDP Nepal Dayachund Bundhoo, UNDP Mauritius Hou Xinan and Yu Hua, UNDP China

Part 2:
Anuradha Rajivan, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Gabriele Koehler, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex Christoph Hamelmann, UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre Fabio VerasSoares, UNDP International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Armando Barrientos, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester Taimur Khilji, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Sarah Cook, UN Research Institute for Social Development Carol Flore-Smereczniak and Peterson Magoola, UNDP Papua New Guinea Raymond Brandes and James Lang, Partners for Prevention Giorgia Giovannetti, University of Firenze, Italy Bishwa Nath Tiwari, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Gran Jonsson, UNDP Bangladesh Upendranadh Choragudi, Action Aid International Julia Kercher, Shivani Nayyar and Claudia Vinay, UNDP Bureau of Development Policy Rui Gomes, UNDP Timor-Leste Roula Koudsi, UNDP Syria Henry Jackelen and Subathirai Sivakumaran, UNDP Partnership Bureau Anuradha Rajivan and Ryce Chanchai, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Qimti Paienjton, UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Katja Hujo, UN Research Institute for Social Development

Introduction

iStock

PART 1

Part 1: Key Features of Successful Social Protection Schemes

Social protection has become a key priority in development, gaining prominence in recent years . A series of recent crises financial, oil, food crises, and climate-related disasters have renewed the interest of policymakers, development practitioners, and academics in social protection initiatives as a means to counteract the socio-economic impact of shocks . Moreover, persistent development deficits, new challenges of rapid urbanization, as well as widening economic and social disparities, have led to greater vulnerability in the Asia-Pacific region, exacerbating the risk of social and political stability . As traditional social support systems are severely stretched, policy-backed systems of social protection are increasingly viewed as providing a basic minimum response to crises by managing risks and reducing vulnerabilities of those likely to be most affected . Moreover, social protection instruments may help sustain and consolidate gains, and form a basis for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with equity .

1 2

Part 1: Key Features of Successful Social Protection Schemes

In Part 1 of the discussion, members were invited to share experiences and insights on the following:

What are the key features of successful social protection schemes?

Members were requested to focus on the following aspects: What was the key issue/s the scheme was attempting to address? How was it successful? What were the key strengths and limitations? How did the scheme manage risks and/or reduce vulnerabilities? What were the socially-differentiated impacts of the scheme/s? How was gender accounted for? What were the institutional arrangements? (e .g . between sectors; national and local levels; public sector institutions and other institutions) . What was the time horizon and operational implications? (i .e . design, cost, implementation, sustainability, accountability etc .) . Is it feasible to universalize and sustain the scheme/s?

Summary
Over the course of Part 1 of the e-discussion on social protection (SP), 723 September 2011, we received 20 responses to the topic question: What are the Key Features of Successful Social Protection Schemes? The discussion was rich, drawing on the experience and expertise of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) staff in country offices, development practitioners, experts, professors, and independent consultants . Examples of social protection initiatives included cash transfer programmes (conditional and unconditional), tenure and housing security initiatives, employment schemes, pension programmes, capacity building of local government for improved delivery of services, programmes to improve food security and reduce hunger, and programmes that focus on providing healthcare for vulnerable households in both rural and urban areas . In addition, we learned how some countries such as India are integrating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) sensitive policies into their social protection programmes; in essence expanding the definition of vulnerable to include people living with HIV (PLWH) and their families . Moreover, we were also led to consider the crucial role of social protection in mitigating the socio-economic impact of disaster on peoples lives . Some contributors noted that addressing supply-side issues is crucial to the success of SP initiatives . For example, Mahendra Dev and Neera Burra mentioned some supply-side challenges MGNREGA is facing including delay in payment of wages, lack of job site facilities, lack of staff capacity, improper criteria for assessing work done, etc . On the other hand, MGNREGA does make its records available for public scrutiny (in accordance with the Right to

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Information Act, 2005), allowing a degree of accountability, and thus paving the way for subsequent improvements to the programme . Moreover, in the case of Indonesias conditional cash transfer programme, which aims to improve education and health outcomes (Family Hope Program or Program Keluarga Harapan or PKH), Vita Febriany notes that PKH is largely a demand driven programme, and has not paid sufficient attention to supply-side issues and constraints, particularly with respect to services providers (i .e . health and education) . Sometimes, overcoming supply-side issues is the main objective of a social protection scheme . For instance, as Bishwa Nath Tiwari points out the Rural Community Infrastructure Works (RCIW) Programme has made food available to remote locations in Nepal through a public works programme; in effect, fulfilling the dual purpose: food security and employment, but more crucially overcoming the transportation/accessibility issuea supply-side issue through the public works programme . Having said that addressing the demand side (i .e . food security, employment, health, education, low income, including PLWH as part of the vulnerable population) appears to be the explicit aim of most social protection programmes . The UNDP Regional Crisis Prevention and Recovery Team (Sanny Jegillos, Rajesh Sharma and Radhika Behuria), Dayachund Bundhoo (UNDP Mauritius), the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) team (Alessandra Heineman, Feisal Hussain and Jill Engen) and the UNDP Nepal Country Office (Neil Webster) all emphasized the role of monitoring and accurate data gathering for improved targeting, scaling up, and general design improvements of SP initiatives . In the case of Pakistans Benazir Income Support Programme (Faiza Effendi and Haris Gazdar), the National Database Registration Authoritys (NADRA) database has proven to be quite useful in improving targeting (of the vulnerable population), and reducing transactions costs and potential leakages . Having electronic ID cards that hold accurate and relevant information linked to a central database helps initiatives/policies to be grounded in evidence . These examples, where monitoring, assessing and targeting were part of the design of a social protection initiative, can potentially serve to help other countries, such as Timor-Leste (Alexandre Sarmento), where the conditional cash transfers were disbursed across the country without any prior feasibility study or mapping to identify vulnerable households . In fact, as Alexandre Sarmento points out in his contribution, UNDP is working with the Timor-Leste government on monitoring and evaluation (M&E), identification and the development of e-tools to achieve better human development outcomes through its current conditional cash transfer programme . If executed properly, improvements in M&E (with the use of technology) can pave the way for evidence-based policymaking, more efficient processes, and measureable results . Moreover, M&E can be geared to assess and identify both supply and demand-side challenges .

Part 1: Key Features of Successful Social Protection Schemes

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The longevity and historical evolution of social protection programmes can often be a testament to their success: the longer the duration of a programme, the more likely it fulfilled its objectives . In a continent that is now largely democratic, governments are under no obligation to continue social schemes associated with previous governments, especially initiatives that are not so successful or for which there is little or no public appetite . The fact that Thailands Thirty Baht Scheme (now known as Universal Health Coverage Scheme) has become a permanent feature, having overlapped with three successive governments, reflects that it has been effective . Indias MGNREGA is an act that built upon several fragmented employment schemes in various states . The knowledge, expertise and know-how were already present, it was a matter of gaining consensus by bringing together the public and political will to implement it across all states in India . This shows that while the demand was there, political commitment and foresight to universalize were needed to help consolidate previously scattered initiatives . Chinas social protection programmes, on the other hand, as discussed by Xinan Hou, Hua Yu, and Gl nal suggest an element of experimentation followed by gradual expansion . Xinan Hou and Hua Yu observe that specific schemes started off as pilot efforts in certain areas, targeting different population groups (e .g . migrant workers, peasants, urban employees in non-state-owned enterprise (SOE) sectors, etc .), were later scaled up to offer more comprehensive coverage. Similarly, Gl nal picks up on the fact that the government started to register migrant deliveries, first in Shanghai in 1994, and then in other districtsthe first policy on fee control and service quality assurance for migrant women was passed in 1999 in Shanghai . This then led to the first delivery centre for migrant women. This reflects a very careful and thoughtful approach; pilots are expanded once public sentiment is positive and the general aims of a social programme are being adequately achieved . Similarly, in the case of Bangladeshs Female Secondary/High School Stipend Project (FSSP)a project that pays tuition fees to schools and a monthly cash stipend directly to all rural girls up to class 10 if they remain unmarried, fulfils 75 percent attendance and demonstrate proficiency in achieving grades (45 percent in annual exams)Aniruddha Bonnerjee notes that the FSSP, based on the success of a pilot predecessor, was launched nationally in 1994 . Also worth noting is that some projects have led to transformative change in the lives of people . That is, a social protection initiative or project has helped people move up the income and social ladder, or to graduate, thus escaping a situation of persistent vulnerability and poverty . The Rural Employment Opportunities for Public Assets (REOPA) programme, as discussed by Richard Marshall, Majeda Haq, and Goran Jonsson (UNDP Bangladesh), is one such programme, where the graduation concept was identified at the design phaseadjusting to ground realities . REOPA also had targeted women as its primary beneficiaries,

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[the programme] has given widowed, divorced or abandoned women, who are the sole breadwinners for their families, a chance to escape permanently from the vicious circle of poverty . The results of the project have been impressive with 96 percent of women starting their own business after graduating, and two thirds making net profits . In addition to offering employment, such programmes have additional enablers built into their design, for example REOPA offers women training related to business planning and easy access to financial services such as savings and credit . When packaged together, this bundle of services can transform lives . Furthermore, as Rathin Roy points out, a number of programmes, especially conditional/unconditional cash transfer schemes are designating women as the recipients of cash disbursements . This seems to be a step in the right direction, but in addition to empowering women, it may reinforce the dominant cultural stereotype of women being the sole caretakers of children, for instance . More generally, cash transfer programmes including pension schemes have been useful, mainly because they can be an easy way to provide income directly to those most in need and at the same time lead to improved development outcomes (in education and health, for instance) . Historically and even now, a criticism of Official Development Assistance (ODA) is that a small fraction of disbursed ODA reaches the poormost of it is spent on overheads and other administrative costs . Direct cash payments to a targeted population limit the bureaucratic processes that tend to delay disbursement of funds and increase the risk of leakages . However, cash transfers are not immune from corruption; and reducing leakages is high on the agenda . What is noteworthy in Katharine Vincents contribution on pension and cash transfer schemes in Southern Africa is the element of knowledge transfer and exchange between neighbouring countriespension schemes and cash transfer programmes that work in one country are being adopted in neighbouring countries after being adapted to suit the specific context . Similar to the benefits of agglomeration (of industry), it seems that once the knowledge and knowhow of successfully carrying out pension and cash transfer schemes is available, the implementation of pilot schemes to try out similar initiatives, especially in comparable cultural contexts, becomes inevitable . However, the challenge is to fund these initiatives domestically, rather than rely mainly on external donor resources . Institutionally, a devolved system of governance favours social protection initiatives, in particular those that target specific populations and are locally focused . Government that is in closer proximity to the people is generally expected to have a better understanding of the needs, challenges and aspirations of the people and therefore, in principle, be more responsive . Even initiatives that are conceived at the central level and/or aim for universalization

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(i .e . MGNREGA in India) rely on the local/district level government and partners for implementation and feedback . As discussed by both Neera Burra and Mahendra Dev, often the relative success of the employment scheme across states in India depends on the commitment, capacity and experience of the local government . Furthermore, as our ability to measure and monitor social and economic indicators improves, government and development partners are able to design initiatives and formulate policies grounded in evidence . Moreover, a greater appreciation of local context and heterogeneity is leading to a shift more partnerships are being forged at the local level, with provincial/district level governments, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other partners . Moreover, Darshini Mahadevia discusses the catalytic role that local NGOs can play in changing the status quo at the local level . Her research in India found that interventions by NGOs at the local level led to greater level of tenure security for the vulnerable and otherwise marginalized population . In fragile states this can be a challenge given issues of instability and weak institutional capacity at the local level to deliver services as discussed by S.M. Sirajuddin in his contribution on the Social Safety Net Programme in Afghanistan . It is perhaps advisable to start small in such contexts with focused aims and objectives . Even small, but noticeable, changes in such contexts can go a long way . For instance, the Project for the Improvement of Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan (as discussed by Sharmistha) had a budget of only $3 million and was focused on integrating nutrition and food security components into existing agricultural and livelihood programmes at the national and provincial levels . The project seems to have achieved its modest aims . Finally, the political context and existing power relations matter . As touched upon by Hussain Bux Mallah, some social protection programmes can help to positively alter existing power relations, especially in countries where land and assets are unevenly distributed . Legal provisions and changes can have a similar effect; the examples cited by Pramod Kumar and Kazuyuki Uji from Nepal and Pakistan, where the respective Supreme Court bodies have recognized the third gender . Such provisions, in principle, allow the third gender to access public services (e .g . health and education) and put such social groups on an equal footing with the rest of society . Potential abuse, marginalization and discrimination against the third gender would now be less tolerated under the law . Such protections can help towards narrowing pre-existing inequities in society . To conclude, it is important that we press on to encourage the development of social protection initiatives that have measureable development impact .

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Thanks to all of you, we have had an engaging discussion that to a large extent helped bring out some key features associated with successful social protection programmes . implementation and programmatic challenges were detailed in the discussion . Such knowledge exchange, sharing, and consolidation should help us all gain a comprehensive understanding of social protection . My co-facilitator, Ryce Chanchai will be summarizing Part 2 of the discussion, which will be shared a few days after Part 2 concludes . Taimur Khilji, Policy Specialist & AP-IGD Moderator Inclusive Growth and Poverty Reduction UNDP, Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Bangkok, Thailand

Note:
Another good example of a project that managed to provide a package of services including crop insurance for work, credit and cash/food for work is The Horn of Africa Risk Transfer for Adaptation (HARITA) project .3

Summary Table: Part 1 Key Features of Successful Social Protection Schemes

Contributors Richard Marshall, Majeda Haq and Goran Jonsson
Mahendra Dev Faiza Effendi Vita Feberiany Aniruddha Bonnerjee Fatma Gul Unal Dr. Katharine Vincent Bishwa Nath Tiwari Darshini Mahadevia Sanny Jegillos, Rajesh Sharma and Radhika Behuria

Country Bangladesh India Pakistan Indonesia Bangladesh China Various (Southern Africa) Nepal Various (South Asia) Indonesia

Type of initiative

Cash-for-work Employment guarantee Unconditional cash transfer Conditional cash transfer School fee and stipend Health insurance and migrant health Cash transfer and pension Food-for-work Tenure/land security Monitoring information system

3 See: http://www .oxfamamerica .org/issues/private-sector-engagement/weather-insurance

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Contributors
Haris Gazdar

Country Pakistan Various (East Asia and South Asia) Afghanistan Afghanistan Timor-Leste Pakistan India Nepal Mauritius China

Type of initiative Unconditional cash transfer

Pramod Kumar and Kazuyuki Uji

Sharmistha Dasbarwa Sirajuddin Alexandre Sarmento Hussain Bux Mallah Neera Burra Alessandra Heineman, Feisal Hussain, Jill Engen and Neil Webster Dayachund Bundhoo Hou Xinan & Yu Hua

HIV sensitization of social protection programmes, legal provisions Food security and nutrition Unconditional cash transfer Pensions and conditional cash transfer Residential security Employment guarantee Cash transfers Social registry system
Various (worker injury, employment)

Individual Contributions
Richard Marshall, Majeda Haq, and Gran Jonsson UNDP Bangladesh
Dear Colleagues: Please find our consolidated contribution on the Rural Employment Opportunities for Public Assets (REOPA) programme .

How did the Rural Employment Opportunities for Public Asset scheme manage risks and/or reduce vulnerabilities?
REOPA is a cash-for-work based social safety net programme that targets women, offering earth road maintenance jobs in rural areas . Participants receive training and support, and accumulate capital through a mandated savings component . Thus, REOPA provides both personal human capital and a cash fall back asset . The benefits of REOPA extend beyond the duration of the project, with a significant impact on long-term food security . Results show that upon completion of the project, 84 percent of the women have robust food security; only 1 percent is food insecure . Further, findings suggest that up to 15 months after graduation from the programme, women are living on earnings from their micro-enterprises established with savings capital, and obtaining the same high

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food security as women currently employed by REOP . This high level of food security was achieved in spite of soaring food inflation in rural Bangladesh (~15 percent as of April 2011 .)4

What issue was the scheme attempting to address?

The project targets the needs of the extreme poor, and seeks to ensure sustained graduation from poverty; it also has a strong gender dimension . Around 50 percent of ultra-poor households in Bangladesh suffer from year-round food insecurity, and another 20 percent only have adequate access to food for one to six months .5 Finding productive employment for the rural poor (and women in particular) is difficult due to their lack of skills . Only 30 percent of rural women participate in the labour force . The situation faced by women-headed households is considerably worse due to social exclusion .6

How was it successful?

REOPA offered widowed, divorced or abandoned women, who are the sole breadwinners for their families, a chance to permanently escape from the vicious cycle of poverty . Regular wages from REOPA road maintenance employment over a two-year employment period enabled participants to buy enough food and secure other basic needs, including housing, medical treatment and childrens education . The majority of participants invested their mandatory savings in a range of micro-enterprises after completing their employment tenure . This will ultimately contribute to the sustainable livelihoods of project participants . Through the programme, women are linked to service providers and markets, and receive training related to the businesses they plan to set up . They continue to receive assistance from REOPAs partner NGOs on how to best invest their savings . Ultimately: 96 percent of women start their own business after graduating; Two out of three women make net profits (many earning a substantial amount); and

4 REOPA food security survey, June 2011 . Available at http://www .undp .org .bd/projects/prodocs/ REOPA/REOPA_Quarterly%20Progress%20Report_April_June,2011 .pdf 5 WFP, Rural Bangladesh: Socio Economic Profiles of WFP Operational Areas & Beneficiaries (World Food Programme, TANGO International, October 2006) . Available at http://www .unisdr .org/ files/2806_wfp152436 .pdf 6 Ibid .

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 20 percent break even; and 11 percent experience a loss .7 The near complete take up of business activities post-graduation, and the high food security percentages quoted above, highlight the substantial impacts of the programme .

What were the gender-differentiated impacts of the social protection scheme?

Although REOPA only targets women, their families and wider communities also benefitted from the scheme .

What was the time horizon?

The REOPA scheme is designed to run for just over two years, with a two-year employment tenure, and initial post-graduation follow-up of self-employment livelihood activities . This scheme was implemented over four years, and graduated two classes of participants24,444 womenbetween 2008 and 2011 .

Was the scheme universalized?

The Government of Bangladesh is now planning to scale up REOPA to cover other districts that have a high incidence of poverty and vulnerability, drawing on lessons learned from the current project . The Government has committed $25 million for this purpose .

How can gender be better taken into account in the design of social protection programmes?
The first priority is to design programmes that consider and are sensitive to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of participants, their current workloads (also unpaid family care work), and the cultural systems that inhibit womens inclusion . Second, it is important to set clear and attainable gender aims for each stage of implementation . Third, it is vital to effectively measure impacts, with evaluations going beyond the household level to assess intra-household impacts on women and girls . The REOPA scheme exposes women to and challenges deeply entrenched social norms on womens roles . As a result, women may become victims of abuse due to their participation in the programme . In order to reduce the chances of abuse, it is necessary to implement proactive interventions to affect social change, and establish of specific support systems, such as hotlines, to support victims .
7 See "Food Security of REOPA Women," UNDP Bangladesh News Bulletin 5, no . 5 (August, 2011) . Available at http://www .undp .org .bd/projects/prodocs/REOPA/REOPA_News%20Bulletin_%20 Food%20Security%20Findings_August_2011 .pdf

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What were the institutional arrangements (between sectors; between national and local levels; between public sector institutions and other institutions/organizations)?
The local government division was the overall governmental partner . At local level, the project was implemented by Union Parishads (councils), the lowest tier of local government, with line ministry service departments involved at the subdistrict level . Local partner NGOs assisted project participants and monitored at the field level . UNDP provided government capacity strengthening and exerted financial control, while also supporting effective coordination and project linkages .

What were the operational implications (e.g. the design, cost, implementation, sustainability, accountability) being addressed, and what are the key strengths and limitations of the selected schemes?
The graduation concept was identified at the design phase, but the detailed strategy had to be worked out as the project developed, adjusting to ground realities . It is important to set the graduation criteria at the outset of the project to give a sense of direction . It is also important to be realistic, particularly in relation to sustainability . A project with a well conceived graduation strategy will be relatively costly since the ambition is a one-off treatment to enable beneficiaries to permanently exit poverty . The REOPA cost per graduated woman is around $1,400 . However, the alternative of perpetual dependence on social protection for non-graduated recipients is even costlier . Graduated participants will also be productive and thus contribute to the national economy . The skills of the implementing local government institutions need to be strengthened, especially with regard to pro-poor and gender sensitive attitudes and organizational cultures . Critical limitations such as a lack of government human resources and accountability have to be addressed by governments beyond individual projects immediate purview . Best regards, Richard Marshall, Economist; Majeda Haq, Programme Analyst; and Goran Jonsson, International Team Leader, REOPA-CST UNDP Bangladesh

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S. Mahendra Dev, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, India

Dear AP-IGD members: In this contribution I would like to discuss the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) . In India, the wage employment public works programmes have been extensively used as a tool of social protection . One of the most important programmes now in India is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) introduced in 2005 . It was renamed Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act on 2 October 2009 . The objective of the act is to provide livelihood security in rural areas by granting at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household . It applies to all the adult members of households, and it is not restricted to unemployed population . NREGA 2005 is a law whereby anyone who is willing to do unskilled manual labour at the statutory minimum wage is entitled to employment on public works within 15 days of filing their application . If employment is not provided, an unemployment allowance must be paid (part of the Right to Food Campaign 2007) . This is the first time in India that a rights-based approach for employment was introduced . This is the largest (in terms of population covered) public employment programme implemented in human history .

What is the coverage and funding mechanism?

The scheme is now universal in rural areas and is demand-driven . The Government of India (GoI) had implemented the act in the first phase in 200 districts of the country (February 2006) . In Phase II, an additional 130 districts were included totalling 330 districts (April 2007) . From April 2008, in Phase III, NREGA was universalized and extended to all 596 rural districts in the country . In 20092010, around 52 .6 million households were provided employment as compared to 45 .1 million households in 20082009 (www .nrega .nic .in) . The GoI allocated Rs . 390 billion ($8 billion) in 20092010, which represents 0 .5 percent of GDP, 3 .3 percent of budget expenditure, and 10 percent of planned expenditure in 20082009 . Distribution of funds is approximately 90 percent by the central government and 10 percent by state governments .

What issue does the act attempt to address?

The act provides a legal guarantee of employment to anyone who is willing to do casual manual labour at the statutory minimum wage . The primary objective is employment creation . The auxiliary objective is productive assets creation . The eight categories of public works permitted under the scheme are: (1) water

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conservation and water harvesting, (2) drought proofing, (3) irrigation of canals including micro and minor irrigation works, (4) provision of irrigation facility on lands of Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes8 and others, (5) renovation of traditional water bodies (e .g . tanks), (6) land development, (7) flood control and protection works, and (8) rural connectivity .9

How is MGNREGA different from earlier public works programmes?

There are many distinct reasons why MGNREGA is different from earlier public works programmes: MGNREGA provides statutory guarantee of employment; It provides a rights-based framework for wage employment; There is a 15-day time limit for fulfilling the legal guarantee, and unemployment allowance is given if employment is not provided; MGNREGA has extensive in-built transparency safeguards; The programme has a high level of coverage; and MGNREGA aims for universality .

What is the time horizon?

The scheme was started in 2006, and is ongoing with no set end date .

How does the scheme manage risks and/or reduce vulnerabilities?

The MGNREGA deals with both absolute deprivation and vulnerability . It addresses both idiosyncratic and covariate risks . It acts as employment insurance during non-peak periods (unseasonal) and has income stabilization benefits . It provides a buffer against drought by offering an alternative source of income (e .g . 20092010 droughts) . The scheme also benefits vulnerable groups like women and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes .

What is the impact on women?

At least thirty-three percent of all persons employed by the scheme must be women, however, the actual share of women in the programme is higher . The rate of participation by women actually increased from 41 percent in 20062007 to 49 percent in 20092010 (www .nrega .nic .in) .

8 The Scheduled Castes (SCs), also known as the Dalit, and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) are two groups of historically disadvantaged people that are given recognition under Schedules of the Constitution of India . According to the 2001 Census, Scheduled Castes constitute 15% while Scheduled Tribes constitute 7 .5% of the population in the country . 9 Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Rural Development, The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (NREGA), Operational Guidelines, 2008, 3rd edition, Government of India . Available at http://nrega .nic .in/Nrega_guidelinesEng .pdf

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The majority of women employees collect their own wages, and through their income, are able to positively impact education, health and nutrition of women . Worksite facilities are also sensitive to the needs of women .10

What are the institutional arrangements and implementation mechanisms?

The key stakeholders in the scheme are wage-seekers, Gram Sabha (village community), Panchayati Raj institutions (local councils) particularly the village Panchayat, the programme officer at the block level, district programme coordinator, state government, and Ministry of Rural Development (central government) . The main implementing bodies are the Gram Panchayats (at least 50 percent of works) . Other implementing agencies include the intermediate Panchayats, district Panchayats, and line departments (e .g . Public Works Department, Forest Department)11

What are the operational implications?

Better implementation and the design of the act make it more sustainable in comparison to earlier programmes . However, the financial sustainability of the programme depends on the GoIs commitment . At present, the government is committed and guarantees work through the programme, but if general fiscal space shrinks, it could lead to issues of sustainability . In the medium term, assets created by the scheme could add to overall fiscal stability and aid in making the scheme self-sustaining . In terms of transparency and accountability, all MGNREGA related documents are made available for public scrutiny . Documents are also obtainable under the Right to Information Act . Gram Sabhas conduct social audits of all works taken up within Gram Panchayat .

What are the limitations and key strengths of the scheme?

The problems of the Act are (1) lack of awareness about entitlements, job cards, and applying for work; (2) falsification of muster rolls; (3) improper measurements of work (MGNREGA gives piece rate wages (e .g . work on digging is measured in terms of feet or metres), (4) non-payment of minimum wages, delay in wage payments; (5) lack of basic work site facilities including for childcare; (6) fictitious Gram Sabhas; and (7) weak administration .12 Moreover, the performance of the
10 S . Mahendra Dev, NREGS and Child Well Being (paper prepared for UNICEF and Institute for Human Development, New Delhi, 2011) . 11 Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Rural Development, The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (NREGA), Operational Guidelines, 2008, 3rd edition, Government of India . Available at http://nrega .nic .in/Nrega_guidelinesEng .pdf. It may be noted that private contractors are banned . 12 S . Mahendra Dev, NREGS and Child Well Being (paper prepared for UNICEF and Institute for Human Development, New Delhi, 2011) .

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scheme is uneven in the country as performance depends on local governance structures, political commitment, and also on historical factors . For example, the scheme is successful in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh due to greater accountability; there are social audits conducted and the level of political commitment is high for these types of schemes . Additionally, Rajasthan has significant experience in running drought related programmes . Additional facts Survey results from six northern Indian states (Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, M .P ., Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) show that around 69 percent of the sample workers reported that the programme helped them to avoid hunger,13 while it helped 47 percent to cope better with illness . Around 38 percent of the workers reported that it helped in sending children to school . Most evaluationsofficial and non-officialshow that implementation has been more effective than any of its predecessor schemes . Moreover, leakages have been reduced significantly over time . Best regards, S. Mahendra Dev, Director and Vice Chancellor Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research Mumbai, India

Faiza Effendi, UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, New York
Dear AP-IGD Members: With average food inflation at 18 percent during the last three years, the number of poor and undernourished in Pakistan has significantly increased . While no official estimates on poverty headcount are available, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) correlation of food inflation with poverty incidence establishes a conservative estimate of 30 percent . In October 2008, the Federal Government initiated the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) with an initial budget outlay of $500 million . The programme is the largest direct cash grant scheme in Pakistans history, targeting 3 .5 million economically distressed persons affected by poverty and inflation due to the sharp rise in international oil and food prices in 2007 . It was started as a programme in 2009 to extend cash transfers of $13 per month paid every two months to the underprivileged in pursuit of promoting a more equitable
13 Jean Drze and Reetika Khera, Frontline 26, no . 1, 3-16 January, 2009, Chennai; and Right to Food Campaign, Employment Guarantee Act: A Primer, 2007 . Available at http://www . righttofoodindia .org/index .html

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distribution of wealth . It was established through ordinance as an autonomous body with organizational presence in all parts of the country, Success parameters While initial outlays under BISP were based on parliamentarians generating a list of the poor based on a minimum income threshold, in August 2010, BISP introduced the poverty scorecard methodology to efficiently identify cash grant recipients . Essentially an assessment tool, the poverty scorecard used a district wide door-to-door survey to assess poverty in households using a proxy means test to collect and compute poverty scores in real time . The main benefits of this innovation were (a) reduction in potential leakages, and (b) institutional redistribution of roles between BISP and the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) vis-a-vis the verification of the household poverty status . The National Database Registration Authoritys electronic database turned out to be an extremely efficient tool, with an automated filter system of screening applications . It more accurately identified the poor and vulnerable populations in effect reducing potential leakages .14With the use of the BISP card to extend cash grants, post offices no longer function as the point of cheque distribution for beneficiaries, thus eliminating potential corruption at these distribution centres . In addition, the scorecard offered information on the differentiated needs of the poor, which in turn led to more informed product development and greater overall effectiveness in terms of response . The BISP card materialized through forging new partnerships with private sector commercial banks, which allowed for branchless banking (magnetic strip-card based) . Linking the poor with the financial sector offers promise in terms of escaping poverty; they become part of the formal sector and have more potential opportunities for productive and self-sustaining ventures . The BISP initiative of outsourcing essential functions of targeting and cash delivery to relevant specialized institutions is a major step forward in reducing leakages and offering a more efficient and effective form of social protection . The National Database Registration Authoritys database, which serves as the foundation for BISP, should link with other public and private bodies that offer social protection . Currently, several of these institutions operate as silos, and as a result social protection schemes remain fragmented . Centralizing computerized data on the poor can go a long way towards boosting efficiency and minimizing potential for corruption .

14 It actually reduced the number of eligible candidates . During 2010 only 53 .3 percent of the applicants met the poverty criterion, even though all applications had been verified by parliamentarians and union councilors .

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Areas for Improvement Institutionally, BISP is a fairly top-heavy organization . In addition to the Board, there is a supreme governing council with the President of the country as the Chief Patron and the Prime Minister as the Executive Patron . The law is silent on the total strength of the council, their tenure and remuneration . The power of the President to appoint members introduces politicization, compounded with the board members having extensive discretionary powers and immunity from criminal liability . Furthermore, the overlapping functions between the board, council, and BISP management (federal government), notably in areas including resource mobilization, monitoring performance, and office establishment, creates parallel systems of reporting, potentially undermines board authority, and reduces accountability . While BISP has recently introduced a variety of products (credit, health insurance, flood affected assistance package, and skills development), the rationale for choosing the mix of products is not immediately clear . Furthermore, fiscal sustainability of the programme remains an issue . The BISPs challenges lie in variety of areasgovernance structure; coordination among its network of partners including NADRA, PPO and Private Sector Banks; accountability; security (web) in terms of its ICT-based products including the database of beneficiaries and SMART cards; and long-term operational sustainability . Conclusion Social protection schemes need to be situated within the larger landscape of development with clarity of vision in terms of graduating clients towards more productive activities . The dolling of grants without conditions, and in the absence of an exit strategy, is likely to generate undesirable dependencies . Moreover, there is the possibility of misuse by the state for patronage purposes . Furthermore, the existence of parallel and competing social protection programmes generates market distortions and renders many ongoing schemes less effective . A necessary precondition for a sound social protection programme is its ability to accurately target, and then exit once its purpose is fulfilled . This would help ring fence the social protection scheme from other ongoing programmes . Finally, UNDPs role in strengthening the governance and administrative systems for social protection organizations can go a long way in developing coherent, responsive, accountable and transparent social protection mechanisms at the national and local levels . With best regards, Faiza Effendi, Programme Specialist UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific New York

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Vita Febriany, SMERU Research Institute, Jakarta, Indonesia

Dear AP-IGD Members: In this contribution, I would like to discuss the Family Hope Program or Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH) an example of a conditional cash transfer programme in Indonesia . Program Keluarga Harapan was designed to boost demand for education and health services among the chronically poor households by eliminating the main barrier (disposable income) . Ability of the extremely poor to access health and education is limited by the fact they do not have the minimal income to pay for such basic services . Program Keluarga Harapan beneficiaries are poor households that fulfil one of the following criteria: (a) have a pregnant or lactating mother; (b) have a child under 6 years of age; or (c) have a child of primary or junior secondary school age . In 2007, PKH was piloted in 7 out of 33 provinces in Indonesia and covered approximately 388,000 households . While other social protection programmes in Indonesia have yet to pay attention to the gender issue, PKH specifically targets women and children as beneficiaries by transferring funds directly to the intended female recipient (mothers) or related adult women (sisters or grandmothers in the absence of a mother) . Given that women are primary caregivers, it was expected that transferring money to them (as opposed to men) will more likely result in it being spent on goods and services that are beneficial to the childrens wellbeing . Each PKH beneficiary receives a quarterly cash transfer based on the composition of eligible household members . On average, a household receives IDR 1,390,000 (Approximately $160) per year . If a beneficiary household fails to comply with programme conditionality, transfers are decreased: after one month by IDR 50,000 ($6), after two months by IDR 100,000 ($12), and after three months, all benefits are suspended . Transfer scenario Fixed transfer Transfer for househo ld with: a. Children aged under 6 years and/or pregnant/lactating mother b. Primary school aged children c. Junior high school aged children
Average transfer per household Maximum transfer per household Transfer amount per poor family per year (IDR)

200,000 800,000 400,000 800,000 1,390,000 2,200,000

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The Ministry of Social Affairs manages the programme, with health and education service providers at the village level responsible for monitoring compliance of beneficiaries . To ensure that the objectives of the programme are met, a facilitator is assigned to large groups of 200-300 beneficiaries; smaller groups of 25 beneficiaries are also formed . Facilitators mobilize beneficiaries and inform them of their rights and obligations, encouraging them to adopt and maintain PKH practices . While monitoring can be improved further, this allows for some degree of monitoring . In 2010, PKH extended to 20 provinces and 90 districts, and covered approximately 800,000 households with the total budget of IDR 1 .3 trillion (US$152 million) . The number of beneficiaries is expected to reach 2,034,000in 2013 . Preliminary impact evaluations on PKH show that the number of visits to health centres is increasing among the PKH treatment group, while the number of absentee students in the treatment areas is decreasing compared to the control areas (areas receiving no cash transfers)15 . Furthermore, even though there is no strict control on the use of PKH funds, most beneficiaries claimed to use transfers for daily needs such as food as well as for education and health expenses .16 While successful in several ways, the programme still faces several problems that reduce its overall effectiveness . First, while the success of the programme depends on the availability of health and education services, there are wide disparities in terms of provision and accessibility to such basic services between urban and rural areas and across provinces in Indonesia . Second, PKH is largely a demand-driven programme, and has not paid sufficient attention to supply-side issues and constraints, particularly with respect to services providers (i .e . health and education) . Third, targeting women in the family without addressing underlying gender inequality in household decision-making lessens the effectiveness of the programme . Best regards, Vita Febriany SMERU Research Institute Jakarta, Indonesia

15 Vivi Yulaswati and Pungky Sumadi, "Reducing Poverty by Increasing Community and Female Participation," in Employment, Living Standards, and Poverty in Contemporary Indonesia, eds . Chris Manning and Sudarno Sumarto, (Canberra: College of Asian and the Pacific, the Australian National University, 2011) . 16 Sirojudin Arif, Muhammad Syukri, Rebecca Holmes, and Vita Febriany, Gendered Risks, Poverty, and Vulnerability: Case Study of the Raskin Food Subsidy Programme in Indonesia . (London: Overseas Development Institute, 2010) .

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Aniruddha Bonnerjee, Independent Consultant

Dear AP-IGD Members: Education is a basic human right and plays a pivotal role in human development . However, due to the intersection of economic, social and cultural factors, educating girls remains a major development challenge in parts of Asia and the Pacific . Within this context, the Bangladesh Female Secondary/High School Stipend Program (FSSP) is an example of transformative social protection with direct relevance for other countries . In 1990, the education indicators in Bangladesh were amongst the worst in the region . Female literacy was 20 percent (14 percent in rural areas), and the looming gender disparity in primary enrolment rates (64 percent for girls, 74 percent for boys) spiked substantially in secondary education, with girls comprising less than 1 in 3 enrolled students and just 3 out of 10 school graduates (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Census 1991) . These indicators17changed dramatically within a relatively short period allowing Bangladesh to achieve gender parity in school enrolment (target 4, MDG 3) well ahead of the Millennium Development Goal 2015 deadlineone of the few countries in South Asia to achieve this goal . Data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS) indicates that female enrolment in secondary schools jumped to nearly four million by 2005 from just over one million in 1991 . In fact, by 2002, secondary school enrolment of girls exceeded that of boys, and most recent data suggest that girls account for nearly 55 percent of total enrolment in secondary schools (BANBEIS, 2006) . Alongside the many factors credited for these sweeping changes, such as better employment opportunities for women with secondary education (textiles, processing) and sustained public fiscal allocations for education, the FSSP is also acclaimed for its highly visible and prominent role . The FSSP is based on a successful pilot predecessor and was launched nationally in 1994 . The Government of Bangladesh (GoB), the International Development Association/World Bank, ADB, and the Norwegian Agency for International Development conjointly fund the programme . The FSSPs short-term objectives are (a) to increase female enrolment in grades 6-10, (b) to assist them in passing the senior secondary certificate examinations to qualify for employment, and (c) to retain girls in secondary school in order to delay marriage . In the long term, the programmes objectives are to expand the number of educated women participating in economic and social development, increase the social status of

17 The data for this brief are from various sources including Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Statistics, BANBEIS; Census (1991, 2001); DHS 2004 & WDI 2011 .

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females while reducing gender gap, and create a positive impact on population growth (Khandker, Brown and Fuwa, 2003)18 . The project pays tuition-fees to schools and a monthly cash stipend directly to all rural girls up to grade 10 if they remain unmarried, fulfill 75 percent attendance and demonstrate proficiency in achieving grades (45 percent in annual exams) . More than 95 percent of the secondary schools in Bangladesh are private sector schools but receive more than four fifths of operational expenses through subsidies and payments of girls tuitions from the Ministry of Education . These private secondary schools are overseen through community-based school management committees in charge of a wide range of affairs, including hiring and dismissal of teachers . The payment of the stipend directly to a girls bank account is an empowering experience in a male dominated domain such as banking where a majority of account holders and officials are male . The coverage of these programmes is universal in rural areasby 2005 nearly 2 .5 million girls from rural areas were receiving secondary school stipends (BANBEIS, 2006) . Some school costs still have to be borne by households, and inevitably the poorest families are marginalized/excluded . Furthermore, the dispersion of schools and facilities is likely to be biased against poorer areas . Plans to expand coverage to these vulnerable groups and areas are being formulated . The FSSP costs about six to eight percent of the total education budget, prompting concern (mainly from donors) regarding sustainability . 19 Although there have been no studies de rigueur that isolate the impact of FSSP on outcomes from other factors, evidence suggests that some positive outcomes were transformative in many ways (Demographic and Health Survey 2004, World Bank, op cit) . A low-income country laying down a universal programme (for rural areas) was quite an accomplishment, and reflected a firm commitment towards identity and nation building through increased economic participation and empowerment of women and men, and the realization that population growth had to be curbed in order to address the unsustainable population density in Bangladesh . The involvement of multiple donor partners was essential given the scope and scale of the interventions planned . Enrolment of girls in secondary school surged and gender parity in secondary education enrolment was achieved . The 2004 DHS results show an improvement in the rural-urban gender gap in education . In tandem there was an upward drift in marriage age and increased gaps between babies (i .e . a fertility shift) (DHS, 2004), increased empowerment of girls through banking and finance and enhanced employment
18 Shahidur Khandker, Mark Pitt and Nobuhiko Fuwa, Subsidy to Promote Girls' Secondary Education: The Female Stipend Program in Bangladesh (World Bank, Brown University and International Rice Research Institute and Chiba University p .2 2003) . Available at http://www .h .chiba-u .jp/mkt/ revised%20fssap%20paper9b .pdf 19 World Bank: 2003 . Project Assessment ReportFemale Secondary School Stipend Programme .

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opportunities from the boom in the export driven garments and processing sectors .20 To the extent that this translates into better maternal and child health and nutrition as reflected in some recent studies (DHS, 2004), these are indeed long lasting benefits for society and the FSSP could be considered a vanguard programme in addressing the exclusion of girls from the secondary school domain . Some caveats and lessons learned From a social exclusion lens, education is of value because it can increase a girls entitlements: her ability to access goods, services and markets based on her endowments . To the extent that increased secondary education of girls is not matched by a focus on quality and continued access, or an increase in schoolfacilities and infrastructure to accommodate the surge in enrolment, stronger institutional support for girls to continue tertiary education, or assistance and encouragement to find stable employment, these are lost opportunities to empower women with a stronger sense of identity in a male dominated society . The FSSP must therefore be seen as adjunct and complementary to a wider set of equally critical supportive measures and include impact based assessments along with monitoring and evaluation of outcomes . There are also concerns about sustainability and affordability amidst a donor driven effort to move the programme to a targeted basis so that the most deserving can get the requisite attention . Targeting not only stigmatizes recipients, it is extremely costly to implement . More importantly, the definition of affordability must be driven by social consensus and not a prescriptive financial formula . The GoB is planning to extend this programme to include boys, and find innovative ways to draw in girls and boys from the most disadvantaged families . All the best, Aniruddha Bonnerjee, Independent Consultant Social protection, Child Poverty, Pensions and Social Policy Former World Bank Economist

Fatma Gul Unal, UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific
Dear AP-IGD Members: In China, socio-economic problems of the rural poor are a challenge . This is largely due to neglect of this population and sector during periods of urbanbiased growth, which began with de-collectivization and strengthened in the late 1990s . Socio-economic problems are also seen in the urban areas resulting
20 Impact of 3F Crises on Women and Children of South Asia, Koehler and Bonnerjee, 2009 .

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from the rapid rural-urban migration . Consequently, both rural and urban populations are exposed to new vulnerabilities as a by-product of the Chinese economic growth model . Social protection initiatives can address these separate but related challenges . The subject of this discussion is on two different initiatives that target select populations (a) residents in rural areas and second and (b) for rural migrants who reside in urban areas . Caring for One Billion: Assessing the New Social Protection Programmes in Rural China (Zhang et al . 2011)21: This recent report on China focuses on a particular social insurance initiative, namely, the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) in rural China, which started in 2003 and covers 100 percent of all villages in the country . The New Cooperative Medical Scheme aims to protect rural low-income households from falling into poverty . Catastrophic illnesses, as the report mentions, are a leading cause of pushing rural households into poverty . This research paper, which utilizes data from 2004 and 2007, seeks to evaluate the NCMS in terms of the difference it has made in the lives of the rural poor, a group representing more than 35 million in 200922 (State Council Information Office, 2010) . The study claims that despite a very high participation rate by the poor, NCMS has made a limited difference for the poor due to the limited availability of funds for the programme . Based on survey results, the reimbursement rate was less than half, sometimes less than one third of the promised amount . What is more striking, the higher the health spending (or the seriousness of the illness as measured by the price) by the household, the lesser the reimbursement ratio . Overall, the programme managed to cover only 15 percent of the reimbursement demand . The programme is fostering and creating a positive sentiment among the rural population towards the government . Majority of the rural poor felt like the government has been paying more attention to them than previously . Other programme outcomes include an increase in participation among the poor for seeking medical help during illness and an increase in gross income of the health clinics that offer the NCMS programme . Despite fiscal challenges, the programme is a promising safety net for the poor, especially those that are pushed into poverty due to the inability to afford medical treatment .

21 Zhang et al ., Caring for One Billion: Assessing the New Social Protection Programmes in China (Centre for Social Protection Research Report, January 2011) . Available at http://www . socialprotectionasia .org/Conf-prgram-pdf/7-SPA-Final-Paper-No-07 .pdf 22 Based on the Chinese Official Poverty line of US$0 .43 a day .

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World Health Organization (WHO) 2011 Report on Social Determinants Approaches to Public Health23 One of the reasons for high maternal mortality rate is not the overall low quality in health care services but rather unequal access to such services . China is a case in point, which not only points to the importance of equal access to maternal care, but also provides a good example for inclusive health policies . Chinas experienced economic transition and fast economic growth that was unequally distributed, with a concentration in urban areas . This growth bias towards urban areas resulted in more than 150 million migrants moving from rural to urban areas . Most of the migrants work without legal documentation as informal workers, construction workers, garbage collectors, and small workshops employees .24 Health care services were influenced by the emphasis on privatization during the economic transition in China, shifting income generation in this sector from public resources to private fees . This has led to underutilization of health services by the poor, including migrant workers .25 Several studies found that maternal health outcomes for the migrant population are significantly worse when compared to residents . This is because migrant women do not seek medical help, or if they do, it is usually from illegal providers .26 In response, the government is registering migrant deliveries . This was first initiated in Shanghai in 1994, and then in expanded to other districts . Based on data collected and research, reasons for low health access rates for migrant women were (a) economic, due to high user fees and lack of medical insurance; and (b) cultural, as migrant women felt discriminated by staff in the public health centres . Based on these findings, policy guidance and recommendations were given to the government . . The first policy on fee control and service quality assurance for migrant women was passed in 1999 in Shanghai . This then led to the first delivery centre for migrant women in the form of a pilot project in Minhang district in 2004, and to nine more districts around the same time, and 13 more in 2007 (WHO, 2011) . These centres are considered to have produced positive

23 WHO, Social Determinants Approaches to Public Health: From Concept to Practice, 2011 available at http://www .who .int/sdhconference/background/news/ socialdeterminantsapproachestopublichealth/en/index .html 24 Ibid . 25 Ibid . 26 Gao X ., Analysis of 24 Maternal Deaths in Migrants in Shanghai, Journal of Preventive Medicine 6 (1994): 2223; and Jiang H . and Liu Z ., Study on Maternal and Child Death of Migrants in Shenzhen in 5 years, Public Health in China 13 (1997): 550551; and Zhang et al ., Caring for One Billion: Assessing the New Social Protection Programmes in China (Centre for Social Protection Research Report, January 2011) .

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results for migrant women in terms of providing improved access to maternal care . Some of the key factors in this successful initiative to reduce inequalities in accessing maternal care are very much imbedded in political will, and in correctly identifying the underlying problems of such inequalities, which are not always economical .27 Kind regards, Fatma Gl nal, Economics Specialist Regional Strategy and Policy Unit UNDP Regional Bureau for the Asia and the Pacific

Queries by Rathin Roy, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth; and Response by Vita Febriany, SMERU Research Institute
Dear Vita: In Indonesia, women are being designated as recipients of conditional cash transfers for their households . This is the case in other countries as well . There is concern that making women/mothers the principal beneficiaries of cash transfers increases the already onerous time burden on them to perform unpaid tasks . It also reinforces the notion that primary care or childcare responsibility is that of women . Is there any discussion on this in Indonesia? Thanks, Rathin Roy, Director UNDP International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) Brasilia, Brazil

Dear Rathin, SMERU explores how the conditional cash transfer programme in Indonesia influence womens position in the household and time allocation . The study reveals that the programme has neither affected intra-household gender relations, nor the relative position of women within the household . In Indonesia, husbands play a dominant role of in decision-making processes related to education for their children and birth delivery assistance . The study shows that there are no significant changes in the division of domestic labour between
27 WHO, Social Determinants Approaches to Public Health: From Concept to Practice (WHO, 2011) . Available at http://www .who .int/sdhconference/background/news/ socialdeterminantsapproachestopublichealth/en/index .html

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husbands and wives in connection to the implementation of the programme . A comparison of households that received PKH and those that did not also shows no significance difference . For further reading, please refer to Are Conditionality Pro-Women? A Case Study of Conditional Cash Transfer in Indonesia, available at http://www .smeru .or .id/ report/workpaper/conditionalcashtransfer/conditionalcashtransfer .pdf Regards, Vita Febriany SMERU Research Institute Jakarta, Indonesia

Katharine Vincent, Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme

Dear AP-IGD Members: I would like to discuss social protection as a policy instrument to sustain development gains and build a more secure foundation for the achievement of development goals including the MDGs . Over the five-year lifetime of the United Kingdom Department for International Development and AusAID-funded Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) (http://www .wahenga .net), the number and extent of cash transfer schemes in southern Africa has increased dramatically . While old age pension schemes in the middle-income countries (South Africa, Namibia and Mauritius) have a longer history, the growing evidence of the role of cash transfers in reducing vulnerability to food insecurity and poverty has prompted the introduction of pilots and programmes in other neighbouring countries . It is also worth noting that in contrast to other regions, countries in southern Africa are very active in introducing unconditional cash transfers . Lesothos Old Age Pension scheme is domestically financed and began in 2004, against the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) . The IMF was primarily concerned with Lesothos fiscal position and whether it could afford the U$21 million (first year) cost of running the pension scheme . To maintain affordability, the government set the age of eligibility relatively high at 70 years old . However, given this the government managed to increase the amount of monthly transfer . The success of the scheme was instrumental in the country choosing to introduce a cash transfer programme targeted towards vulnerable children, which began in 2010 (funded by the European Union with technical support from UNICEF) . Although the schemes are not technically linked, evidence of positive economic impact, and the success of categorical targeting

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from the pension scheme, provided the political motivation to expand social transfers to a new vulnerable categoryin this case, children . Swaziland, another small developing country in southern Africa, followed suit, introducing its pension scheme in 2005 . An impact evaluation carried out by RHVP in late 2009 found that in addition to reducing vulnerability to hunger and food security, receipt of the Old Age Grant allowed beneficiaries to access better healthcare and purchase basic personal goods including clothes and shoes . It also helped elevate their social status in society (Orr et al ., 2010) . Grant benefits extend beyond the recipient to other household members, thereby furthering the programmes reach . For example, in Swaziland, despite pension being an unconditional transfer, many elderly grandparents used it to pay school fees of their grandchildren, particularly HIV/AIDS orphans .28 While Lesotho and Swazilands old age pensions were universal among the elderly, another southern African country introduced a truly universal pilot programme . Namibias Basic Income Grant (BIG) was officially a two-year pilot, from January 2008 to December 2009, in the settlement of Otjivero-Omitara, 100km to the east of Windhoek . Under the project, a universal cash transfer of N$100 ($14 USD) per month was provided to 930 individuals under the age of 60 (at which age they become eligible for the state pension) . Delivery of cash was done electronically through deposit into smartcard-based bank accounts opened for beneficiaries with the state post office, NamPost Other pilot schemes in southern Africa have employed alternative targeting schemes, and many are now in the process of being scaled up . In Malawi, the Social Cash Transfer Scheme (SCTS), financed by UNICEF, was based on a system of poverty-targeting, transferring cash to the poorest 10 percent of households that were also labour-constrained . After a successful pilot in Mchinji district, it is now in the process of being scaled up . Across the border in Zambia, five cash transfer pilots ran in Kalomo, Monze and Kazungula districts in the Southern Province, and Chipata and Katete in the Eastern Province . As in Malawi, the Zambia Social Cash Transfer Scheme is poverty-targeted, aimed at the ultrapoor, and the Chipata scheme also pays a bonus for every child enrolled in school . Following the successful pilot, the scheme is being scaled up, with plans to use an electronic delivery system for transfers . Despite their differences in scale, method of targeting, and the system used for delivery, the general trend is for the consolidation and expansion of cash transfer schemes in southern Africa . This is a reflection of the growing consensus based on the empirical evidence that cash transfers function as a useful policy
28 Jennifer Orr, Katharine Vincent and Tracy Cull, Swaziland Old Age Grant Impact Assessment (HelpAge International, Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme and UNICEF, 2010) . Available at http://www .wahenga .net/node/1936

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instrument that help sustain development gains and build a secure foundation for achieving development goals including the MDGs . Best regards, Katharine Vincent Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP)

Bishwa Nath Tiwari, Human Development Report Unit, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre
Dear AP-IGD Member: Public work programmes are frequently employed as social protection measures to meet the dual challenge of addressing the short-term need for smoothing consumption29, and the long-term aim of asset creation . I would like to discuss the Rural Community Infrastructure Works (RCIW) programme, one of the most popular targeted programmes in Nepal, implemented by the Government of Nepal since 1996 . Background In 2009, more than 3 .5 million people suffered from hunger in Nepal .30 In general, physical connectivity is a major barrier to food security, especially given the mountainous terrain of the area . A quarter of the population in Nepal still live in remote and hilly areas, and it can take anywhere between four hours and 13 days to access the nearest road .31 The Rural Community Infrastructure Works programme makes food available to remote locations through implementation of various projects including road construction, pond rehabilitation and land reclamation . Furthermore, the social mobilization approach adopted in the implementation of the programme has helped to build the capacity of poor and vulnerable . Over the years, the purpose of the programme has changed from a short-term focus on food availability to a long-term emphasis on ensuring food security through asset building . The RCIW programme played an important role in reducing vulnerabilities . It provided food to 50,000 households by distributing 13,000 metric tonnes of rice
29 Consumption smoothing is the economic concept used to express the desire of people for having a stable path of consumption . 30 WFP, Nepal Operations Summary (Rome: 2010) . 31 Road construction in Nepal: A Way out of Poverty: International Award for SDC Road Project in Nepal. Available at http://www .sdc .admin .ch/en/Home/Projects/Road_ construction_in_Nepal_a_way_out_of_poverty

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annually, and it expanded the rural road network within the targeted areas . More than 700 km of paved roads were constructed under the programme, which benefited an estimated population of 360,000these additional persons now have relatively easier access to transportation (a 2 .5-hour walk from their homes) .32 This also facilitated access to markets, health centres, schools, and other basic services, thus reducing overall vulnerability of the rural and remote populations . The RCIW programme undertook measures to build capacity at all levels . It included individuals and local institutions and the private and public sector to ensure that development activities would continue on their own . Institutional arrangements Various stakeholders, including national and local governments and various development agencies, jointly implemented RCIW . The Government of Nepal led the programme at national level through the Ministry of Local Development, in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP), which helped to provide food for workers and fund food transportation and tools . Furthermore, KfW (German Financial Cooperation) offered financial support for building infrastructure, while GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Technische Zusammenarbeit) and DFID funded technical assistance . At the local level, the district development committees and district project support unit supported implementation, while user and self-help groups were responsible for implementing the various projects/activities . The RCIW programme employed social mobilisation and empowerment activities as part of its implementation . The project emphasized interaction with the targeted communities . Based on the social mobilisation approach, the field staff assisted villagers to form self-help groups to implement Food for Work projects, followed by complementary activities (saving/credit provision, income generation initiatives, and awareness raising through Participatory Learning Centres) . Key strengths The programme is self-targeting as it is generally the poor who can work as unskilled labour; it has a decentralized, transparent, and flexible approach to programme planning and implementation . Moreover, the programme adopted a social audit mechanism within communities to minimize the misuse of food

32 Government of Nepal, WFP, DFID and GTZ, Rural Construction Infrastructure Works: A Decade of RCIW, (Kathmandu: 19962007) .

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grains . Finally, due to the focus on the poor, transparency and accountability, the programme was implemented during the height of the conflict . Social inclusion To promote equity and social inclusion, RCIW focused on strengthening the participation and empowerment of women and Dalits through supporting their economic activities . According to the RCIW provision, women or Dalits must occupy at least two of the four key positions (chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary, or treasurer) in each user committee . As a result, women held 52 percent of leadership positions in the self-help groups and user committees . Women were able to take over 60 percent of the total loans from cooperatives for economic activities .33 In contrast to unequal wages for men and women prevailing within the communities, RCIW adopted the equal pay for equal work principle . Lessons learned The decade of experience implementing the project highlighted that food serves as a crucial entry point to address the basic needs of the poor and vulnerable at the community level .34 Best regards, Bishwa Nath Tiwari, Deputy Programme Coordinator Human Development Report Unit UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Bangkok, Thailand

Queries by Rathin Roy, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth; and Response by Faiza Effendi, UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific
Dear Faiza: Thank you for this very informative contribution . It has stimulated my thinking, and I have a few questions for you . 1 . What was the rationale provided to usecash transfers as a means to promote equitable distribution of wealth? 2 . What proportion of total government current (revenue) expenditure roughly would be US$500 million?
33 Ibid . 34 Ibid .

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3 . Was this all federal spending or was there a provincial and/or local government component? 4 . In your neighbouring country, India, introduction and use the BPL card was a disaster . In some states of India, there are more cards than the poverty headcount . Do you have information on how the BISP card rollout is working in practice?Is there anywhere I can get more info on NADRA and the methodology used to ascertain the reduction in potential leakages? Thanks again for your informative and concise contribution . Rathin Roy Director UNDP International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) Brasilia, Brazil

Dear Rathin: Responses to your questions are provided below .

(1) What was the rationale provided to use cash transfers as a means to promote equitable distribution of wealth?
The period up to 2008 saw a number of efforts being made to define the parameters of social protection in Pakistan . The most important among these was a review undertaken by a task force on social protection, working with the Planning Commission, which was mandated to draft a social protection strategy for the country . The task force completed its work in 2006, and the Policy Commission published a report in June 2007 . The National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) 2007 reported on studies of existing cash transfer programmes; it found serious gaps in targeting mechanisms as well as flaws in design and implementation . It recommended that cash transfer programmes be consolidated into a unique social protection database from which beneficiaries should be selected . The NSPS 2007 further recommended a transition to conditional cash transfers and the use of methods such as proxy means test-based surveys and geographical and community-based targeting for beneficiary identification . The political and economic turmoil in Pakistan from around 2007 onwards, which culminated in the election of a new government in 2008 and the ending of direct military rule, proved to be a powerful catalyst for change . Soon after assuming office, the federal government announced the launch of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), and in its very first budget, presented to parliament barely 10 weeks after government formation, an amount of 34 billion rupees was allocated for BISP . At around the same time, the Punjab Government

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announced its Food Support Programme, a subsidized bread scheme, with a total outlay of 22 billion rupees . There was an element of political competition between the federal and the Punjab provincial governments in the launching of these programmes . Although nominally in alliance, the parties leading the two governmentsPakistan Peoples Party at federal level and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the Punjab provincealso eyed each other as rivals . Whatever the immediate political motivations, it was clear that something quite dramatic was underway . The NSPS 2007 recommendations of raising fiscal allocations to social assistance programmes to 36 billion over the course of five years seemed meek compared with the bold increase in the first year . It is difficult to ascertain whether BISP was a response to the NSPS recommendations for effective targeting to promote equity, or whether the consultant who had contributed to the NSPS (who later became the special advisor to the Prime Minister) was responsible for BISPs design for promoting equitable distribution of wealth, but the fact that BISP identified women as primary beneficiaries, made it go beyond any other social protection intervention in Pakistan .

(2) What proportion of total government current (revenue) expenditure roughly would be US$500 million?
The federal budget for 2008-2009 was to the tune of Rs2300 billion . Funds allocated to BISP for the fiscal year 2008-09 were Rs34 billion, which made BISP allocation 1 .4 percent of the total budget . The current budget is normally around 80 percent of the total budget, so BISP would approximately be allocated funds equivalent to 2 percent of the 2008 current budget . The Rs 500 million that was spent is way below the actual allocation .

(3) Was this all federal spending or was there a provincial and/or local government component?
BISP is an initiative of the Federal Government and is entirely financed from the federal budget .

(4) In your neighbouring country, India, introduction and use of the BPL card was a disaster. In somestates of India, there are more cards than the poverty headcount. Do you have information on how the BISP card rollout is working in practice?Is there anywhere I can get more info on NADRA and the methodology used to ascertain the reduction in potential leakages?
The receipt of the BISP card is contingent upon the conduct of the poverty survey . As at May 2011 23 out of the 120 districts of Pakistan had completed the survey . One of the key reasons for this slow pace of implementation is the heightened security risk in certain geographical regions that hampers conducting this survey .

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For information on the methodology used to minimize leakages you may wish to contact Iftikhar Malik (mmalik@worldbank .org) Social Protection Specialist at the World Bank, supporting NADRA in the design and roll out of the poverty scorecard . With regards, Faiza Effendi Programme Specialist UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific New York

Professor Darshini Mahadevia, Faculty of Planning and Public Policy and Member-Secretary, the Centre for Urban Equity, CEPT University, India
Dear AP-IGD Members: I would like to discuss the Role of Tenure Security as Social Protection in Urban Areas of Southern Asia . Tenure Security is the starting point of social protection in the urban areas in Southern Asia . We carried out this research study under the programme Social Protection in Asia, managed by the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex and Institute of Human Development, New Delhi . The studys hypothesis was: tenure security has a positive relationship with living conditions, human development, economic status and access to entitlements . In other words, higher the levels of tenure security better are the living conditions, human development achievements, economic status and access to entitlements . The findings of this research study are equally relevant for the cities of other South Asian countries . The research locales were Ahmedabad and Surat in the state of Gujarat . In Ahmedabad, two locales were selected, one Vasna, which is a middleincome locale and another Amraiwadi, which is an industrial locale . Tenure security is a continuum of different levels of rights with regard to land (such as right to occupy, use, develop, inherit and transfer land) . Land tenure therefore is bundle of rights . In India, in general, and in the case study locales in particular, at the time of the research, there was no programme to grant tenure security to the residents of slums and squatter settlements, except in a few states, namely Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa . Legal land rights have been given in these four states through what are called patta legislation, or land rights legislation, under which the slum dwellers living on lands belonging to the state and local government have been given lease rights for a period . Following the lease rights, the households have begun to invest in house renewal and personal level basic services . This research argued that once

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iStock

such tenure rights are given then there is positive spill over in terms of employment, human development achievements, and access to entitlements . In situations where the legal rights are not given, the urban poor, in general, made their own arrangements to access tenure security and they move from informal to quasi-legal (de facto) tenure through various processes . In Ahmedabad and Surat, the case study locales, the local government has extended de facto rights for 10 years, to be extendable to 20 years . One aim of the study was to observe the impact of such rights on social protection . In other words, the research was based on hypothesis that even such de facto rights, as in case of Ahmedabad and Surat, which the author calls strong de facto tenure, improve social protection . The study locales had three different socio-economic, institutional, and policy contexts . In the case of Vasna locale, where NGOs intervened in four of the six slums studied, high de facto tenure security was created because the NGOs were placed on board of the local government to grant the concerned slum 10 years of tenure security . They also managed to convince the local government to invest in basic services such as water supply, sewerage and drainage lines, and paved roads . The two NGOs engaged with slum development are Mahila Housing Trust (MHT) of SEWA and SAATH . The study finds that the positive spill over of such an intervention by an an external organization (NGO in this case) led to improvements in housing and basic services and had a positive impact on incomes and savings when compared to slums that lacked external intervention . In Amraiwadi, which is an industrial suburb of Ahmedabad, we could not find any significant intervention by NGOs, except in one slum where MHT was involved in organising women for upgrading the slum . In this ward, slums of longer duration had achieved de facto tenure security because they were on private lands and not public lands . Ironically, when slums are on public lands in

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Ahmedabad, they are more prone to evictions because land is required for some public purpose and slum development does not rank high on the list of priorities of the local government . Lastly, in Surat, we could not find any external agency intervention in slums . Instead, the local government proactively extended basic services in all city slums, irrespective of their tenure situation . As a result, the living conditions improved . We could not find any differences in economic conditions, human development and entitlements across different slums selected . The case of Surat also shows that local state intervention in extending basic services is the most inclusive way of improving the living conditions and also reflected the possibility of transformational or promotional form of social protection . In other words, social protection in urban slums can be taken care of through the (primary) development agenda of a city . This would also lead to local governments investing in basic services . The positive gender spill over of such development is not only improvements in living conditions, but women being relieved of menial duties including fetching water and an increase in women workforce participation . An increase in household incomes, an increase in children going to school, and an improvement in health on account of basic services were also observed . Shelter security also leads to people better able to face periods of unemployment and engage in home-based work . Moreover, shelter security gives poor households an address, which is an identity, and through that they can claim various entitlements and benefits including a ration card and shelter subsidies . Conversely, research also shows that evictions, without some form of tenure security, lead to loss of assets and savings, loss of employment, and low retention rates in terms of schooling . Generally, it is assumed that employment will lead to income and then to secure tenure . However, in our analysis, we do not find income explaining either the tenure variables or other outcome variables . On the other hand, tenure variables listed in Table 1 below explained the outcome variables such as living conditions, economic status and social development . The tenure variables are supply side issues and matters of policy . The local government can (1) encourage external intervention (i .e . NGOs stepping in), (2) itself extend basic services to all the urban residents, (3) give the guarantee of no eviction to slums dwellers on public lands, and (4) ensure that every urban dweller gets a residential identity card that can be used as a proof of urban residency . Furthermore, the government can also provide short term lease rights to slum dwellers to increase their shelter security . All these interventions, when viewed in their totality provide a basic and secure minimum social floorallowing slum dwellers to live with dignity .

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Levels of Tenure Security

Factors constructing tenure External agency intervention Land document Land reservation in master plan
Administrative instruments such as property tax levy

High de facto
Yes

Weak de facto
Yes

Insecure

Entitlement extension
Extension of basic services Duration of stay

Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

No
Yes

Yes Yes Yes

Yes

Yes Yes Yes

Regards, Darshini Mahadevia, Principal researcher Professor, Faculty of Planning and Public Policy and Member-secretary Centre for Urban Equity, CEPT University Ahmedabad, India

Sanny Jegillos, Rajesh Sharma and Radhika Behuriafrom the Regional Crisis Prevention and Recovery team, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre
Dear Colleagues: The prevalence of disasters is increasingly recognized as contributing to the reversal of developmental gains, and as a threat to the achievement of the MDGs . UNDPs Regional Crisis Prevention and Recovery team (Asia and the Pacific) having contributed to the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR 2011 available at www .preventionweb .net\gar) would like to share some insights from this report . Our team has supported the establishment and implementation of disaster loss databases in seven countries in Asia . The GAR 2011 provides recommendations on where government policies and programmes should focus to achieve disaster risk reduction . While the role of social protection instruments may not seem immediately obvious in reducing risks to disasters, they can be quite effectively employed towards disaster risk management . The GAR 2011 points out that social protection schemes can be useful before, during, and after a disaster . For instance, social protection schemes help provide safeguards to offset and reduce the potential impact of a disaster . Better housing construction in an earthquake prone area, for instance, can greatly reduce the negative impact . Social protection initiatives can also be effective in a post-disaster scenario, for

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example, as an effective means to disburse funds through cash-for-work programmes . Hence, social protection schemes can be beneficial both in terms of mitigation and also during the recovery phase post-disaster . The GAR 2011 includes several useful examples from countries, both within and outside our region, that demonstrate the value of social protection instruments as tools for disaster risk management . We would like to share a specific example that highlights our work in Indonesia . The initiative, an online monitoring system, was developed through a partnership between the Government of Indonesia, UNDP Indonesia Country Office and the UNDP Regional Crisis Prevention and Recovery team . Background The National Planning Agency of Indonesia (BAPPENAS) embarked on a National Programme for Community Empowerment (PNPM Mandiri) which provided a framework for poverty reduction and community empowerment programmes across the country . The core programmes (focused on underdeveloped and vulnerable regions, rural infrastructure, social economic infrastructure, urban and rural areas, etc .) under PNPM Mandiri had overlapping activities resulting in inefficient use of resources . While there was information available on each of the programmes, there was no coherent and standardized data gathering and analysis mechanism to assess and monitor progress, and identify the gaps and constraints to the programmes . In response, and to fill this gap, UNDP developed an integrated Management Information System (MIS), which serves as a consolidated source of information from all programmes . The main purpose of establishing an integrated MIS was to support monitoring and tracking of all programmes, resources and beneficiaries spread across the country and to avoid duplication of activities and resources . Essentially making the programmes more efficient and effective . As UNDP had previously supported the establishment of an online disaster loss database called DIBI (Data and Informasi Bencana Indonesia) at the National Disaster Management Agency, the same methodology was adapted to suit the requirements of an integrated MIS for PNPM Mandiri . Application of the online monitoring system in Indonesia The integrated MIS for the PNPM Mandiri was launched in August 2009 and is known as SIMPADU (http://simpadu-pnpm .bappenas .go .id) . The online MIS allows for better monitoring of a range of indicators across 12 sectors (including transport, health, social sectors) for the community empowerment programmes at PNPM Mandiri . The establishment of a monitoring system made it possible for the government to track the number of programmes, beneficiaries, disbursement of funds, as well as to monitor progress against available baseline data and

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indicators at various levels (district, province, and national) . It is also possible to track the progress down to the village level . Beneficiaries are disaggregated as well (poor, male and female, for example) . Based on the establishment of the MIS, the government is now in a better position with regard to gap and lag identification related to programming . It is also more informed in terms of addressing the challenges . More complete information leads to better targeting of vulnerable groups and sub-populations . Building on the success of this online monitoring system, the Government of Indonesia has decided to extend the integrated MIS programme to cover all the programmes, and initiate improved monitoring and collection of data from districts . The government has already sought UNDPs support to continue further development and enhancement of the integrated management information system (MIS) during Phase II (2010-2014) . Benefits and replication Since both DIBI and SIMPADU use the same methodology and provide information across space and time in an aggregated and disaggregated manner, it has been possible to link the two databases, making it possible to carry out an online analysis of both poverty and disasters simultaneously . This is enabling the government to establish clearer linkages at the macro and micro levels between poverty incidence and disaster (and the impact of the latter on the former) . It is also helping to streamline both poverty and disaster risk reduction programmes . The establishment of the monitoring database is resulting in more informed decision-making, as policies and programme interventions are strongly grounded in evidence gathered . This methodology can easily be replicated in countries for monitoring and tracking a several parameters (over a period of time) for a given geographical area . Additionally, the methodology allows for disaggregation, which enables more in depth analysis and monitoring . Based on our experience in Indonesia, it is possible to have a functional database with trained staff in a short period of time provided data is available . Regards, Sanny Jegillos, Regional Programme Coordinator; Rajesh Sharma, Regional Information Systems Specialist; and Radhika Behuria, Regional Programme Specialist, Gender in Crisis Crisis Prevention and Recovery Team UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Bangkok, Thailand

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Haris Gazdar, Collective for Social Science Research, Pakistan

Dear AP-IGD Members: I would like to discuss issues relating to political will and Institutionalisation vis--vis social protection .35 After decades of neglect, social protection has emerged as a major concern for political stakeholders and policymakers in Pakistan . A country, which had among the lowest fiscal allocations for social protection programmes in the region, trebled its allocations real terms . A scheme of targeted cash transfers of unprecedented scale was put in place . While in 2007-2008 federal government cash transfers of US$154 million represented 0 .4 per cent of total government spending, in 2009-2010 it had risen to US$474 million or 1 .3 per cent . Providing a monthly cash payment of US$12 to selected beneficiaries, the scheme reached 2 .75 million families, or just under seven per cent of the total population by 2009-2010 . Early experience already provides some quick lessons Strategic timing can help establish political will . The increased allocation was a direct outcome of a change of regime, as an incoming elected government made political investment in a targeted cash transfer scheme known as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) . The incoming government was responding to the food price crisis of 2007-2008, but was also driven by its election promises of expanding social protection . Strategic targeting can build visibility and widen support from below . This is the first programme in Pakistan whose primary beneficiaries are poor womenmen only qualify if there are no eligible adult women in a family, which otherwise falls within the poverty-related programme criteria . A list of filters was developed with the cooperation of National Database Registration Agency (NADRA) to identify potential beneficiaries through proxy means such as education, age, and reported occupation . While a statistical audit and impact evaluation of BISP beneficiaries is pending, rapid assessments in five villages in Punjab and Sindh suggest that the programme does have a visible presence among the poor on ground, in contrast with previous cash transfers of smaller scale . Upscaling can reveal infrastructure gaps in social policy systems . The increase in fiscal allocations exposed the major gaps in Pakistans social policy infrastructure .
35 Haris Gazdar, Social Protection in Pakistan: In the Midst of a Paradigm Shift? Economic & Political Weekly xlvi, no . 28 (July 9, 2011): 59-66 . Available at http://www .researchcollective .org/ Documents/Social_Protection_in_Pakistan .pdf

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Initially it was thought that BISP could be implemented using organisational structures already present elsewhere in government, for instance, using records on adult citizens available with NADRAan agency of the federal interior ministry charged with registering citizens for national identity cards . Exclusive reliance on NADRA was abandoned with a realization that as many as a quarter of eligible adults, mostly women, did not possess NADRA cards, entirely excluding the likely eligible participants from the database . An alternative measure, which was eventually used, was to refer to elected representatives to carry out the initial identification of potential beneficiaries . These beneficiaries were to be identified by parliamentarians in their respective constituencies and verified by NADRA . The difference from the earlier proposal was that now a person could be recommended for BISP by a parliamentarian without a NADRA identity card, and could gain NADRA registration as part of her BISP application . Reports suggest that there was a big rise in NADRA applications as a result of the BISP, particularly among poor women in relatively under-developed rural areas . In response to concerns about the obvious political hazards in parliamentarianbased targeting, an agreement was reached with the World Bank to carry out a poverty scorecard census across the country, and to revise beneficiary lists accordingly . The census is now complete in most districts, and there is evidence of a changeover to new beneficiary lists . Sustaining depends upon key local factors. It is premature yet to predict if the BISP will evolve into a full-blown social protection institution with multiple dimensions including exit programmes, emergency relief, and health insurance . There are indications of this direction being taken . The fiscal sustainability of such a move is dependent on, among other things, to a switch away from untargeted subsidies (mostly for urban consumers), which in 2009-2010 accounted for $2 .8 billion, or nearly six times the allocation for BISP . The sustainability will also be influenced by the degree and level of political investment by the present government . If pressure from below is maintained throughout, along with visibility, credible selection of targeted beneficiaries, and fair and wellunderstood exit criteria, social protection may become immune to political change . Whether Pakistan has undergone a paradigm shift on social protection, which endures political change, will require observing fiscal commitment to targeted options in place of untargeted subsidies . There are design issues as well that will signal a transition to a more inclusive social protection system . The BISP is one of the first programmes in Pakistan that is based on targeting from a well-defined universe . Its linkage with the NADRA system and the incentives that the programme itself provides for the registration of poor and marginalized women

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can have long-lasting implications for social policy . Untargeted consumer subsidies from fiscal resources fail to establish a durable relationship between individual citizens and the state . Best regards, Haris Gazdar Collective for Social Science Research Karachi, Pakistan

Pramod Kumar and Kazuyuki Uji, HIV, Health and Development Team, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre
Dear AP-IGD Members: As the ongoing discussion in this forum continues to bring forth the strategic importance of social protection in reducing vulnerability of people to socioeconomic risks and impoverishment; on behalf of the HIV, Health and Development Team at the UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (APRC); I would like to bring to your attention the issue of HIV-sensitive social protection . HIV-sensitive social protection denotes integration of HIV, wherever necessary, into the existing social protection schemes . The increasing currency that the issue has gained recently is borne out by the fact that enhancing social protection for people affected by HIV was identified as a key priority by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS36 in its Outcome Framework37 for achieving results at the country level . There is widespread acknowledgement in the region that HIVsensitive social protection is a pre-requisite to strengthen impact mitigation, service delivery, and human rights . Socio-economic impact studies by UNDP in different Asia Pacific countries38 and a regional analysis39 clearly show that people living with HIV and their households, including those who suffered AIDS-deaths, are chronically burdened by illnesses,
36 UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is an innovative partnership that leads and inspires the world in achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support . UNDP is one of the co-sponsors of UNAIDS . 37 UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is an innovative partnership that leads and inspires the world in achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support . UNDP is one of the co-sponsors of UNAIDS . UNAIDS, Joint Action for Results: UNAIDS Outcome Framework (Who, 2009-2011), lists ten priority areas for achieving results at the country level, one of which is social protection . 38 China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia & Vietnam; UNDP, 2006-2011 . 39 UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre (APRC), Socio-Economic Impact of HIV at the Household Level in Asia: A Regional Analysis (due for release in November 2011) .

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loss of jobs and income, rising medical expenses and depletion of savings and other resources . They are also affected by food insecurity, psychological stress and related morbidity, discrimination, social exclusion and impoverishment that are often irreversible . The impact is even more severe on women, and it exacerbates the disproportional household burden on them . The studies also show that HIV impacts every aspect of life of affected people from quality of life and health to educationand often, it has inter-generational consequences . For instance, the high rates of school drops-outs, particularly of girls, and irreversible coping mechanisms such as liquidation of assets, could push even future generations of affected households into poverty and vulnerability . A major recommendation of these multi-country studies for strategic impact mitigation is appropriate HIV-sensitive social protection . Despite the socio-economic vulnerabilities, the attention to strategically integrate HIV into appropriate social protection schemes is very limited in the region . The recent financial crisis and the constant food and fuel price inflation add a more complex dimension to the situation . Already burdened by the severe socio-economic impact of HIV, the affected people are among the most vulnerable to external shocks . A case study of several households impacted by the 2008 global financial crisis in Surat, India40 demonstrated the vulnerability of people living with HIV and their families to external shocks and the need for social protection to prevent them from falling into irreversible poverty . Available examples in the region and elsewhere show that social protection has significant AIDS mitigation impact . For example, cash transfer programmes piloted in countries with high HIV prevalence have a significant impact on poverty reduction in households affected by HIV and AIDS,41 while supporting livelihoods, enabling access to education and improving nutrition .42 The UNICEF State of Evidence43 notes that social protection, mainly through instruments such as social transfers, livelihoods, social health protection, legislation, policies and regulation, can promote universal access outcomes on HIV prevention, treatment, care & support .

40 UNDP Regional Centre in Colombo, "HIV and the Economic Crisis: Impressions from Surat, India" (unpublished, prepared for internal circulation and discussion, 2009) . 41 UNICEF, ESARO, 2007, quoted in Ann Nolan, Irish Aid, Social Protection in the Context of HIV and AIDS, Promoting Pro-Poor Growth; Social Protection, (OECD, 2009) . 42 Agero et al., 2007, quoted in Ann Nolan, Irish Aid, Social Protection in the Context of HIV and AIDS, Promoting Pro-Poor Growth; Social Protection, (OECD, 2009) . 43 Dr . Rachel Yates, Social Protection in the Context of the HIV Epidemic, State of the Evidence and implications for Further Action (UNICEF, 2010) . Available at www .heard .org .za/downloads/ergmeeting-7-yates .pdf

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The UNAIDS business case for social protection44 lists as its goal, national social protection strategies that include people living with HIV and affected by HIV, with a focus on most-vulnerable groups . According to the division of labour45 among UNAIDS cosponsors, UNDP is mandated to contribute to the efforts on HIV-sensitive social protection . In this context, UNDP, in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNICEF and the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV, organized a high-level technical consultation on HIV-sensitive social protection for impact mitigation in Asia and the Pacific in Siem Reap, Cambodia in April 2011 . The consultation brought together senior government officials from eight countries (Cambodia, China, Nepal, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, and Viet Nam), UN agencies, civil society leaders and the community of people living with HIV, was unanimous that HIV-sensitive social protection should be a key strategy for the reduction of vulnerability of people to HIV as well as for impact mitigation . The Consultation also led to five key principles of HIV-sensitive social protection: 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . Aim for HIV-sensitive social protection than HIV-specific social protection;46 Involve multiple sectors and partners; Engage affected individuals, networks and communities, especially key populations; Protect and enhance human rights; and Take into account sustainability .

Examples of HIV-sensitive social protection Thailand integrated HIV treatment and prevention in a national universal health care scheme . It introduced the Universal Health Coverage Scheme (UHCS), which was commonly known as the 30 Baht Scheme for the flat co-payment of 30 Baht47per consultation (the co-payment was later removed) .48 Initially, HIV treatment (anti-retroviral treatment or ART) was excluded from the UHC . However, due to continuous advocacy by civil society, ART together with
44 UNAIDS Expanded Business Case, Enhancing Social Protection (UNAIDS, May 2010) . Available at http://data .unaids .org/pub/BaseDocument/2010/jc1879_social_protection_business_case_ en .pdf 45 UNAIDS Division of Labour, Consolidated Guidance Note (UNAIDS, 2010, 2011) . Available at http://www .unaids .org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/unaidspublication/2011/ JC2063_DivisionOfLabour_en .pdf 46 HIV-specific social protection refers to exclusive social protection initiatives targeted at people affected by HIV . 47 About US$1 at the current rate . 48 David Hughes and Songkramchai Leethongdee, Universal Coverage in the Land of Smiles: Lessons from Thailand's 30 Baht Health Reforms,Health Affairs26, no . 4 (2007): 999-1008 . Available at http://content .healthaffairs .org/content/26/4/999 .abstract

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other HIV-related services was later included . Apart from ART, UHCScoversHIV prevention services: e .g . methadone maintenance therapy for people who inject drugs;49 HIV counselling and testing twice a year; PPTCT services (prevention of parent-to-child transmission of HIV); and ART for documentedlabourmigrants . As HIV has been integrated in the mainstream social protection scheme, Thailand has one of the highest proportions, or 80 to 90 percent,50 of domestic funding sources for AIDS interventions among developing countries in Asia . The average of AIDS spending from domestic resources is 53 percent in low- and middleincome countries of Asia and the Pacific, where ART programmes are almost completely funded by donor resources except for a few countries . 51 This high donor dependence for ART poses serious sustainability risks and lifethreatening concerns for people living with HIV, who must continue ART without interruption for a lifetime to stay healthy and productive . Therefore, the integration of ART into the free universal healthcare scheme in Thailand has brought sustainability, scale-up feasibility, and long-term security for people living with HIV as well as the ability of governments to address HIV over the long term . Free ART also reduces the overall socio-economic burden of PLHIV (people living with HIV) and their households . In Cambodia, where ART coverage is 94 percent, the household health expenditure is found to be lower than non-affected households .52 ,53 In May 2011, a breakthrough scientific finding from a largescale clinical trial54 demonstrated the effectiveness of early initiated-ART in significantly reducing (a 96 percent reduction) the risk of HIV transmission to uninfected partners, which reiterates its social protection value . The UHCS is fully funded by the Thai government, accounting for 5 .9 percent of its national budget .55
49 UNESCAP, The Promise of Protection: Social Protection and Development in Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP, 2011) . Available at http://www .unescap .org/publications/detail .asp?id=1440 50 Ibid . 51 UNDP, "Socioeconomic Impact of HIV at the Household Levels in Asiaa Regional Analysis" (forthcoming by the end of 2011) . 52 WHO, Towards Universal Access: Scaling Up Priority HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector: Progress Report (Geneva: WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF, 2010) . Available at http://www .who .int/hiv/ mediacentre/universal_access_progress_report_en .pdf 53 HIV Prevention Trials Network, "Initiation of Antiretroviral Treatment Protects Uninfected Sexual Partners from HIV Infection (HPTN Study 052)," press release, May 12, 2011. Available at http:// www .hptn .org/web%20documents/PressReleases/HPTN052PressReleaseFINAL5_12_118am .pdf 54 UNESCAP, The Promise of Protection: Social Protection and Development in Asia and the Pacific (UESCAP, 2011) . Available at http://www .unescap .org/publications/detail .asp?id=1440 55 TISS-UNDP Collaboration, HIV-Sensitive Social Protection: A Four State Utilisation Study (India: UNDP, TISS, 2011) . Available at http://www .undp .org .in/sites/default/files/reports_publication/ HIV-SENSITIVE-Social-Protection .pdf

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India took innovative approaches for HIV integration into existing social protection schemes54 The Western Indian state of Rajasthan provides an interesting example of a widow pension schemes into which HIV has been innovatively integrated . In most of the pension schemes in different states of India, AIDS-widows do not qualify to benefit because of the high age ceiling . AIDS-widows tend to be much younger . The government in Rajasthan waived the age limit allowing access to all AIDS-widows, irrespective of their ag In the state of Orissa, people living with HIV have been included in a pension scheme that was originally established for the elderly, widows and persons living with disability . In this scheme, all PLHIV regardless of age, sex, and income and marital status are eligible, making it accessible by those from marginalized communities such as sex workers, men who have sex with men and transgender persons . Another innovative approach is granting of a conditional below poverty line status to households affected by HIV in some states . Many social protection schemes are designed for below poverty line households, excluding HIVaffected households without the below poverty line status . The conditional below poverty line status therefore allows HIV-affected households to access a few select schemes meant for below poverty level households such as food subsidies . One challenge unique to HIV is the issue of confidentiality . To access social protection schemes with special provisions for PLHIV, they are required to reveal their HIV status . Under circumstances where HIV is still highly stigmatized, public disclosure of HIV status could result in serious repercussions including physical violence, loss of job and forced relocation . Some attempts have been made to protect HIV confidentiality such as routing the registration process through HIV-related places (e .g . HIV counseling and testing centres) and removing HIV from entitlement cards . However, this issue still appears not sufficiently addressed, which could discourage many people living with and affected by HIV from availing schemes for fear of social sanctions . Legal responses as transformative HIV-sensitive social protection for the vulnerable The aggregate national HIV prevalence is low (far below 1 percent of the adult population) in almost all the countries in Asia and the Pacific . However, HIV prevalence is almost always much higher among people who are stigmatized, marginalized, and discriminated against for their behaviour, including sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people and people who inject drugs .

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Evidence indicates, for example, that men who have sex with men in Asia face a nearly 20-fold likelihood of HIV infection as compared with the general population .56 The high HIV vulnerability of men who have sex with men corresponds to low levels of HIV service coverage in the region that reaches only 9 to 20 percent of MSM,57,58while corresponding figures for sex workers and people who inject drugs are also low, or 17 percent and 14 percent, respectively .59 One of the pivotal factors contributing to the high HIV vulnerability of these key populations is punitive legal environment and associated human rights violations:60 same-sex relations are criminalized in 19 out of 38 countries (50 percent) in Asia and the Pacific . Twenty-nine countries (76 percent) criminalize some aspects of sex work, while death penalty for drug-related offenders is found in 11 countries (29 percent) .61 Even in countries without such criminalizing laws, people from the key population often face harassment, violence, discrimination and other human rights violations . Fear of prosecution, stigma and rights violations under these punitive environments drives the key populations underground, discouraging them from accessing HIV services, and making them highly vulnerable to HIV . With continuous strong advocacy from civil society, some countries in the region are making progressive legal responses . For example, the Supreme Court of Nepal in 2007 ordered the government to amend all discriminatory laws against sexual minorities and to include the third gender category in relevant

56 S . Baral et al ., Elevated Risk for HIV Infection among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Low- and Middle-Income Countries 20002006: A Systematic Review,PLoS Med 4, no . 12 (2007): e339 . Available at http://www .plosmedicine .org/article/info:doi/10 .1371/journal .pmed .0040339 57 UNDP, Towards Universal Access: Examples of Municipal HIV Programming for Men who have Sex with Men and Transgender People in Six Asian Cities (UNDP, 2011) . 58 UNDP,"Asian Cities Unite to Tackle the Rising HIV Rates Among MSM and Transgender," press release, December 7, 2010 . Avalable at http://content .undp .org/go/newsroom/updates/hivwww-news/asian-cities-unite-to-tackle-the-rising-hiv-rates-among-men-who-have-sex-withmen-and-transgender-populations .en 59 UNAIDS, HIV in Asia and the Pacific: Getting to Zero (UNAIDS, 2011) . Available at http://www . unaids .org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/unaidspublication/2011/20110826_ APGettingToZero_en .pdf 60 UNDP and the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, Regional Issues Brief: Laws and Practices Relating to Criminalization of People Living with HIV and Populations Vulnerable to HIV (UNDP, HIV/ AIDS Practice, 2011) . Avalable athttp://asia-pacific .undp .org/practices/hivaids/documents/ aprd/IssuesBrief_Criminalization .pdf 61 UNAIDS, HIV in Asia and the Pacific: Getting to Zero (UNAIDS, 2011) . Available at http://www . unaids .org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/unaidspublication/2011/20110826_ APGettingToZero_en .pdf

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government documents .62 For the first time in its history, the third gender category was included in the national census conducted in 2011 .63 Similarly, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered to provide a legal recognition of third gender .64 In both Nepal and Pakistan, the third gender now has its distinct category in the national identity card, which is necessary for availing entitlements to public services such as health care, legal counselling and voting .65,66Criminalization of same-sex relationships was declared unconstitutional by the High Court of Delhi in India in 2009,67 and Fiji passed the National Crimes Decree in 2010 that decriminalized sex between men .68 While the enforcement of laws is often an issue, these legal advancements as HIV-sensitive social protection can bring recognition, protection and new opportunities to marginalized communities highly vulnerable to HIV, which could trigger social transformation for more equitable society and low HIV prevalence . Best regards, Pramod Kumar, Senior Programme Advisor; and Kazuyuki Uji, Programme Specialist HIV, Health and Development Team UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Bangkok, Thailand

62 UNDP, Efforts to Boost 'Third Gender' Rights in Nepal (2011) . Available athttp://www .undp .org .np/ newsroom/details .php?n=1338(accessed on September 14, 2011) . 63 UNDP, Nepal Census Recognizes Third Gender for the First Time (2011) . Available athttp://www . beta .undp .org/undp/en/home/ourwork/hiv-aids/successstories/Nepal_third_gender_census_ recognition .html 64 BBC, Pakistani Eunuchs to Have Distinct Gender (2009) . Available at http://news .bbc .co .uk/2/ hi/8428819 .stm 65 Ria Misra, "Pakistan Recognises Third Gender," Politics Daily (2009) . Available athttp://www . politicsdaily .com/2009/12/25/pakistan-recognizes-third-gender/ 66 UNDP, Nepal Census Recognizes Third Gender for the First Time (UNDP, 2011) . Available at http:// www .beta .undp .org/undp/en/home/ourwork/hiv-aids/successstories/Nepal_third_gender_ census_recognition .html 67 Anjaneya Das, Gay and Transgender Rights in India: Naz Foundation v. Government of NCT of Delhi (2009) . Available at http://works .bepress .com/cgi/viewcontent .cgi?article=1001&context=anjan eydas&sei-redir=1#search=%22Naz%20Foundation%20v .%20Govt .%20NCT%20Delhi%22 68 UNAIDS and APCOP, MSM Country Snap Shot-Country Specific Information on HIV, Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM), and Transgender People (TG) (FIJI: 2010) . Available athttp://aidsdatahub . org/dmdocuments/MSM_Country_Snapshots_-_Fiji_online .pdf

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Sharmistha Dasbarwa, UNDP Afghanistan

Dear All: I would like to discuss the Social Protection Project for the improvement of household food security, nutrition and livelihoods in Afghanistan . The protracted conflict in Afghanistan has taken a toll on livelihoods, especially livelihoods of people living in rural areas . This has exacerbated food insecurity as reflected by the high rates of malnutrition, particularly among women and children . About one third of the Afghan population is food insecure, more than half of the children suffer from chronic malnutrition and about three quarters of the population suffer from micro-nutrient deficiencies . In Afghanistan, the Social Protection Project sought to address issues of hunger and undernutrition with a particular focus on children and women . The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock implemented this project in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and with support from the Government of Germany . Due to the potential overlap in terms of beneficiaries (in rural areas), the project was coordinated across different sectors, including health, agriculture, and enterprise development . This crosssectoral approach helped to achieve greater coherent overall, especially in terms of delivery . Key objectives of the project Enhance food security by focusing on accessibility, availability and diversity of food (activities coordinated by the agriculture and health sectors) . Support household food production, including home gardening, citrus production, livestock and food diversification to ensure access to diverse foods all year round . Institutional arrangements With the budget of approximately US$3 million, the project focused on integrating nutrition and food security components into existing agricultural and livelihoods programmes at the national and provincial levels (in Bamyan, Herat, Nangarhar and Badakhshan) . The Ministries of Public Health, Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock, Rehabilitation and Rural Development and Womens Affairs, and international development agencies (UNICEF, FAO, WFP, WHO), academics and civil society are all partners in this project . The project involved capacity building for the officials of the Ministries and Government departments through training programmes, technical advice, and production and dissemination of knowledge products on nutrition, agroprocessing, horticulture development, etc . Furthermore, the training programmes covered a range of subjects, including gender awareness, practical

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exercises on agricultural production, food processing, and integration of nutrition education into agricultural extension . It also provided technical support for diversifying agricultural production and potentially improving access to local markets . Timeline The project was implemented over a period of three years: January 2008 to February 2011 . This is a follow-up project to a similar initiative that was implemented previously from January 2005 to December 2007 . Impact of the project especially from a gender perspective The training programmes, especially for government officials and representatives of local NGOs, emphasized the role of women and their potential contribution towards the promotion of food security and nutrition at the household level . Despite some initial resistance from the religious leaders in some communities, the training programmes were quite successful . Continued efforts to raise awareness on gender equality through focus-group discussions and debates on contentious issues helped boost the confidence and morale of women involved . Furthermore, the project also produced and disseminated training materials on nutrition and agro-processing activities among the target groups . These efforts were complemented by trainings for women and rural youth groups on a wide range of issues, including sustainable livelihoods, project management, concepts and approaches to empowering women and achieving gender equality . After the trainings, community-based food processing activities were introduced to the target groups . The project provided women with practical training in applying skills so as to help them secure employment or an income . The project was designed to primarily target women at central, provincial and community levels; and to address their basic household needs, and concurrently build the capacity of the Ministries of Public Health, Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock to address these needs in the long run . The project has in small measure helped the targeted beneficiaries by providing beneficiaries with some basic knowledge (e .g . food processing activities) and skills . In addition, the rural youth were given the necessary trainings to set up and manage agri-business enterprise . Over the course of project cycle, the nutritional intake of targeted households improved . Gender was an integral part of the project implementation . The following factors were part of the design of the project: Most of the work was implemented by female project staff working closely with the women of the targeted communities; Training materials and timings were sensitized to women needs;

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 Community-based activities were designed to support women groups and increase their economic opportunities; and Gender awareness workshops were organised for both men and women in the areas covered by the project . Key strengths of the project Access was allowed to government and public facilities during the course of the project . This enabled the project to cover a major part of the targeted provinces at a minimum cost . The presence of qualified national staff, especially women, strengthened the quality of training programmes for at the grassroots level . The synergy and collaboration among partners helped identify potential implementation bottlenecks as well as good practices emerging from the project . Key challenges Security issues limited mobility and frequency of local exchanges in the field . Movement restrictions also hampered monitoring of the project activities . Cultural and religious norms proved to be key obstacles in terms ofwomen participation in some of the training programmes . These factors also proved to be hurdles for women keen to set up their own business and/or incomegenerating activities . There was limited access to land for diverse cultivation limited the supply of food for diversified consumption . There was limited access to protein-rich food, such as milk and dairy products due to inadequate production and the relatively high price of these items . Lessons learned Successful components of the project have been integrated into other initiatives of the Ministries of Public Health, Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock for purposes of replication in other provinces . In addition, some NGOs were trained to implement similar interventions in different parts of the country . Regards, Sharmistha Dasbarwa, Project Manager Gender Equality Project UNDP Afghanistan

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Dr. S.M. Sirajuddin, Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, Government of Afghanistan
Dear Colleagues: Social safety net programmes are designed with the aim of providing support to vulnerable sections of society . Social safety nets play both a redistributive and a productive role in terms of managing risks . In this context, I would like to share a brief overview of the ongoing social safety net programme, which is a part of the Pension Administration and Social Safety Net project initiated in Afghanistan . Background The latest 2007-2008 National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment survey of Afghanistan estimated that the overall poverty headcount rate for Afghanistan was 36 percent of the total population suggesting that around nine million Afghans were unable to meet their basic needs . The data also showed that the incidence of poverty is unevenly distributed . While the poverty incidence among rural population was close to the national average (36 percent), it was relatively lower among the urban population (29 percent) . Furthermore, food shortage was also associated with seasonal fluctuations and the food price crisis of 2008 . The poverty rate was higher in the winter and spring than during the harvest season in the fall .69 In line with the Afghanistan National Development Strategy priorities, Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) designed a programme to support poor families in Afghanistan . This process was initiated through the IDA-funded Pension Administration and Safety Net Project in the form of a pilot with a funding of US$ 1 .8 million . Pilot safety net programme in Afghanistan The objectives of the pilot programme are to (a) design a unified and effective platform of benefit delivery, (b) define and test such mechanism of benefit delivery, and (c) draw lessons from the pilot and develop a strategy and recommendations for establishing a permanent safety net scheme in Afghanistan in the form of a national programme . The key features of the pilot are (1) combination of geographic and communitybased targeting; the targeted population are ultra-poor rural families with children, the disabled, widows, the elderly, and orphans; (2) coverage of three districts (Ab Kamari, Chahr Asyab and Shahari Buzurg) from three provinces
69 ICON-INSTITUTE, National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment 2007/8: A Profile of Afghanistan (Jehoon Printing Press Kabul: Afghanistan) . Available at http://ec .europa .eu/europeaid/where/ asia/documents/afgh_nrva_2007-08_full_report_en .pdf

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(Badgis, Kabul and Badakshan) based on levels of poverty, security, capacity and ethnic diversity; (3) 250 villages (approximately 4,000 families); (4) benefits are calculation based on the food poverty line, number of dependents, and duration of winter; and (5) provincial fund allocation is calculated on the basis of population size/poverty . The ultra-poor families with children (aged 0-14 years), the disabled, the elderly (aged 65 years and older), widows, and orphans are given priority for the benefit disbursement . The benefit under this pilot scheme is in the form of an unconditional cash transfer . The benefit amount is distributed by late autumn (November) to overcome difficulties in obtaining the food during the winter period . The benefit would also be distributed in spring (March) to support food consumption of poor families during the most difficult period of year (end of winter and first harvest season) . Safety net operational mechanism The main pilot provinces selected by the MoLSAMD were three provincial districts in Badakshan, Badgis and Kabul . Community development councils (CDCs) are implementing the pilot by (a) undertaking awareness campaigns, (b) preparing a shortlist of eligible families through a survey approach with a fixed inclusion and exclusion criterion, (c) ranking the eligibility of families based on the collected data, and (d) producing the final list of the selected beneficiaries . In this process, CDCs worked with the local NGOs, also known as facilitation partners (FPs) to conduct a survey for eligible beneficiaries . They also worked together in the final auditing process and evaluation . MoLSAMD/Directorate of Social Affairs and Directorates of Ministry in provinces were responsible for overall supervision, management, and monitoring . As part of the selection process, the potential beneficiaries were given an opportunity to express their grievances, which were taken into account while compiling the final list of selected beneficiaries . The cash transfers were made through local banks . Facilitation partners and community development councils collected payments through local bank accounts and distributed it to the selected families . Facilitation partners monitored the process and provided transportation to collect cash from banks . The Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled designed a framework to implement the evaluation of the pilot . The outcome of the evaluation will be used for scaling up the programme in Afghanistan . The experience from Farza district in Kabul revealed that the implementation mechanism, enrolment forms, operational manual, and training worked fairly well . Moreover, an evaluation of

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the operational process indicated that 47 percent of the total eligible beneficiaries were female-headed households . These beneficiaries indicated that their families benefited from the pilot programme . More detailed evaluation from the other pilots in the three provinces is underway . Potential risks Apart from the relatively low capacity of MoLSAMD/DoLSAMD and CDCs, there are several other risks that might affect the implementation of this pilot . These include (1) worsening of security, (2) social instability that might arise from complaints from the non-piloted provinces/districts, (3) lack of transparency and failure to prevent leakages in benefit distribution, and (4) potential delays in benefit distribution due to slow procedures within the National Budgeting process . With best regards, Dr. S.M.Sirajuddin, Pension Administration Safety Net Project Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled Government of Afghanistan, Kabul

Alexandre R.B. Sarmento, Office of the Prime Minister, Timor-Leste

Dear All: I would like to discuss the Pension and Conditional Cash Transfers Programmes in Timor-Leste . Timor-Lestes constitution section 65, article 1 states that every citizen is entitled to social assistance and security in accordance with the law; article 2 of the same section states, the State shall promote, in accordance with its national resources, the establishment of a social security system . In line with the constitution, The Ministry of Social Solidarity of the Fourth Constitutional Government in TimorLeste (formerly Ministry of Labour and Social Reinsertion), at the beginning of its mandate in 2007 designed three main social protection programmes, namely: Universalized pension programme ($30 monthly) to senior citizens (60 years and above), who have lived in the country for at least one year, regardless of their other incomes and economic status . Universalized Pension Programme ($30 monthly) to disabled persons of 18 years of age and above, who have lived in the country for at least one year and whose disability impedes their ability to perform any productive labour activity . Conditional cash transfers to widows, single mothers and mothers whose husbands are either disabled or are suffering from chronic illnesses . The transfer ($5 /person/month for eight months per year for primary school

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iStock

and $10/person/month for eight months per year for secondary school) is conditional upon these mothers (beneficiaries) (a) sending their children to school, and (b) taking the children to health centres for vaccination and immunization . The programme is intended to cover all vulnerable populations, however, a quota was established per sub-districts due to shortage of funds . UNDP Timor-Leste is currently working with the Ministry to improve this programme in the following areas: 1 . Monitoring and Evaluation: To assess the impact the programme is making on poverty, and how the programme can better respond to the necessities of families that do not benefit from economic growth and the opportunities it present 2 . Identification: Identify beneficiaries to avoid inclusion and exclusion errors and to ensure that vulnerable families receive cash payments based on a set of criteria . 3 . e-tools: The introduction of a web-application database system to better monitor the implementation of the programme . The system will also be able to cross-check beneficiaries of the programme with other existing government porgrammes to avoid double payments, and also to ensure equitable distribution of beneficiaries across the sectors and geographical territories . Conditional cash transfer programme The Ministry of Social Solidarity recruited social animators for each of TimorLestes 65 sub-districts . These social animators work together with local authorities to identify vulnerable families . There is a quota set up, based on level of education, for every sub-district . These animators fill in the application forms for these families and get them certified by the local authorities . These forms are reviewed and sent to the Ministry . The Ministry then reviews the application, carries out a final selection process, issues the final list of beneficiaries, and publicizes the list to each sub-district for verification for any complaints prior to disbursing payments .

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Due to the lack of adequate banking infrastructure, payment is made at subdistrict office . The mothers/custodian of the students present their identity cards to claim the payment . The database of beneficiaries is a very basic and will require a cross-checking function in order to avoid double counting . In response to this issue, UNDP is currently providing the following technical assistance to improve the overall design of the programme . Developing a database of beneficiaries that allows for cross-checking of information on families benefiting from other schemes (to eliminate duplication of payments); Developing participatory methods for improved targeting, especially of women; Putting a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system in place; Supporting the drafting of a legal framework for social protection schemes; and Improving the implementation of existing conditional cash transfers through innovative means of cash payment, coordinated delivery of social services (health and education), and simple, but reliable means of identity verification . Furthermore, one likely change in the future design of conditional cash transfers is that benefits will no longer be provided to individual students within the family but to the vulnerable family itself . Unfortunately, there have been no prior feasibility studies to map vulnerable households . The total number of beneficiaries was determined by fiscal contract, which was as a consequence of this lack of analysis . Nonetheless, given TimorLestes recent past, these programmes were a direct and quick response to the urgent need of the population at large . The conditional cash transfers were both political and pragmatic in the Timorese context since delay associated with start-up was minimized . Given the post conflict context, and the fact the country is very young, institutional mechanisms are still in their infancy, and addressing the socioeconomic needs of the people has been an immense challenge . It is an exercise in rebuilding communities and in overcoming political divisions and grievances due to years of occupation and conflict . To its credit, the government is attempting to address the weaknesses of these social protection programmes based on the lessons learned from the field (i .e . from other countries that have had some degree of success in implementing similar programmes) . A solution to address some of the bottlenecks in Timor-Lestes social protection scheme is to strengthen M&E based on evidence gathered on the ground . One way to strengthen this would be to provide continued investment in the capacity development of the social animators who are regularly interacting with people

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in their own communities . These animators need to have necessary skills and tools to collect accurate data (which would also need to be updated regularly) . With regard to the sustainability of the programmes, currently there is an effort to improve the design the programmes legal framework through a decree law for social protection so that rights can be duly protected and guaranteed . Since their first implementation, the three social protection programmes in TimorLeste have been fully funded by the governments annual budget . Donor support (such as from UNDP) is intended only to provide technical assistance in certain areas (e .g . M&E and staff training) . The decree law for social protection, when approved, will ensure the continued allocation of the state budget (note that 95 percent of state budget for 2011 was from petroleum royalties and remaining five percent of the annual budget was from internal tax revenue) to support these programmes . Finally, the conditional cash transfer programme is currently linked to human capital investmentsit enables children from poor households to access education and health services . It is recommended that in addition, cash transfers should be linked to income generating activities of beneficiaries . The Ministry of Social Solidarity, in partnership with local NGOs, helps to develop the business skills of beneficiaries so that they are more likely to pursue productive activities with the transfers they receive . This potentially can help accelerate overall development and poverty reduction by raising incomes . Regards, Alexandre R.B. Sarmento, Adviser to National Development Agency Office of the Prime Minister Timor-Leste

Hussain Bux Mallah, Collective for Social Science Research, Karachi, Pakistan
Dear all, My contribution is on Housing Security in the context of Pakistan . In many developing countries, access to housing is governed by formal and informal institutions, laws, customs and urban planning practices . Residential security needs to be analysed in the context of these various factors, not only as an issue of ownership . It becomes important, therefore, to view marginalization and discrimination in relation to prevailing institutions, structural inequalities, and the existing power relations within society .

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In Pakistan, access to housing in rural areas is linked to the ownership of agricultural land, which is extremely unequally distributed . In addition, the village-based record of land rights and archaic systems of land ownership are powerful instruments to perpetuate marginalization . The housing security schemes in rural areas help to address some issues of marginalization under the current institutional arrangements of land administration . Although these schemes have been rarely discussed as part of the ongoing debates on social protection, for example, they have been more effective than conventional land reforms . It is worth pointing out that there has been strong resistance to institutional and structural changes necessary for the marginalized to gain access to housing mainly due to the fact that it also requires fundamental changes in existing power relations in society . Furthermore, the cultural class and caste system also helps maintain the existing inherently unequal social structure, which is especially visible in rural Pakistan . The poor and vulnerable are usually at the bottom of the class-caste hierarchy and susceptible to bonded labour . More attention is required from the government and non-governmental organizations to address such issues of social inequality . One of the most significant and positive developments in this regard has been a public housing scheme for the poor that targeted towards the most vulnerable segments in the class-caste hierarchy .70 The regularization programme to improve the living condition by upgrading establishing physical infrastructure including roads and drainage, along with provision of basic services (including access to water and sanitation) can be viewed as a low-cost method of transferring assets to the poor . The rural regularization schemes can help to support the marginalized groups . Nonetheless, increasing trends toward fragmentation71 in rural settlements has been a major challenge to the provision of services and public infrastructure, particularly in areas where landownership is highly unequal . Therefore, regularization programmes and schemes have largely failed to reach scattered settlements the rural areas . In contrast, the regularization schemes in urban areas have effectively addressed the issue of housing security for the poor, because irregular settlements are largely held by the marginalized and vulnerable . The schemes tend to have relatively low inclusion errors . Nevertheless, other marginalized groups such as

70 For more information about this scheme, please refer to Haris Gazdar and Hussain Bux Mallah, Class, Caste and Housing in Rural Punjab: The Untold Story of the Marla Schemes, CPR Research Report 12, January 2011 . 71 It is widely thought that fragmentation in rural settlements has been used a strategy to leverage autonomy against landlords .

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migrants are usually excluded due to their temporary or non-existent resident status and/or the non-portability of their entitlements .72 The design of social protection interventions need to pay attention to broader institutional arrangements and the political and cultural context in which the scheme is being implemented . Defining the role and responsibilities of governance institutions is critical for the long-term success of social protection schemes, particularly in a kinship or class-based society . Regards, Hussain Bux Mallah, Research Officer Collective for Social Science Research Karachi, Pakistan

Neera Burra, Independent Consultant

Dear All: In August 2005, the Indian Parliament passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which provides for 100 days of guaranteed employment to one member of every rural household . NREGA was implemented first in 200 of the poorest districts and now covers all rural districts . NREGA has successfully placed an enforceable obligation on the state . Under the provisions of the Act, state governments must provide unskilled, manual work within 15 days of a person submitting an application, within a radius of 5 km from the applicants residence . Workers are entitled to a statutory minimum wages for their labour, to be paid within seven days after the work is completed . Men and women are to be paid equal wages . This Act is based on the principle of self-selection by focusing on unskilled, manual work . The NREGA has to work in tandem with another very important legislation, the Right to Information Act, 2005 . NREGA, unlike other employment programmes, has made employment a right . Panchayati Raj Institutions or institutions of local self-governance in rural areas have a major role to play in identifying works to be undertaken and also to help poor households to obtain job cards and work . It is their responsibility to ensure that wages are paid on time . Unlike other schemes, the NREGA budget has no upper limit or ceiling . Expenditure is dependent on demand for work . Sixty-seven percent of the total

72 See, UNESCAP, Social Protection in Asian Cities: Regional Trends, Issues and Practices in Urban Poverty Reduction, 2009 .

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expenditure has been on wages, and the balance on material and other costs .73 NREGA wages had a major impact on wage rates in rural areas . Interestingly, the lobby of landlords was able to prevail upon the Government of India to reduce NREGA wages . In January 2009, the Ministry of Rural Development de-linked NREGA wages from minimum wages . Activists strongly opposed this as it was seen as an attempt to undermine the earning capacity of the rural workforce . It was pointed out that even in states where NREGA was not working well, rural labourers had been able to bargain for higher wages with other employers . People were able to assert their right to work for decent wages .74 While there are strong provisions for transparency and accountability at all levelsfor instance, wages are to be paid in the presence of the community on pre-specified dates, relevant documents are to be made available for public scrutiny (right to information act), and regular social audits of all works are to be conductedcorruption, leakages of funds, delayed and non-payment of full wages to workers are the key challenges faced . Furthermore, NREGA has been beset with problems of lack of administrative preparedness to handle such a vast programme . Several reports have pointed to the accountability gap; corruption has been an issue in many parts of the country .75 However, where the conditions were more conducive to the schemes implementation, the impact was positively strong . It has reduced distress migration, and increased incomes for the poor and marginalized, particularly women .76 It is the responsibility of the district authorities to register any household that seeks employment (given that its members are unemployed) and issue them job cards . The names and photographs of every household member are to be on this job card, and this card is to be kept by the household . However, in practice
73 There were major concerns among some economists in India that NREGA expenditure would destroy the economy . However, other pro-NREGA economists showed that the cost of NREGA would rise at the most from 0 .5 percent of Indias GDP in 2005-2006 to one percent of GDP in 2008-2009 . It was also pointed out that India could afford NREGA by raising taxes, which were among the lowest in the world at that time . Six years later, the government of India has not been bankrupted by NREGA expenditures . Some state governments, like that of Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, have built durable assets in the form of roads . The model is self-sustaining, provided state governments use the funds to build sustainable infrastructure . For an insightful discussionoffering both points of view, see Jean Drze, Employment Guarantee and the Right to Work in The Battle for Employment Guarantee, ed . Reetika Khera (Oxford University Press, 2011) . 74 Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey write that government has no moral authority to deny minimum wages to the most deprived . See, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, The Wages of Discontent in The Battle for Employment Guarantee, ed . Reetika Khera (Oxford University Press, 2011) . 75 Jean Drze, Breaking the Nexus of Corruption and The Accountability Gap in The Battle for Employment Guarantee, ed . Reetika Khera (Oxford University Press, 2011) . 76 Richard Mahapatra, How Women Seized NREGA, Down to Earth, November 16, 2010 . http:// www .downtoearth .org .in/node/2282 . See also Reetika Khera and Nandini Nayak, Women Workers and Perceptions of the NREGA, in The Battle for Employment Guarantee, ed . Reetika Khera (Oxford University Press, 2011) .

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not every household has been issued such a card, and in the absence of such a card benefits (i .e . public employment) cannot be claimed . In 2008-2009, over 45 million households were provided work, and the scheme provided 2,163 million person days of employment . Since NREGA pays minimum wages,77 rural wage rates have gone up significantly across the country . The focus of the public works undertaken has been regeneration and conservation of natural resources . Of the public works undertaken in 2008-2009, 46 percent were water conservation related, 18 percent were to do with improving rural connectivity, 15 percent aimed towards land development, and about 20 percent towards improving irrigation on smaller sized farms (typically owned by the poorer households) . Most of the work has been unskilled earth work . There are mixed assessments of the infrastructure developed under NREGA . Tamil Nadu was one state where the state government decided to use NREGA as a means of improving public infrastructure (roads and digging of ponds) . Other government development funds were dovetailed to ensure that the infrastructure was durable .78 In some areas, this led to improvement in water availability for agriculture .79 This claim is however contested by researchers . In several states, monsoon rains washed away some of the work . Of all those who received work, 48 percent were women . Assessments show that women were paid equal wages and personally retained the income received .80 However, lack of child-care facilities made it difficult for women with small children to work . Older women and the differently abled have also not been able to avail of this social protection scheme because it usually requires hard, manual labour . In fact, many of the social safety and security provisions of the Act, including first aid kits, shade facility, etc ., are not being implemented . Despite its shortcomings, NREGA has led to considerable transfer of income to the rural poor even though the percentage of households getting 100 days of employment is small . NREGAs strengths are (a) it creates demand-driven employment; (b) it aims to develop productive assets; and (c) it has mechanisms for transparency and accountability, which were not part of previous employment
77 Minimum wages differ from state to state and from rural areas to urban areas . 78 See Reetika Khera and Karuna Muthiah, Tamil Nadu: Slow and Steady in The Battle for Employment Guarantee, ed . Reetika Khera (Oxford University Press, 011) . 79 See Rakesh Tiwari et al ., MGNREGA for Environmental Service Enhancement and Vulnerability Reduction: Rapid Appraisal in Chitradurga District, Karnataka, Economic and Political Weekly 16, no . 20 (May 2011) . The claim of this group of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore is disputed by another group of researchers . See M Dinesh Kumar et al ., Employment Guarantee and Its Environmental Impact: Are the Claims Valid? Economic and Political Weekly 16, no . 34 (August 20, 2011) . 80 Mihir Shah, Taking the Goals of NREGA-I Forward, The Hindu, August 14, 2009 . Available at http://www .thehindu .com/

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schemes . A system of social audits to monitor implementation was developed, and these audits are potentially powerful tools to reduce corruption . One key weakness of NREGA is that it requires extensive report writing at several levels, which has proved to be difficult given the lack of staff capacity . Also, there is a shortage of trained engineers who can measure the work done and certify its quality . PRIs have not played the role they were supposed to under the Act as many of them do not necessarily support pro-poor development, and perhaps more importantly, they lack essential capacity . Civil society organizations have not played as pro-active role as was expected . Perhaps, more meaningful cooperation and partnerships with them would allow for a greater sense of ownership . Without massive organization of workers and general social mobilization of communities around key issues, it is unlikely that the gap between what the Act intends to do, and what it actually accomplishes in practice will be overcome . Finally, while there are demands that NREGA be extended to urban areas from some civil society organizations, government of India has not indicated its intentions to do so as yet . Regards, Neera Burra Independent Consultant

Alessandra Heineman, Feisal Hussain, Jill Engen and Neil Webster UNCDF and UNDP Nepal
Dear All: We would like to share our experiences in formulating the Human Development and Social Protection Pilot in Nepal and some of the key lessons emerging from this engagement thus far .

What are the key features of successful social protection schemes?

The Human Development and Social Protection Pilot (HDSP) in Nepal is an initiative within the framework of the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP) . LGCDP is a national programme led and implemented by the Ministry of Local Development (MLD), with support from six UN agencies and seven development partners . Primary financial support to this pilot is provided by UNCDF, with additional support from the World Bank . The HDSP aims to strengthen the capacity and role of local governments in delivering social protection in the form of cash transfers designed to improve access to basic services .

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The HDSP will provide an education grant to children in poor households to better facilitate and encourage school attendance, targeting primary and lower secondary school . The first cash transfers will be made in 2012 . The design of the pilot is innovative in a number of ways: The HDSP seeks to link up the supply- and demand-side service delivery by taking local governments as its entry point . While cash transfers tend to work on the demand side of service delivery, either by making cash payments conditional upon the use of public services or by providing households with income supplements that improve their ability to access services, UNCDFs technical assistance and block grants to local governments will also help to fix supply side bottlenecks . At the same time, HDSP builds upon the LGCDP focus on linking citizens to local government through Ward Citizen Forums, Citizen Awareness Centres and Social Mobilizers, all of which can enhance the demand side . This is an area that UNDP is actively supporting . By linking up supply and demand, essential feedback loops will be created that strengthen social accountability . The HDSP includes grievance and redress mechanisms, which will provide for a channel of communication between the recipients and the government institutions responsible for the transfer, helping for the early identification of problems, and minimizing inclusion and exclusion errors, as well as ensuring overall transparency and accountability . The HDSP will also make a significant contribution to the development of MLDs collection and management of data . Household registration in the two pilot districts will build upon and expand the current Vital Events Registration work at the lowest level of government . The database will not only enable household targeting for the pilot, but provide a database for the local government to further development . The pilot aims to reduce the transaction costs of payments for the state and for people receiving payments and eliminates leakages by electronically transferring payments, through financial service providers, directly from central government in to bank accounts held by recipients . It will also promote the financial inclusion of poor households by offering deposit accounts in which payments are made by the financial service providers; this will open up a window to a full spectrum of financial services offered by banks, including credit, credit-life insurance, remittances and other payment services, and cash-out withdrawal service through the branch and correspondence networks, and financial advice . Finally, the HDSP is the first social protection project in Nepal to include poverty targeting . This runs counter to the present practice in Nepal of working with categorical targeting or universal targeting . Targeting will be based upon the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index .

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What are the key issue/s the scheme was attempting to address?
This HDSP pilot seeks to enhance the effectiveness of the Government of Nepals education cash transfers specifically, and the efficiency of the many other Government social protection payments that pass through local governments, (old age pensions, disability grants, child grants, widows grants, etc) . The education grant is intended for children from poor households eligible to attend primary and lower secondary schools . The specific objectives of the pilot follow: Strengthen the management and decision-making capacity of local governments related to the cash transfers; 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . Reinforce the linkages between local government and education (as a devolved sector); Set up accountability mechanisms for citizens; Build systems for delivery of cash transfers that are more effective and efficient, ensure financial inclusion to the recipients; Develop and strengthen a data collection and management information system that can benefit both local and national government; and

5 . Generate practical lessons and evidence to feed into the overall policy debate on future social policy options for Nepal .

What are the institutional arrangements (between sectors, national and local levels, public sector institutions and other institutions)?
The Human Development and Social Protection Pilot main institutional focus is to enhance the linkages between the education sector and local level governments, who are at the frontline of service provision . Another important institutional link established by the pilot is between the government and private sector financial service providers . The key points include: Local government (Village Development Committees and District Development Committees) will manage the data collection and updating, the identification of beneficiaries and the control of that process in addition to the grievance procedures . This will ensure that data collection and complaint mechanisms are as close to the beneficiaries as possible . The schools and the school management committees will monitor attendance . The Ministry of Local Development will collect and approve the beneficiary list and pass this to the private payment service provider . The private payment service provider will make the payments into a savings facility that can be accessed through a variety of means we envisage a combination of bank ATMs, mobile telephones and point of sales devices . The MLD will monitor and assess the pilot with support from the World Bank .

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What is the time horizon and operational implications (design, cost, implementation, accountability)?
The initial timeframe for the project is two years . The first cash transfers will be made in late spring 2012 . The total cost is $5 million, which will is estimated to provide trimestral grants of approximately $6 to 24,000 school-age children in two districts in Nepal .

Is it feasible to universalize and sustain the scheme/s?

The HDSP is a pilot and is therefore designed to test certain innovations in approach to social protection and the making of cash transfers in Nepal . Some of these system modalities can be scaled up to the national level without significant additional funding . These include: The making of electronic payments rather than the manual delivery currently practiced . Many payments are made through the local government bodies and can be brought into the electronic system . Banks are already indicating an interest in making government to people payments, they also indicate a potential for linking this into other financial services they work with, the attraction being not least in the new client group they will access . The enhanced data collection at the lowest level of local government and a Ministry based MIS to work with this data . This is building upon planned work in MLD for developing a family folder of basic data and for developing a MIS . Poverty targeting as opposed to categorical or universal targeting . This is potentially applicable to a range of payments channelled through local government, but also through other line ministries: scholarship programmes for example . An element of conditionality in that cash transfers might cease if children fail to maintain the Ministry of Education standard of 80 percent attendance . Local LGCDP social mobilizers will control for mitigating circumstances for nonattendance . There is an emerging interest on the part of the government in introducing some element of conditionality on several types of cash transfers, but there is also some opposition amongst some development agencies that oppose any form of conditional cash transfer, mainly on principle . This pilot is in line with UNCDFs approach to Social Protection, which is focused on a holistic system of interventions . While taking the citizen as the point of departure in designing this approach, it also connects various interventions and strategies to enable the public and private sector to deliver social protection through both social and financial services to the poor and vulnerable . Capitalizing on our investment mandate, the UNCDF approach to social protection is anchored around a cash transfer to poor and vulnerable citizens and builds other elements around it that maximize the positive externalities of the cash transfer: governance and policy interventions, coordination between demand and supply of services and financial inclusion .

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Best regards, Alessandra Heineman, Programme Officer, Local Development, UNCDF; Feisal Hussain, Regional Technical Adviser, Inclusive Finance, UNCDF; Jill Engen, Deputy Head of Office and Regional Technical Adviser, Local Development, UNCDF; and Neil Webster, Policy Advisor, UNDP Nepal

Dayachund Bundhoo, UNDP Mauritius

Dear All: I would like to discuss the salient features of the Social Registry of Mauritius (SRM) Purpose and objectives The social welfare system in Mauritius is complex and costly to manage . There is a multitude of programmes, which spread across several ministries and institutions, the main one being the Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity, and Senior Citizens Welfare and Reform Institutions (MSS) . The eligibility threshold differs across programmes, and its definition is heavily based on ad hoc welfare assessments to identify the beneficiary . Moreover, the existing databases do not contain all relevant information for poverty targeting and do not cover the poor who are not eligible for social programmes . The SRM initiative was introduced to modernize public resources management and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government spending . It was designed to become an exhaustive and centralized database of social programme beneficiaries with the following objectives: Better target beneficiaries of social programmes; Manage social programmes in an integrated way; Better harmonize the criteria for the different social programmes run by different ministries; and Analyse cyclical and structural poverty reduction policies . The main aim of the SRM project is to improve the targeting efficiency of social programmes so that maximum programme resources reach the poor (i .e . minimizing leakage to non-poor) and that the poor are not excluded (i .e . minimizing under-coverage of the poor) . Current status The SRM project was launched in 2008, and the first phase, which concerns the development of tools necessary for its implementation, is complete . The major tasks accomplished include:

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 Estimation of a General Poverty Line and a General Poverty Profile for Mauritius . Results are based on data from the Living Conditions Survey and the Household Budget Survey . Production of targeting statistics for the current main social protection scheme in Mauritius (known as the Social Aid) . These statistics provide performance indicators of the current Social Aid and also help identify areas of improvement . Development of proxy means tests . These tests will form the basis for benefit allocation rules, and include a formula to identify eligible applications and to calculate allocations for these eligible beneficiaries . Proxy mean tests would be improved by including some additional questions in the next Household Budget Survey (these additional questions refer to key variables on living conditions that would potentially improve targeting) . Design of the SRM Questionnaire that would be used to collect data on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of poor households, and on their living conditions . Development of the SRM software system to register and assess applications for social benefits . On-the-job capacity building of staff of MSS on the use of the SRM software, and on the use of STATA software to produce relevant statistical analysis for more informed and evidence based policy decisions . Key features of the SRM 1 . Eligibility assessment mechanism: proxy means testing The assessment mechanism that will be used to target eligible beneficiaries is the proxy means testing . The proxy means testing is particularly useful in countries where the informal labour market is large (like in Mauritius) which implies that incomes are not easily quantifiable and verifiable . Proxy mean testing is generally based on predictions of income from demographic, socioeconomic and living conditions variables . 2 . The steps involved: The targeting process will involve the following basic steps: (i) Collecting data on potentially eligible households via interviews using a questionnaire; (ii) Entering data into the SRM main registry (with varying degrees of verification and consistency checks); (iii) Comparing the household characteristics with pre-established criteria for eligibility; and (iv) Establishing sub-registers of eligible individuals/households for the purposes of programmes implementation and payroll .

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3 . Registration: Which approach to use? There are two main approaches through which potential beneficiaries can enter the SRM main registry . (a) On-demand application: The potential beneficiary calls at the regional social security office for registration . This is followed by home-visit/s by the field officer to verify certain information particularly those on living conditions and household composition . The on-demand method is more appropriate for low-poverty regions and heterogeneous areas (i .e . areas which do not exclusively consist of poor households) . (b) Outreach approach: Field officers carry out home-visits to register the potential beneficiaries . This method is best suited in high-poverty situations and homogeneous areas (a rough comparison in Mauritius would be the pockets of poverty) . Entry in the SRM main registry will be primarily through the on-demand method . In some cases, the outreach approach will also be used in order not to miss the poor who may be less informed or who may have difficulty to travel to the Social Security Offices . 4 . Communications, transparency and confidentiality: In order to ensure a transparent, credible and quality data collection process, communications strategies, which include the following principles will be designed . Any person will be able to register in the SRM main registry at any time with the explicit understanding that registration does not guarantee benefits . Claimants and the public in general will be informed of the confidentiality policy that will be adopted by the SRM . Claimants will be informed of their rights and responsibilities, including any responsibilities for updates on household information or need for re-certification . Claimants will be provided with information about who to contact for any questions on the status of their application . Claimants will be informed of the outcome of their application . Claimants will be provided with information about appeal processes . 5 . Identification of individuals: The national identity number will be the key identifier for each individual in the database . Duplicates will be automatically detected and flagged .

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Institutional arrangements The SRM operates under the aegis of the MSS with support from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, and with technical assistance from the UNDP . Several other institutions have closely collaborated in the project, namely: The Central Statistics Office, for the conduct of the Living Conditions Survey and estimation of the General Poverty Line The State Informatics Limited, for the development of the SRM software using ORACLE The Central Informatics Systems Division, for the capture of survey data The European Union funded the field work for the Living Conditions Survey The National Empowerment Foundation and the National Housing Development Company, for providing valuable input for the content of the SRM questionnaire The three key functions of the SRM, i .e . the design of the system, the data collection process and the database management, will be under the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Security . All data will be consolidated in real time to produce a national dynamic database . Valuable information from sub-registries will be transmitted to other ministries or institutions for proper policy formulation to manage risks and reduce vulnerabilities . One such institution is the Ministry of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment, created in 2010 with a main mandate to mobilize support to empower the vulnerable and deprived with a view to improving their quality of life in a sustainable manner . Finally, the setting up of the SRM has been a long and challenging process, which has necessitated and still necessitates sound communication and feedback mechanisms, participation at all levels of hierarchy, facilitation and support from main stakeholders . Way forward The Government of Mauritius will be implementing the SRM as from January 2012 . Regards, Dayachund Bundhoo, Social Registry of Mauritius (SRM) UNDP Mauritius

Resources:
A Plan for the Setting up of a Social Register of Mauritius (September 2007) The Social Aid database Diagnosis report of the existing Social Aid database at the Ministry of Social Security (October 2009)

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 A General Poverty Profile for Mauritius, A Report on the GeneralPoverty profile for Mauritius (October 2009) Targeting Indicators of Social Aid in Mauritius (June 2010) Proxy-Means Tests in Mauritius (July 2010) A Profile of Social Aid beneficiaries in Mauritius (August 2010) PMT and Targeting for Social Aid Reform in Mauritius (October 2010) Way forward for the SRM and the Social Aid Reform in Mauritius (February 2011)

Note:
Resources listed above are from the Ministry of Social Security and the Government of Mauritius

Hou Xinan and Yu Hua, UNDP China

Dear Colleagues: Thank you for the opportunity to exchange views on this important topic . I want to share some thoughts regarding Chinas social protection initiatives . As a country moving from a rural-urban divided structure to a more rural-urban integrated management approach, Chinas evolving social protection system has undergone some successful transformations . Apart from social relief efforts, the social security system is quite broad based, covering several different groups of beneficiaries . Chinas social security scheme, which started during the 1990s, primarily dealt with the economic fallout associated with state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform; it aimed to support workers laid off from urban factories . This sort of social safety net experienced challenges, but several valuable experiences emerged from it as well, which in turn allowed the safety net to be scaled up nationwide . With consistently high economic growth alongside uneven social progress, the government has realized the importance of distributing development gains more equally among the different factions of society . Specific schemes that started off as pilot efforts in certain areas, targeting different population groups (e .g . migrant workers, peasants, urban employees in non-SOE sectors, etc .), were later scaled up to offer more comprehensive coverage . Broadly speaking, based on different pilot schemes and policy advocacy efforts, the country has now established a broad framework of social protection, covering both social relief and social security .

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This development is encouraging and a step in the right direction . For a large transition country such as China, with a population of 1 .3 billion, the commitments and efforts of the government to cover all its citizens are laudable given the enormity of the task . At present, the social protection system is addressing the needs of the vulnerable and managing social risks through a variety of schemes including: Old age insurance/retirement pension; Health insurance/immunization; Unemployment insurance; Work injury insurance; Child birth insurance; Housing fund; Compulsory education; Vocational education/skills training; Minimum living allowance; Senior age allowance; Rural five supports; and Allowance for ethnic minorities .

UNDP has supported policy studies advocating equalization of basic social services and social protection for all . UNDP has also supported some pilots, such as ensuring the fiscal coverage of schemes for vulnerable groups (for example, for the migrant population) . Pilots were undertaken in towns where there is a high concentration of migrant workers; to test whether resources for social security and social services for migrant workers can be integrated into the overall government plan and budget . Policy recommendationson portability of social security of migrantshave also been put forward . As migrant workers mostly work in high risks sectors, UNDP has worked together with the government at both the central and the local level to improve the management of worker injury insurance schemes . Emphasis has been put on prevention of injury through raising awareness so that migrant workers are more informed of their rights and the need to safe guard their rights . The cooperation project has also undertaken successful pilots to support the rehabilitation of migrant workers; support does not only include help for physical rehabilitation, but also psychological mentoring, and skill training for reintegration into the workforce . Such initiatives have provided useful and sparked the interest of the central government vis--vis strengthening policies on worker injury insurance .

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Other good efforts such as social relief schemes in crisis situations have also been undertaken . During the Wen Chuan earthquake recovery and reconstruction period as well as during the aftermath of the financial crisis, policy measures were formulated and implemented quickly to help affected people better cope with the socio-economic impact of the crises . For example, with UNDPs support in Chengdu of Sichuan Province, physical job fairs and other platform to create job opportunities for the impacted people had been established . Moreover, a Policy study advocating for the establishment of a long-term emergency employment aid working mechanism under special circumstances in China was published . The study helped launch a new policy The Guideline in Promoting Emergency Employment Aid under Special Circumstances in May, 2010 in Chengdu, Capital of Sichuan Province . To conclude, building a resilient and sustainable social protection system is a priority of the government . The challenge now is bring together the various schemes, which are successful individually, but nonetheless fragmented when seen as part of a whole system . The aim in the foreseeable future should be on building a coherent structure that allows all the different schemes to function effectively as part of a comprehensive and integrated system targeting the various vulnerable groups of society . This is naturally a gradual and evolutionary process requiring changes on several fronts including in institutional reform, financial/fiscal guarantee, and implementation capacity . We hope these inputs are useful to the discussion, and we welcome your comments . Regards, Hou Xinan, Team Leader of Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion Yu Hua, Programme Manager UNDP China

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BIGSTOCK

PART 2

Part 2: What Constitutes Social Protection?

This set of questions aims to provide conceptual clarification of social protection to shed some light on constructing and designing better social protection initiatives . As the distinction between social protection schemes and standard development efforts (by the State) blurs, members were invited to share their thoughts on the topic question for Part 2 of the e-discussion: What Constitutes Social Protection? Members were requested to focus on the following aspects: To what extent can social protection schemes be distinguished from general development efforts by the State? Better provision of basic services, such as water sanitation, public health facilities and education systems, may reduce the need for extra measures in these areas and vice versa . For these basic services, what criteria (e .g . duration, coverage, nature of funding) could be used to differentiate social protection initiatives from general development efforts? Clarity on the distinctions and overlaps can help to improve tracking and monitoring, and to ring-fence budgets for the most disadvantaged at the national and local levels . How do you propose the distinctions and overlaps be managed for development effectiveness?

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Summary
Dear Members: Over the course of Part 2 of the e-discussion on social protection, 26 September 17 October, we received 20 responses to the topic question, What Constitutes Social Protection? The enriching discussion drew from the experience and expertise of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) staff at global, regional and country levels, development practitioners from different United Nations (UN) agencies, civil society, academics and experts in social protection . Conceptual clarification is important for designing and implementing more effective social protection initiatives . Given the complexity of social protection concepts and approaches, finding a definitive consensus on the issue is challenging . The renewed interest in the social protection agenda reflects a move away from the narrow, conservative approaches characterized by structural adjustment programmes towards a more comprehensive and systematic approach to management of risks and vulnerabilities . These risks and vulnerabilities originate from various sources, including shortterm exogenous shocks, as well as long-term structural issues for achieving sustainable poverty reduction and human development . In this light, emerging challenges such as high food prices reflect the need for emergency responses and long-term approaches to dealing with structural food deficits . Similarly, the recent global economic crisis posed a sudden shock to the Asia-Pacific region . Even though it had relatively limited impact on gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Asia, the broader adverse effect remains rather profound on increasing vulnerability and precariousness of employment and growing informality of the labour market in the region . A more comprehensive approach to social protection should not only focus on income insecurity, but also address the dynamics and multidimensional aspects of poverty . This has a broader linkage to social vulnerabilities of the poor and disadvantaged, and their capacity to participate in a more inclusive growth and development process for building resilience against future shocks .

To what extent can social protection schemes be distinguished from general development efforts by the State?
There is growing consensus that social protection is key to sustaining achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with equity. An increasingly recognized dynamic and multidimensional view of poverty goes beyond income to include issues of risks and vulnerabilities, relative deprivation (as a result of social and political exclusion), structural

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inequalities and inter-generational transmission of poverty . As highlighted by Sarah Cook, social protection is viewed as a means to provide an effective measure to address poverty dynamics, ranging from a short-term response to crisis and shocks to a long-term foundation for achieving sustainable poverty reduction and human development and security . Different systems of social protections vary widely in the region but still reflect recognition of two common points: (a) the need to address the risks and vulnerability of the disadvantaged, and (b) the dynamic nature of poverty and human vulnerability . As pointed out by Katja Hujo, definitions of social protection tend to be either very broad or very narrow, with the broad variants equalizing social protection with social policy and the narrow variants defining social protection as policies targeted at the vulnerable and poor . Armando Barrientos highlighted two different approaches to social protection: the social policy / public finance approach and the development approach . The social policy / public finance approach has a relatively narrow focus on social insurance, social assistance and employmentrelated policies and covers passive policies to protect rights and entitlements and active policies/programme to promote employment and productivity . The developmental approach encourages a broader and more comprehensive policy framework beyond the narrow focus on income to include human development to help synergize social and economic development . While Rui Gomes discussed the key types of social protection schemes that are popular as a means to address issues of poverty, vulnerability and inequality (namely labour market interventions, social insurance, and social assistance), Barrientos argued that protection and assistance are developmental in the sense that they contribute to social and economic development . Many contributors emphasized that development is much larger than social protection . Therefore, social protection will be more effective if combined with policies delivering basic services and growth and not taken as a substitute for these . Julia Kercher, Shivani Nayyar and Claudia Vinay suggested that social protection should be seen as a means to achieve the objective of social and other development policies more broadly, especially to ensure that services are available, accessible and of adequate quality . Boundaries and limitations of social protection schemes relative to the general development policies and programmes should be recognized . As Anuradha Rajivan and Ryce Chanchai pointed out, social protection initiatives cannot replace social infrastructure and basic services . This differentiation between the two is often complicated by the availability, accessibility, and quality of the latter, especially in health and education sectors . As the comprehensiveness of the basic social services increases, there is less need for specialized social protection measures . Social assistance (for example, cash transfers and school feeding programmes) has a primary role, whereas the basic system of social services is highly fragmented and

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stratified . Understanding these boundaries helps to enhance monitoring the effectiveness of programmes, especially the use of targeting versus universal approaches, conditionality and accountability at all levels . The issue or problem we are trying to address should determine the type of social protection measure to be employed . Taimur Khilji argued that social protection is analogous to a toolbox containing several different tools (instruments) that are meant to be used (implemented) for a particular purpose . Even without consensus on the definition, social protection programmes can be tracked and monitored to ensure they fulfil their purpose and are part of a broader and more comprehensive development effort . In practice, investment in effective social protection policies and programmes should start with the needs, realities and priorities of the groups intended to benefit from social protection, based on fiscal sustainability . There is tremendous heterogeneity in poverty and vulnerabilities, and the design of social protection schemes must reflect this reality . To be effective, social protection schemes must be tailored to support different groups with varying degrees of risk and vulnerability . Gran Jonsson argued that social protection schemes often overlook social dimensions of vulnerability since they focus on income poverty as opposed to other underlying causes of vulnerabilities . He highlighted the three dimensions of social protection: prevention, protection and promotion . Social protection must be understood within a specific national context, including national-owned policies and instruments that reflect different priorities . As mentioned by Bishwa Nath Tiwari, there are diverse views on the coverage and scope of social protection, ranging from the traditional role of social insurance and social assistance to the broader view of sustained poverty reduction and human development . The concept of social protection is further complicated by the different terminologies (e .g . social protection, social security, safety net) used interchangeably among various donor and development agencies . Furthermore, social protection interventions alone cannot addresses underlying long-term structural issues, especially inequitable and exclusionary development patterns, which are highly prevalent in the Asia-Pacific context . Social protection instruments cannot provide a comprehensive response to these structural issues, despite being well designed, funded and targeted .

Understanding the distinction and overlaps between social protection and general development efforts: key programmatic and practical implications
Fabio Veras Soares emphasized that stand-alone programmes do not work well to address life-cycle risks and vulnerabilities; a more comprehensive approach is required . Therefore, the design needs to recognize the different needs of the targeted beneficiaries, such as households plagued by chronic food insecurity, which require a mix of direct support . Therefore, both the design and implementation need a high level of coordination and alignment

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among donors and government, as well as the capacity to bring together multiple objectives . Countries have different capacities in implementing social protection programmes . Middle-income countries (MICs) tend to have more fiscal space, whereas low-income countries (LICs) highly depend on grants and foreign aid . In countries with limited fiscal space, it is critical to identify clear priorities and choose programmes that foster productive activities and assets and have potential synergies with other priorities identified at the national and local levels . In practice, LICs tend to face challenges in designing social protection programmes that can manage both short-term and long-term aspects of risks and vulnerabilities . As Carol Flore-Smereczniak and Peterson Magoola pointed out, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has struggled to conceptualize and operationalize social protection due to limited data and cost-benefit analysis at the national level . Weak governance and administrative capacity has weakened this challenge, particularly at the sub-national levels . As highlighted by Giorgia Giovannetti, successful social protection programmes require stronger synergies with other social, labour market and macroeconomic policies, and with a development agenda to reduce inequality, vulnerability and exclusion . Implementing this requires effective inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral collaboration, coordination and coherence . Disadvantage is dynamic . As conditions and options of targeted beneficiaries improve, graduation out of eligibility should be considered . Nevertheless, clarification of this concept, whether it means graduation from poverty or graduation from programmes due to budget considerations, is necessary . Several contributors emphasized that ensuring inclusiveness of social protection requires targeting groups with particular needs within the universal approach . Targeting can be highly political, especially when looking at various categories of poor households, including the ultra-poor, and chronic, transient and near poor . It is often complicated with technical issues, which involve different approaches such as geographical targeting poverty mapping, selection of beneficiaries (means testing), proxy means testing, multidimensional index, and household or community targeting . Roula Koudsi provided an example from Syria . The ultra-poor who live below the lower, extreme poverty line need to secure their basic food and nonfood needs before being effectively targeted for particular social protection measures . This population may therefore be classified in two categories: (a) the vulnerable ultra-poor not able to work, and (b) the ultra-poor able to work if they are offered suitable assistance . The selected method for targeting does matter . In practice, very few universal programmes are not targeted in some sense . For instance, they are universal within an age group, like universal social pensions (categorical targeting), within a specified district (geographical) . The common challenge is that these targeted programmes tends to benefit those who are already

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better off and to provide relatively less benefit to the most poor or the most vulnerable groups . An important question was raised: how can we move towards universal systems that create the kind of inter-linkages between social classes, generations, gender, ethnic and regional groups that are conducive to greater social cohesion and sustainability of policies? Broader issues of governance matter . Many contributors highlighted the importance of the political context, existing power relations and meaningful participation of the poor and marginalized to determine the long-term success of social protection schemes, especially where land and assets are evenly distributed, legal provisions and changes are critical to make social protection effective and sustainable for social inclusion . Governance mechanisms, including redress in case of errors, are required to ensure that the implementation of social protection schemes is transparent and accountable to minimize potential corruption and leakages . Qimti Paienjton argued that action is also required in the form of legislation . Anti-discrimination laws have potential to address exclusion faced by various subgroups, including women, people living with HIV and AIDS, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and migrants, among others . Such actions can contribute towards the realization of effective social protection, whether or not we consider them as constituting social protection . Several contributors discussed the use of conditionality . The debate focused on whether or not social protection schemes, such as cash transfers, would have similar or better impact on low-income households without having behavioural conditions attached to them . The design of social protection with conditionality implies that basic facilities for health and education services must be available and accessible to the beneficiaries . In other words, supply-side constraints must be addressed . Social protection schemes, such as emergency cash transfers, can be linked to longer-term social protection programmes, as highlighted by Henry Jackelen and Subathirai Sivakumaran . Experiences in Haiti and Pakistan, recurring emergencies in the Horn of Africa and chronic conflicts in other parts of the world suggest that these shocks are not isolated incidences affecting a specific population . .

Transformative potential of social protection and the move to a social justice agenda
Social protection policies and programmes can go beyond short-term healing and catalyse positive changes in power relations . As pointed out by Upendranadh Choragudi, political will and civil society also have an important role to play in sparking transformative change through social protection initiatives .

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 The social protection discourse could be ambitiously oriented towards social justice . Gabriele Koehler argued that the general approach to social protection risks appearing as a development fad as it tends to rely on a one-dimensional approach that does not necessarily analyse and challenge inequitable structures . To transcend massive inequalities in the Asia-Pacific region, social protection policies need to be complemented by additional tiers of policy domains beyond transformative potential of social protection . It needs a fiscal policy stance that contributes to income and wealth distribution; an industrial policy that creates employment-oriented green growth and decent work;81 and international trade and investment policy and financial markets that are radically transformative and correspond to the interest of LICs and low-income people . Christoph Hamelmann also reinforced this perspective by calling for mandatory social financing mechanisms at the global level, such as a global social health insurance schemes that link to national schemes with the potential to replace the mechanisms of development aid in the health sector . Rights-based approach to social policies must empower the marginalized . Social protection programmes with a strong component on women empowerment and gender equality can be transformative . Raymond Brandes and James Lang also emphasized that social protection should strive to address structural determinants of gender inequality, gender-based violence (GBV) and the indivisibility and alienability of gender rights and justice . To conclude, many contributors emphasized the need to focus on greater developmental impact of social protection, which may offset the resources used to finance them . For instance, investments in human capital can lead to a healthier, skilled and productive workforce . The creation of local infrastructure and income opportunities, including improving labour force participation (especially for women), can also generate positive effects on the local economy, raise household production, and reduce the need for risk-coping strategies that can undermine productivity, lead to the distress sale of assets or drive migration for employment . Ryce Chanchai, Programme Analyst & AP-IGD Moderator Inclusive Growth and Poverty Reduction UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Bangkok, Thailand

81 Decent work refers to guaranteeing rights at work, promoting social dialogue with independent workers organizations, extending social protection with safe working conditions, adequate free time, taking into account family and social values, providing for adequate compensation in case of lost or reduced income, and permitting access to adequate healthcare; as well as looking into creating employment . ILO, Decent Work Agenda (2011) . Available at http://www .ilo .org/global/ about-the-ilo/decent-work-agenda/langen/index .htm .

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Individual Contributions
Anuradha Rajivan, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre
Dear Colleagues and Friends: I would like to begin Part 2 of the discussion by highlighting some key areas of consensus and concerns around social protection . We have seen a number of very specific country examples covering a variety of schemes and programmes that address exclusions and risks with respect to employment, income, food, health and education . Newer vulnerabilities from climate change are also starting to receive international attention, even though they have yet to be operationalized . Social services, transfers and insurance are the most common instruments discussed . Based on the experiences presented, this contribution tries to pull together some of the (a) areas of consensus, and (b) issues of concern . Areas of consensus No country questions the necessity of social protection, even though there may be differences in the local priorities, sectors, types, extent, coverage or financing . Most governments understand the need for social protection and would like to support it through policies and programmes .

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 Exclusion and marginalization can benefit from social protection . They exist in all development contexts: least-developed countries, those experiencing high economic growth, middle-income countries, and high income ones, too . Managing risks and shocks can also benefit from systematic social protection . Risks and shocks also occur in all development contexts . Dedicated social protection schemes for particular sectors already operate in many countries . However, they may not be specifically identified as such; they are generally known by the types of exclusions or risks they cover . Elements of social protection can also be identified in some of the regular development policy programmes . There is a multiplicity of terminology around what can be identified as social protection: social security, social insurance, employment guarantee, employment insurance, pensions, etc . Individual schemes are yet to be integrated into a coherent institutional policy framework . The idea of social protection has come to receive increasing international policy attention, gaining much greater visibility since the recent global economic downturn . Inadequate aggregate demand has been one of the motivations internationally to reduce pressures for precautionary savings and boost aggregated demand . However, the issue has now taken on a life of its own in development discourse and ranges from targeting the vulnerable, to phased expansion, to a rights-based approach and universal coverage . Recognizing the recent fiscal problems in the developed world (fiscal sustainability issues) is also on the radar . Yet, social protection is not new . While recent national instruments can provide a useful body of experience to draw policy implications, more traditional forms of social protection can also provide ideas (e .g . zakat, orphanages, homes for the aged, girls hostels, monasteries, private charities, mutual support of extended families and patron-client networks) . Lessons can be drawn from the varied experiences in establishing larger and more systematic options, for example, in prioritization, outreach or costing . Issues of concern How should one distinguish between social protection and general development efforts? Better provisioning of social services (coverage and quality), for example can reduce the need for social protection . A better understanding can help in ring-fencing budgets, building political agreement on minimum standards, and monitoring coverage and financing . To be clear about what constitutes social protection, can we establish what it is not? What are the linkages between structural macroeconomic policies and social protection policies? If growth is inequitably increasing or leads to increased casualization of workers, budgets for employment-linked social protection will balloon . Competitive pressures from globalization, for example, while providing new opportunities, are also putting pressures on labour markets,

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including presenting some extreme forms of distress . At the same time macro policies can also reduce the need for social protection . To the extent that they are not synchronized, will the pressure for social protection increase? What indicators could be used in tracking progress under social protection? Should monitoring of social protection go hand-in-hand with monitoring social services, since better provisioning of the former can reduce the need for special schemes? How will demographic change in the Asia-Pacific region impact the long-term financing and coverage of social protection? As populations live longer, adult dependency ratios are increasing in many countries (e .g . Sri Lanka, China) . How should social protection for the elderly be structured? How should longterm financing be secured in the context of changing demographics? While social protection can be a means of ensuring basic human rights for all, how should it be designed and operationalized to ensure that it is truly inclusive in practice, not just on paper? For example, how should universal coverage be balanced with targeting so that the most disadvantaged are not nudged out by the relatively privileged? Equity, in the sense of non-discrimination in coverage, may result in unequal outcomes if the disadvantaged lack the opportunities or capacity to access universal schemes . This may implicitly assume similar starting points when in fact there are structural inequalities to start with . When will some of the schemes need to be unequal (targeted) to promote equality? How can social protection be made fiscally sustainable? How can private sources (contributory, employer-linked or commercial) be combined with fiscal support? Social protection schemes that are financed from low-cost or no-cost funds (public provisioning) can be highly vulnerable to corruption and inefficiencies . How can leakage issues be addressed, not just to ensure the best use of scarce public resources, but also to ensure that the poor are not excluded, unduly taxed or poorly serviced? Moreover, while corruption gets immediate attention, how can wider governance issues be better addressed? In doing so, what are some of the key governance challenges (for example, administrative and managerial capacities) that can undermine efficiency? Capacity gaps can be serious at local levels and where there is direct citizen interface . How can the roles of national and local governments be better synchronized?

With best regards, Anuradha Rajivan, Practice Team Leader Inclusive Growth and Poverty Reduction UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Bangkok, Thailand

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Gabriele Koehler, Institute of Development Studies

Dear All: In my contribution I discuss moving social protection from a palliative to a social justice agenda . This e-discussion is devoted to social protection and progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with equity . Perhaps one could be more ambitious and orient the discourse towards social justicethe MDGs plus human rights, decent work, and social inclusionand discuss how current social protection policy efforts might contribute to moving in this direction . Social protection as a policy domain has gained traction especially over the past decade, so much so that it risks appearing as a development fad . Development fads generate the momentum necessary to reach the tipping point where resources are mobilized and decisive action taken to achieve particular outcomes . But development fads often owe their popularity to an overreliance on one-dimensional approaches; they do not necessarily analyse and challenge structures . Thus, the global popularity of social protection policy is partly owed to its simplicity . In their generalized form, the policy measures focus on individualized cash transfers, instead of addressing the structures that create poverty, vulnerability and exclusion . They focus on income streams and not on creating decent continuous work, or building and ensuring equitable access to productive assets . They do not address a redistribution of wealth, and they do not shift power and decision making to the poor and vulnerable . They thus risk being limited to serving as a palliative . The current social protection agenda Social protection has become the policy of choice in many low- and middleincome countries to address income poverty and socio-economic vulnerability and accelerate achievement of the MDGs,82 much as they have been in place for many years in the welfare states of the high-income economies . In Asia, social protection has been mainstreamed since the 1998 financial crisis, when basic forms of social insurance and assistance were introduced in several Southeast and East Asian countries . Examples include safety net programmes in Indonesia since 1998, the Minimum Living Standard Guarantee (dibao) in China since 1999, and the universal health insurance schemes developed in Thailand recently . In South Asia, social protection measures have been deepened as a result of political shifts since 2005 . Examples include public employment guarantee schemes developed in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan between 2006 and
82 UN General Assembly, Sixty-Fifth Session, Keeping the Promise: United to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly, A/RES/65/1, 2010 . Available at http://www .un .org/en/mdg/summit2010/pdf/outcome_documentN1051260 .pdf

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2009; the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) in Pakistan;83 and the social health protection scheme for the informal economy adopted in India in 2007 . Having such policy instruments in place has had three effects . Firstly, they have helped cushion the impact of the 2008 food, fuel and financial crises, and the impact of the global economic crisis since then . Secondly, these instruments signal governments general recognition that poverty and vulnerability are structural issues and remain threatening despite rapid economic growth in much of Asia . For example, in South Asia, the number of people surviving on less than $1 .25 per person per day increased between 1999 and 2005, from 589 to 596 million,84 and the majority of the worlds hungry live in Asia . The employment schemes acknowledge that it is the depth of rural poverty and hunger that is driving distress migration out of destitute rural areas into urban mega-slums .85 And thirdly, some of the social protection measures are designed as rights based: the Indian NREGA is becoming justifiable; the BISP is disbursed to women heads of family and could bring some gender empowerment; social pensions such as in Nepal could enhance the autonomy of the aged .86 Moving towards a social justice agenda The social protection fad thus presents an enormous step forward . And, if current political patterns and citizens movement remain in force, these social protection schemes may gradually grow beyond their current fragmented patterns and palliative nature, and cohere into systems of social protection for social justice that are provided, financed and guaranteed by governments in response to pressure from citizens . They can become levers for social and economic transformation . This however requires a number of complementary measures . The first complementary measure comes in the form of the social protection floor, adopted in a comprehensive fashion at the 2011 International Labour

83 Government of Pakistan, Benazir Income Support Programme, www .bisp .gov .pk (accessed February 17, 2011) . 84 UN DESA, Rethinking Poverty: Report on the World Social Situation (United Nations, New York: 2009) . Available at www .undesa .org 85 See Government of India, Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Rural Development 2008, The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005, Operational Guidelines, 3rd Edition (New Delhi: 2008) . Available at http://nrega .nic .in/Nrega_guidelinesEng .pdf (accessed June 23, 2011); and Government of Bangladesh, Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, (no year) Brief On 100 Day Employment Generation Program . Available at http://www .mofdm .gov . bd/100%20day%20egp .pdf (accessed February 23, 2011); and Government of Pakistan, Minister for Finance Dr . Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, New Employment Generation Scheme Announced, June 5, 2010 . 86 Gabriele Koehler, "Transformative Social Protection: Reflections on Policy Experiences in Four South Asian Countries," IDS Bulletin 42, Issue 5, (Autumn 2011) .

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Conference . What is significant is that the social protection floor defines two areas as minimum conditions of human development: Income transfers for situations of unemployment, accident, health incidents and child benefits (i .e . classical social protection); and Access to a set of basic social services:at least health, education, water and sanitation . The International Labour Organization (ILO) casts these as mutually reinforcing and complementary . One area cannot be pursued at the expense of the other; rather they interlink and are conceptualized as universal: every citizen has a right to basic income and social services, and to claim these from their governments .87 However, to transcend the massive inequalities and inequities experienced by large groups of Asias population, social protection policies need to be complemented by additional tiers of policy domains, reaching beyond even transformative forms of social protection . In the first instance, it needs a fiscal policy stance that assures public resources are available, and at the same time are designed in such a fashion that they contribute to income and wealth redistribution . Secondly, there is a need to rehabilitate industrial policy in the broad sense of the word, to create employment-oriented green growth and decent work . Industrial policy needs to be inspired by the global jobs pact proposed by the ILO, which includes job creation and the enforcement of core labour standards and rights . Thirdly, international trade and investment policy and financial markets need to be radically transformed to correspond to the interests of low-income countries and of low-income people . Attention to social protection needs to be married with this wider set of development policies if the MDGs are to be achieved with equity . Both global and the national level structures that impede them need to be addressed . The social protection fad needs to become part of a comprehensiveand more radicaltransformative policy movement for social justice . Regards, Gabriele Koehler, Visiting Fellow Vulnerability and Poverty Reduction Team Institute for Development Studies Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom; and Development Economist Munich, Germany

87 ILO, World Social Security Report 2010/2011 (Geneva: 2010); and ILO, Social Security for Social Justice and a Fair Globalization Report VI, International Labour Conference, 100th Session (Geneva, 2011) . Available at www .ilo .org (accessed August 28, 2011) .

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Christoph Hamelmann, UNDP Europe and CIS

Dear All: Further to Gabrieles contribution: If social protection is to be seen within a universal social justice framework as a basic individual right, then financing it in a global society should be seen not only in the context of nation states, plus charity and voluntary pledges from richer nations, but also through mandatory social financing mechanisms at the global level . This would call, for example, in the health sector (as one scenario) for a global social health insurance scheme linked to national schemes with the potential to replace most current mechanisms of development aid in the health sector . Best regards, Dr. Christoph Hamelmann, Regional Practice Leader HIV, Health and Development UNDP Europe and the CIS, Bratislava Regional Centre Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Fabio Veras Soares, UNDP International Poverty Centre for Inclusive Growth
Dear All: I would like to raise some issues with regard to the debate on social protection in the region, bringing some elements from the recent experience in the Global South that have been the focus of UNDPs International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) research and analysis . In the earlier part of the discussion, we have been discussing the experiences of stand-alone programmes (or in the best case, flagship programmes) and trying to understand the reasons for their success and sustainability . However, I would like to make the case that it is unlikely that a single programme can deal with all vulnerabilities and risks that individuals and families face during their life cycle . To deal with these vulnerabilities and risks, it is necessary to move away from flagship/stand-alone programmes towards more comprehensive social protection systems . There is no consensual definition of social protection . At IPC-IG we have been working with a definition that helps us to link social protection with inclusive growth that seeks to emphasize that social protection is not only a quick and ex post fix for inequities generated by the growth process, but also an important

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component of the growth process itself . Social protection for inclusive growth in this approach comprises a set of publically funded actions that serve to (a) support individuals and families in addressing vulnerabilities over their life course; (b) help, especially the poor and the vulnerable, build resilience to respond to crises/hazards/shocks, including environmental threats; (c) foster social inclusion and assist people, especially those more vulnerable to poverty, to build human and social capital through facilitating income smoothing and encouraging/ensuring access to basic social goods and services; and (d) foster productive inclusion through enhancing the capabilities, rights and opportunities of the poor and marginalized/excluded, as well as those in formal sector jobs, to benefit from growth . Such a definition incorporates traditional features of social protection definitions, namely, social insurance, social assistance, and active labour market policies, but broadens the scope of these interventions in order to encompass some developmental objectives through direct links with access to social goods and services, as well as with productive inclusion, especially for those with no (or weak) links to the formal labour market . In this context, we also argue that a social protection system can have productive impacts at the macro level by stimulating aggregate demand and working as automatic stabilizers; at the meso level by fostering the local economy and improving local assets; and at the micro level by increasing household and individual productivity and decreasing vulnerability to negative shocks .88 Despite different levels of robustness with regard to the available empirical evidence, it is possible to assert that social protection does contribute to making the growth process more inclusive (and not only as a compensatory measure) . This is clearer when one analyses social protection programmes that have a productive component with strong spillover effects, but also with simpler cash transfer programmes that can have second-round effects at the macro and meso levels, and direct effects at the household level . The recurrent concern about dependency on small-scale programmes with very low benefits seems to be misplaced . As a matter of fact, the discourse around graduation is never clear whether one is talking about graduation from poverty or graduation from the programme due to budget considerations . In general, graduation concerns come with very scarce (if any) empirical evidence on beneficiary dependency . Eyal and Wollard (2011), for instance, shows that Child Support Grant in South Africa has enabled young mothers to send their children
88 Ruslan Yemtsov,"TheProductiveRoleof Social Protection" (Presentation at the SouthSouth Social Protection Learning Forum, Addis Ababa, June 4, 2011) . Available at http://siteresources .worldbank .org/SAFETYNETSANDTRANSFERS/ Resources/281945-1131468287118/1876750-1297875636846/7739471-1307983876048/ Yemtsov_Productive_Role_06-03-11 .pdf

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to school or child care, freeing their time so that they can participate more in the labour market .89 This is not to say that social protection programme should not consider activation policies for their beneficiaries . However, in order to facilitate this activation process, it is necessary to have more comprehensive information on the needs of the beneficiaries, on the potential of the local labour markets, and on the needs of the communities . The description of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) by Faiza Effendi and Haris Gazdar, in the first part of this discussion, reveals some elements that have the potential to move in this direction . The dissemination of singles registries and/or of interconnected databases seems to be one important innovation that, even if initially linked to some flagship programme, was able to be implemented in a much broader manner . In Latin America, such systems became quite popular and proved its utility and multipurpose potential during the recent financial crisis . On the one hand, establishing these systems can be cumbersome and expensive; on the other hand, the synergies and potential improvement in the effectiveness of the social protection programmes are clear . Without denying the importance of crosschecking databases to avoid duplications and identifying inclusion errors, it seems that the information systems should be used to amplify the set of opportunities available to families, to decrease exclusion errors and improve coordination and impact of programmes . These systems can also affect evaluations whose results could feed back into a permanent process of redesigning the systems programmes and refocusing their objectives . It is important to recognize, nonetheless, that countries have different capacities in implementing social protection and employment programmes . Middleincome countries tend to have more fiscal space to develop such policies, unlike low-income Countries that have a tighter fiscal space and are highly dependable on grants (e .g . Official Development Assistance [ODA]) . In such circumstances, the move toward a more comprehensive social protection system needs to be careful in identifying clear priorities and choosing programmes that have stronger synergies with the productive side and potential for integration with other locally identified priorities in the development agenda . Some innovative programmes like the Productive Safety Net Project (PSNP) in Ethiopia90 (See Lieuw-Kie-Song, 2011) have produced important lessons that
89 Katherine Eyal and Ingrid Woolard, "Female Labour Force Participation and South Africas Child Support Grant" (Mimeo, 2011) . Available athttp://www .csae .ox .ac .uk/conferences/2011-EDiA/ papers/467-Eyal .pdf 90 Maikel Lieuw-Kie-Song, "Integrating Public Works and Cash Transfers in Ethiopia: Implications for Social Protection, Employment and Decent Work" (working paper, No . 84, Brasilia, IPC-IG, 2011) . Available at http://www .ipc-undp .org/pub/IPCWorkingPaper84 .pdf

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can be shared among the low-income countries . Four interesting features of PSNP seem to have a broader potential for learning and sharing: (a) a high level of coordination and alignment among donors and the Government of Ethiopia; (b) a design that recognized the different needs of chronically food insecure households with a mix of direct support (cash transfers) to those unable to work (elderly and disabled) with a public work programme that provides work during the lean season in areas (woredas) identified as highly vulnerable to food insecurity; (c) the capacity of bringing multiple objectives together in its design, (i .e ., improving food security among beneficiary households, preventing the depletion of assets at the household level, and creating assets at the community level, without overwhelming the programme with competing objectives); and (d) a food security flagship programme (PSNP) that does not need to be a standalone initiative, but can be part of a broader food security strategy that includes other programmes such as the Household Asset Building Programme (with a view to enabling a smooth graduation from PSNP), and Resettlement Programme and Complementary Community Investment Programme . Unfortunately, most of the knowledge sharing among countries still revolves around components and instruments linked to specific programme, rather than ways to broaden social protection programmes in order to ensure that families and individuals are protected throughout their lifecycle (i .e ., taking into account their different needs and those of the communities where they live) . A move toward a more comprehensive approach will require a greater effort from practitioners and researches to develop appropriate tools to assess systems and identify lessons (including the negative ones) that could be shared . Regards, Fabio Veras Soares UNDP International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) Brasilia-DF, Brazil

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Armando Barrientos, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester

Dear All: I would like to discuss the boundaries of social protection . As social protection programmes spread in developing countries, a number of researchers and policy makers acknowledge sharing some confusion over the boundaries of social protection policy . Is microfinance a social protection instrument? And what about programmes providing basic services such as healthcare, water or sanitation, are they part of social protection? Under what circumstances could policies addressing discrimination and social exclusion be considered as social protection? The aim of this brief contribution is to shed light on the boundaries of social protection . The discussion below contrasts two broad approaches to social protection . One approach starts from established social policy frameworks, tried and tested in developed countries . Let us call this the social policy / public finance approach . In this approach, social protection includes three main components: social insurance, social assistance, and employment related policies . Social insurance covers contributory programmes providing protection against life-course and work-related hazards . Social assistance covers tax-financed programmes addressing poverty and deprivation . And employment related programmes and policies cover passive policies that protect rights and entitlements of workers, as well as active programmes and policies that promote employment and productivity . The other approach starts from development frameworks and concerns . There are many variants of this approach, and wide areas of disagreement, but at its core it proposes that development is broader than rising incomes per capita, and includes attention to human development, governance, the environment, and empowerment . It advocates for integrated development strategies that advance, on all these fronts, a proposal captured in the notion of sustainable development . It is apparent from this brief characterisation of these two approaches that the development approach will consistently push social protection towards a broader, more encompassing policy framework . This is in contrast to the more focused scope proposed by the social policy / public finance approach . Many areas of apparent confusion and controversy over the role and scope of social protection in developing countries, and especially uncertainty over its boundaries, can be traced back to the spaces in between the social policy/public finance approach and a development approach . Finding common ground between them will help give social protection greater definition .

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Porus Khareghat/ UNDP

The social policy/public finance approach has a lot to offer . There is much for us to learn from the experiences of developed countries in poverty reduction and development . The crucial role of registration in enabling public assistance was well understood in 18th century England . The advantages and disadvantages of means testing and targeting assistance to poor households were comprehensively discussed in the United States in the context of its War on Poverty in the late 1960s and 1970s . At the same time, conditions in developing countries discourage slavishly transferring European approaches and institutions to developing countries . A development approach has much to contribute to enhancing the role of social protection institutions in developing countries . In particular, antipoverty programmes need to be designed and implemented in developing countries to help synergise social and economic development . Yet, there are limits to this strategy . The multifaceted nature of development, when applied to social protection, can result in a crippling loss of focus . Adding objectives and instruments to social protection strategies could quickly precipitate diminishing returns . Well-designed social protection programmes can be effective in reducing poverty; in the process, could have an impact on disparities in access to basic services; and could strengthen the productive capacity of groups in poverty . They are unlikely, however, to deliver economy-wide growth, gender empowerment or structural change . Policy gatekeepers (e .g . multilaterals, bilaterals, international NGOs) have redefined social protection many times over to make it fit with their versions of development . In development discourse, there is always a clear and present

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danger that policies perceived to be effective in a specific context will be turned into silver bullets and applied indiscriminately . It is important to ensure that social protection and assistance are developmental, that they contribute to social and economic development, but in the understanding that development is much bigger than social protection . Social protection will be more effective if combined with policies delivering basic services and growth; it is not a substitute for these . The recent extension of social protection in developing countries has produced innovative largerscale programmes making a strong contribution to the reduction of global poverty .91 They constitute a significant step towards achieving sustainable development . Understanding the boundaries of social protection will be essential to maintaining a clear focus on the challenges ahead . Regards, Armando Barrientos, Research Director Brooks World Poverty Institute University of Manchester, UK

Taimur Khilji, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre

Dear All: I would like to discuss whether it is necessary to strictly define social protection .

What is social protection?

One way to address this question is by looking at how the concept of social protection is commonly used in development literature . The usage of the concept should point us towards its manifestations: policies, initiatives, projects and programmes that are cited as examples of social protection . We soon discover that social protection is used as a catch-all concept to cover a diverse range of initiatives that seem to have little in common with one another . Just glancing over Part 1 of the e-discussion, the diversity of social protection initiatives is apparent . Cash transfers, a national rural employment guarantee act, pension schemes, residential security, disaster risk management initiatives, a school stipend programme for girls (a conditional cash transfer), health programmes, etc . all feature as examples of social protection .

91 Armando Barrientos, Miguel Nio-Zaraza, and Mathilde Maitrot, "Social Assistance in Developing Countries" (working paper series, Database version 5 Report, Manchester, Brooks World Poverty Institute, 2010) . Available at http://papers .ssrn .com/sol3/papers .cfm?abstract_ id=1672090

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The World Bank (WB) classifies social protection into five broad categories disability, labour markets, pensions, safety nets & transfers, and social funds .92 Whereas the Asia Development Bank (ADB) defines social protection as the set of policies and programmes designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labour markets, diminishing peoples exposure to risks, and enhancing their capacity to protect themselves against or cope with hazards and interruption or loss of income . Social protection consists of five major elements: labour markets, social insurance, social assistance and welfare service programmes, micro-and area-based schemes, and child protection .93 A multitude of schemes, initiatives and policies fall under the broad ADB definition, as well as ADB and WB categorizations of social protection . In fact, several examples of social protection schemes are arguably general development efforts by the State, such as Indias Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act . Social protection, therefore, is a fluid term lacking in specificity . Reaching consensus on a working definition is yet to be achieved, as there seem to be several definitions . Instead of striving to reach consensus, an alternative approach would be to ask whether we really need to articulate social protection in stricter terms . Even without consensus on the definition of social protection, we could still monitor and track social protection programmes, and ensure they fulfil their purpose, are not fragmented, and are part of a broader and more comprehensive development effort . Thus conceived, social protection schemes can be effective and still be tagged as general development efforts by the state without any contradiction . Social protection as a toolbox The problem of definition tends to dissolve once we focus on the issues and problems we are trying to address . Consider social protection as a toolbox, containing several different tools (instruments) that are meant to be used (implemented) for a particular purpose94 (for example, encouraging adolescent
92 World Bank Social Protection & Labor Web site . Available at http://web .worldbank .org/WBSITE/ EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALPROTECTION/0,,menuPK:282644~pagePK:162100~piPK:159310~ theSitePK:282637,00 .html (accessed September 4, 2011) . 93 ADB Social Protection Web site . Available at http://www .adb .org/socialprotection/faq .asp (accessed September 4, 2011) . 94 Emphasis is added to purpose, as we tend to focus more on collecting, sharing and eventually attaching value to good practices without paying attention to the particular purpose the good practice was intended to fulfill; an initiatives so called goodness isnt some universal value inherent to the initiative, but derives from how efficient or effective it was in achieving its purpose . Once we focus on the purpose of a social protection initiative, we gain some insight into whether it can be scaled or replicated . Just as a hammer is an efficient and effective tool for a particular purpose (i .e . driving a nail into a hard surface and not for, say, cutting wood), a good social protection instrument ought to be efficient and effective for its particular purpose .

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girls to stay in school, employing unskilled workers in a competitive world, feeding and vaccinating school children, etc) . Just as a standard toolbox contains a screwdriver, a hammer, a saw, etc ., with each being an efficient and effective tool for a particular purpose, an imaginary social protection toolbox comprises instruments designed to address particular development issues . But, social protection instruments (just like tools in a toolbox) need not have anything in common with one another . A hammer has nothing in common with a saw, but both are efficient and effective tools for a particular purpose (i .e . hammering a nail and cutting wood, respectively) . Similarly, an employment guarantee scheme and a vaccination drive may have little in common with one another, although both may be effective in what they try to achieve . The former may be a permanent feature of the States development budget, may work on the principle of affirmative action, may be limited to rural areas, etc .; whereas the latter may run for a limited duration, may not be part of the state budget but rather financed through a partnership between donors and the private sector, and may be universal and non-discriminatory (rich and poor alike are free to come and get vaccinated at no cost) . Both these initiatives that have practically nothing in common with one another are usually cited as examples of social protection . More importantly, both can be effective and efficient for the particular purpose they were designed to fulfil . At times, more than one tool (instrument) is needed to build something comprehensive, but during the process the purpose of each tool is well prescribed . Similarly, to build a comprehensive social protection system there would need to be clarity on how each initiative fulfils a particular purpose as part of a large whole . In sum, to obtain clarity on social protection, it matters more (a) what a particular schemes purpose is (i .e . the problem it is designed to address), (b) how effective and efficient it is in fulfilling that purpose, and (c) how it serves to complement other initiatives as part of a broader development agenda . When we focus on the purpose of a particular programme, we consider aspects such as cultural context, public demand, incentive structure, behavioural traits of the beneficiaries, cost and benefit (social, political, and economic), the moral/ethical imperative, potential risks and externalities, duration expected for the programme to fulfill its objectives, etc . It matters less what common elements it may or may not share with other development initiatives also referred to as social protection . It may share some or none . Taimur Khilji, Policy Specialist UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Bangkok, Thailand

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Sarah Cook, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

Dear All: Thank you for facilitating a very stimulating and informative exchange . The postings have highlighted a set of instruments or programmes, which have over recent years largely come to define the parameters of social protection . They have emerged out of various experiences of need and vulnerability in different parts of the world, but take particular shape in relation to specific local circumstances . In this part of the discussion, the question has been posed of whether such schemes can or should be distinguished from general development efforts by the State . Addressing this question involves a shift in thinking: from social protection primarily as instruments or programmes to a focus on their broader objectives: protecting people against livelihood downturns that might precipitate a fall into poverty or deprivation, and the guarantee of some basic level of security through social or public means . At a minimum, such provisions should be a matter of rightto food, shelter, health care and education . However, basic security also contributes to economic development in multiple ways that are widely recognized, including through human capital formation, enhanced productivity and the capacities to engage in entrepreneurial activity . The linkages between social protection and wider development efforts operate in both directions . Development policies create patterns of growth that can either reduce risk and vulnerability (and thus the need for social protection) or conversely increase it . A pattern of development that is highly unequal and exclusionary creates insecurities to which narrowly targeted social protection instruments, however well designed, cannot effectively respond . Without a more inclusive and equitable development agenda the demands on such programmes, particularly at moments of covariate shock, are likely to overwhelm them . Conversely, social protection interventions, if well designed, can be not only protective, but also developmental and possibly transformative: developmental, for example through encouraging human capital investment and entrepreneurial activity; and transformative through creating entitlements (based on citizenship, residence or other criteria), and enabling citizens to organize around such claims and to hold the State (or other actors) accountable .

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Research conducted between the Asian and global financial crises provides some lessons on the developmental aspects of social protection .95 While some programmes (such as National Rural Employment Generation Scheme [NREGS]) build on earlier and long standing experiences, many new initiatives emerged or expanded in this decade . The impetus came from the recognition that, while growth had delivered rising living standards for some, the inequalities and vulnerabilities that accompanied uneven growth could not be resolved through market mechanisms or through residual ex post safety nets . Over this period, a significant body of evidence has been accumulated: first, on the nature of vulnerabilities across different countries and population groups in the region, and second, on what interventions are working and why . Here I note some general insights obtained from the comparative analysis of such experiences both across programmes and countries .96 Social protection should not be viewed only as a response to risk and crisis; it is not only about addressing immediate exogenous shocks and contingencies (through consumption smoothing or risk management) . The varied nature of vulnerability in the region, including chronic poverty and deprivation, as well as exposure to volatility in unequal but growing economies, points to the need for differentiated responses (and thus instruments) to address the underlying causes . By extension, the contexts and constructions of vulnerability matter; issues of age, ethnicity and gender, location or status (as migrant, rural, urban, etc .) all determine exposure to shocks and resources for coping, as well as opportunities for moving out of poverty . Social protection interventions may ensure minimal needs are met; complementary development efforts are necessary to create trajectories out of poverty and powerlessness . Focusing on objectives leads to a broadening of the range of relevant instruments . One example, noted in earlier discussions (on India and Pakistan), concerns housing (or tenure) security . Housing has multiple roles in the lives of the poor and often underpins access to other forms of security . It is a source of protection (particularly for women); it provides shelter, a place of production and of identity . Whereas in Hong Kong and Singapore it formed a critical component of welfare policies, it is generally neglected in current social protection discussions .

95 The Social Protection in Asia (SPA) programme was initiated in the wake of the Asian financial crisis by the Ford Foundation . Details can be found on the programme site www . socialprotectionasia .org and at the IDS Centre for Social Protection website . Several of the earlier postings in this e-discussion drew on research undertaken within this programme . See also Sarah Cook and Naila Kabeer, eds ., Social Protection as Development Policy: Asian Perspective (London, New York, New Delhi: Routledge, 2010) . 96 See Programme Synthesis Report, Social Protection in Asia: Research Findings and Policy Lessons (2010) . Available at http://www .socialprotectionasia .org/Conf-prgram-pdf/SPA_SynthReport_web .pdf

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 Social protection interventions do not work in isolation; the broader social protection system or policy framework locates particular programmes and ensures their effectiveness . For example, a programme with conditionalities related to health and education (premised on the need for incentives for behavioural change) cannot function effectively in the absence of accessible and quality services . If the constraint is supply or affordability, not behaviour, then a more effective intervention would be to ensure provision accessible to all . There is a lifecycle to social protection interventions: they are not designed in a vacuum; they do not emerge fully formed; and they are often initiated on a piecemeal basis, emerging out of different measures that have been tried, tested, abandoned or occasionally institutionalized . Each has a history shaped by different institutional actors, interests and incentives, and responds to different (and changing) forms of insecurity . Broader issues of governance, responsiveness and adaptation matter as much as technical programme design in these processes . These points suggest the need for a comprehensive framework for social protection aiming at universal coverage . Targeting groups with particular needs (orphans, the disabled, the elderly poor, etc .) within a universal approach that aims to provide some guarantee to all in the event of contingency, is more effective than narrowly targeted or means-tested programmes, which are usually associated with high administrative costs and significant coverage gaps . There is a politics to building a broad-based system of comprehensive coverage . Alliances and coalitions are needed around ideas of universalism, risk-sharing, redistribution and resource mobilization . The more broadbased the support a programme receives, and the deeper its roots in civil and political society, the more likely it is to become institutionalized and sustainable . The extent to which the state plays a role in integrating and institutionalizing interventions into national policy processes is a crucial determinant of comprehensive and transformative social protection systems . Taking into account both the deeply entrenched forms of poverty and exclusion, as well as new forms of vulnerability generated through processes of rapid growth and global integration, it is clear that no one-size-fits-all approach, single instrument, or silver bullet exists . Social protection can only be effective in reducing poverty, vulnerability and marginalization if other policies (macro-economic, fiscal, labour market, etc .) work to reduce (and certainly not increase) inequality, vulnerability and exclusion . Within such a policy framework, three complementary prongs of a developmental approach to social protection are needed: (a) interventions to smooth consumption and protect livelihoods as immediate response to crisis or shocks; (b) ex ante protective measures of support including income transfers and basic social investments; and (c) a longer term perspective that links social protection concerns with building trajectories towards more secure lives through the mainstream development agenda . Part 2: What Constitutes Social Protection? 105

 Recent experiences point to numerous ways in which social protection programmes within a supportive broader policy environment have developmental impacts, which may in fact offset the resources used to finance them . These include investments in human capital leading to a healthier, skilled and productive workforce; the creation of local infrastructure, rising incomes that generate local economy effects or relaxation on constraints to labour force participation (particularly for women), or that raise household production; and a reduction in coping strategies that undermine productivity or lead to distress sales or migration . While the wider developmental impacts of social protection interventions call for more systematic study, well-designed social protection interventions can provide the opportunity ladders to climb out of poverty, enhance participation in social and political life and contribute to wider processes of development and inclusive economic growth . Regards Sarah Cook, Director United Nations Research Institute for Social Development Geneva, Switzerland

Carol Flore-Smereczniak and Peterson Magoola, UNDP Papua New Guinea

Dear Colleagues: We would like to discuss protection, assistance, empowerment and transformation: four key concepts that characterize social protection in Papua New Guinea (PNG) . This contribution will provide an overview of the current situation in Papua New Guinea and the way forward, highlighting the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)s contribution in supporting what the government has initiated for social protection . Assessments and studies of social protection initiatives undertaken in the Pacific by the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank (ADB) indicate that PNG ranks low on the Social Protection Index (SPI) among other Pacific countries (SPI measured by expenditure, coverage, impact, and distribution) . This means that in PNG, there are social and economic challenges such as poverty (or hardship as it is referred to in this region), access to and quality of education, and access to health services among others, which create a greater burden on Papua New Guineans, as compared to households in other Pacific countries . It is worth

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pointing out that PNG accounts for 80 percent of the Pacifics population, thus their greater need to address the plight of the most vulnerable and marginalized communities . About 85 percent of the population of PNG lives in rural areas and depends on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood . Social protection mechanisms are not new in the Pacific, but the recent global economic crisis has brought the issue to the fore; governments realize that more needs to be done to build resilience during better times so that communities can cope in times of hardships and crises . Given this context, the PNG government through the Department for Community Development has embarked on the initiative to support the establishment new social protection programmes and strengthen existing ones . This is viewed as a means of improving access to and quality of social services at the household level, as well as providing a basis for the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) . As we know, social protection aims at reducing the vulnerability of households . For those already below the poverty line and those susceptible to fall into poverty, it affords the opportunity to rise above it by cushioning the impact of shocks (such as sickness and crop failure) and allows better access to economic opportunities . For those above the poverty line, social protection initiatives provide a buffer so that shocks and risks are better managed . While the wantok system97 of PNG provides a safety net for family members who are in need, it also puts financial and other pressures on families and communities to care for an extended group of family members . The Government of Papua New Guinea has, for some time, been looking into the type of social protection system that is most suitable for PNG, recognizing that there are various models available . Consequently, a Social Protection Task Force has been established through a decision of the National Executive Council, based on a joint submission by the
97 Wantok system refers to community ties whereby when something happens to one family member, other family or community members pool resources together to support the one(s) in need .

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Ministers for Community Development and the Treasury . The task force is chaired by the Department for Community Development, with other members including the Department of National Planning and Monitoring, the Department of Treasury, the Department of Education, the National Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations, the Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs, as well as development partners, civil society organizations, and the United Nations (UN) . The composition of the task force signals an all-inclusive approach that also draws from experiences and lessons learned from other parts of the world . The main objective of the task force is to investigate and develop a formal policy framework for social protection in PNG and report back with relevant recommendations of the type of social protection model or approach most suited for the country . The Government has highlighted that their social protection policy can be characterized by four broad areas of focus: Protection of the poor and vulnerable from unexpected risks in their daily life as well as from economic shocks; Assistance to people during vulnerable periods (the concept includes vulnerable groups who need care and assistance both in cash and in-kind); Empowerment of families and communities so that they can rebuild, reconstruct, and reorganize themselves in order to deal with similar situations on their own; and Transformation: the ultimate outcome of social protection programmes in PNG must aim to provide an environment for affected individuals, families and households that is conducive to transforming their lives for thebetter in order to escape poverty and vulnerability . Enabling mechanisms and strategies allow for households to better cope with vulnerability and risk in the future . The initial work of the task force was to analyse current social protection models and recommend a model suited to PNG for government adoption . After a detailed analysis and various rounds of reviews, a report recommended social safety nets as the most appropriate model for social protection in PNG . This model drew from existing practices from across different regions, including from countries in Africa, South America, Middle East, South Asia, and South East Asia . Following this report, the task force called for a High Level Stakeholders Consultation to review the findings and recommendations and gather additional inputs from stakeholders . The consultation took place from 14 August 2011 in Port Moresby . We should highlight that consultations have been held at provincial levels to ensure that the policy is understood by all and is grounded in reality .

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The UN, particularly UNICEF and UNDP, has played a significant role in the process by providing technical assistance to the National Task Force on Social Protection in mapping and analysing the various social protection models . Furthermore, to address the social and economic impact of HIV on women and children in PNG, the task force requested both agencies to provide specific technical assistance in designing and implementing child-focused and HIVsensitive social protection programmes . Building on the work being done by the National AIDS Council and the Department for Community Development, the UN guided the process and provided expertise and shared experiences from within the region and beyond . In addition, a national level consultation on social protection was conducted, aimed at providing an opportunity for national actors including the private sector and civil society to share experiences and contribute to the development of a social protection strategy and policy . The PNG UNDP country office, through the HIV, Health and Development portfolio, provides support to this process to ensure key cross-cutting issues are part of the policy . For example, to ensure that: Children as well as elderly and people living with disabilities benefit directly from the governments assistance so that they can access their right to health, education and a quality of life that allows them to realize and reach their potential . HIV-affected populations or those living with HIV and its life-altering consequences should be able to access their entitlements . As a lead up to this, people living with HIV will be widely consulted in developing policy, and an HIV impact assessment of communities will be conducted; the findings of which will subsequently be fed into the policies and programmes being developed . PNG has a traditional system where affected groups, such as orphan children, are supported by community structures that will be strengthened . HIVsensitive social protection focuses on three core schemes: 1 . 2 . 3 . Social insurance for people living with HIV; Social safety nets (conditional and/or non-conditional); and Social schemes to support employment and access to services .

Resources are put into the hands of women through existing micro-credit schemes, livelihood opportunities, or engagement into extensive agricultural initiatives, so that they are adequately empowered and have direct access to their entitlements . Past experience has demonstrated that money put into the hands of women is more likely to be invested in the family than money put into the hands of men, and resources in the hands of women seems to be a viable strategy to promote inclusive and sustainable development in PNG .

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Key challenges In moving forward with these initiatives, the country has encountered a range of challenges, including: Limited data to identify potential beneficiaries; Lack of understanding of the entire social protection programming, including the cost-benefit analysis at the national level; and Weak governance and administrative capacity, at national and sub national levels . Looking ahead There is an ongoing debate in PNG with regards to whether social protection policy should be targeted or universal . In response, it has been suggested to start small and upscale gradually based on the success from selected areas . In addition, there needs to be a greater understanding of the models that could be adapted such that they take advantage of and build upon indigenous practices, such as the one-kina-per-child initiative in West New Britain, whereby each selected child from vulnerable families is awarded one kina/per day98 as support to access education and health services . The cost is borne by the provincial administration . In the final analysis, the UN systems role in this process is to ensure that the upcoming social protection policy contributes to a more equitable distribution of gains achieved through high economic growth, and consequently accelerated poverty reduction as part of the MDG plus agenda . We know that social protection programmes are not sufficient, but need to be coupled with sound macroeconomic policy and good governance . There is also a need for various groups to be involved and consulted during the development of the social protection policy . Particularly for HIV sensitive social protection initiatives, HIV positive people need to be involved such that their concerns and issues are aired appropriately and adequately addressed . In addition, more discussions are required with both public and private sectors to deepen understanding on issues related to social protection, including the financial/fiscal implications of a comprehensive social protection strategy in PNG . Regards, Carol Flore-Smereczniak, Deputy Resident Representative; and Peterson Magoola, HIV Specialist UNDP Papua New Guinea

98 Kina is the currency of PNG .

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Raymond Brandes and James Lang, Partners for Prevention

Dear All: We are following the discussion with great interest . We feel that social protection should strive for broader and deeper understanding of structural determinants of gender inequality, gender-based violence (GBV) and the indivisibility and alienability of (gender) rights and justice . Patriarchal systems and discriminatory practices such as GBV are seen as a major deterrent to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)99 and peoples well-being; and GBV can be seen as a violation of human rights,100 a threat to voice and capabilities101 and a barrier to achieve human development and sustainable development .102 A complete understanding of the contextual factors of gender inequality and GBV can have considerable impact on chosen social protection strategies and interventions such as communication and awareness raising for individual behaviour change, transforming socio-cultural norms, advocacy on public policy design, implementation and programming, and strengthening legislative, institutional and organizational environments, among others . The prevention of GBV, which is the overall goal of the Partners for Prevention (P4P) initiative103, addresses gender inequitable behaviours/attitudes and power imbalances through strong rights-based approaches . P4P advocates for policies and programmes that aim to transform social, cultural and religious norms and practices that perpetuate or condone GBV at national, communal and interpersonal level . To determine policy and programme options, P4P and its partners are conducting quantitative and qualitative research on boys and mens attitudes and behaviours related to GBV and masculinities in seven countries in the Asia-Pacific region (China, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Viet Nam, and Indonesia) . The outcomes of the research will provide policy makers and programme developers with insights and evidence on designing and targeting investments for specific social protection interventions that will build upon gender equality and women empowerment efforts .

99

WHO, Addressing Violence Against Women and Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (Geneva: 2005) . Available at http://whqlibdoc .who .int/hq/2005/WHO_FCH_GWH_05 .1 .pdf

100 S . Shahra Razavi, "Gender in the 21st Century: Looking Back, Moving Forward" (lecture, UNCTAD, 2010) . 101 Amartya Sen, Gender and Cooperative Conflicts, ed . Irene Tinker (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990) . 102 C .M . Vargas, "Women in Sustainable Development: Empowerment through Partnerships for Healthy Living," World Development 30, no . 9, (2002): 15391560 . 103 UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women & UNV, Partners for Prevention (Regional Joint Programme for Asia and the Pacific) .

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While discussions on what constitutes social protection are valuable on their own, it is probably as important to seek answers on what social protection aims to address and how . With regards, Raymond Brandes, Programme Specialist; and James Lang, Programme Coordinator Partners for Prevention (P4P) Bangkok, Thailand

Giorgia Giovannetti, University of Firenze

Dear All: I would like to share some lessons learned on social protection . Interest in social protection, triggered in part by the rapid sequences of food, fuel, and financial crises between 2008 and 2011, has been recently growing in the developing world, also triggered by the rapid sequences of food, fuel, financial crises between 2008 and 2011 . The G20 Seoul Development Consensus (2010) identified growth with resilience as a key pillar, and put specific emphasis on social protection mechanisms that support resilient and inclusive growth . The African Union stated that social protection is a crucial piece of the development puzzle . The European Commission and seven EU countries published a report (European Report on Development (ERD) 2010, Social Protection for inclusive Development), which reviewed the reasons for success and failure of new generation of social protection programmes and maintained that under a number of preconditions, social protection is possible and feasible even in low-income countries . As result of this timely and lively debate around social protection, a consensus is emerging that social protection itself is not only a right, but also an indispensable instrument in supporting progress towards achieving inclusive growth and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) . Social protection can then be seen as an investment and its positive externalities on other social policies can be exploited . An increasing number of recent publications (academic, policy briefs, etc .) provided evidence that social protection programmes can mitigate risks and reduce poverty and vulnerability without producing significant distortions or disincentives on labour supply . However, (a) implementation is crucial and requires adequate fiscal space, and (b) programmes need to be made sustainable through clear and enforceable criteria . Hence, institutional and administrative

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capacity must be adequate for programme design and implementation; programmes in turn are likely to be more effective if built on pilots and on community and household networks (a sort of crowding in rather than crowding out!) . To run a successful social protection programme, furthermore, requires inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral capacity building, since social protection tends to work better when in synergy with other social and economic policies . For instance, as suggested in ERD 2010, politically it might be very powerful if social protection is seen to support the work of health, education and agricultural ministries (e .g . Chile Solidario was driven by the need to coordinate different programmes) . Moreover, conditionalities of a new generation of cash transfers may require the use of health and education facilities;: cash transfers increase the use of medical facilities, implying that they have to be available (as shown by many examples in Latin America show) . Also public works, mainly building infrastructures in rural areas, potentially supports the objectives of the agriculture and development ministries (even though in this case the available evidence is limited in this case) . Finally, political commitment (both domestically and of donors) is very important and has been the key to almost all successful schemes . Of course such conditions are not equally available in developing countries nor across continents . Heterogeneity is very large among different development contexts, so that specific programmes and implementations have to be devised to accommodate the heterogeneity in different development contexts . However, in most low-income countries, including much of Sub Saharan Africa, some simple programmes, exist such as non-contributory social pensions or child benefits, exist and that are administratively feasible, particularly with technologically-innovative cash-delivery systems that avoid targeting errors, cut costs and speed up the delivery processes . These programmes can also be fiscally sustainable (the cost is not too high, as pointed out for instance by recent research on the social protection floor by ILO), and have only few, if any, negative incentive effects, if any . If this is the case, these programmes can garner broad political support and trigger a virtuous circle out of poverty . Over time, more complex administrative arrangements, including co-ordinated packages, can become feasible as countries accumulate experience and build up domestic resources . In the longer term, low income countries can build on the simple programmes to create a platform for social protection that consists of several co-ordinated programmes, depending on their particular needs and fiscal space (which of course should be improved) . Such a social-assistance-based platform of social protection schemes must be consistent with a strategy to move progressively to a system based predominantly on domestic financing either through the tax system, or some form of contributory social insurance, or, even better, systems combining the two . In any case, programmes or systems

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cannot merely be replicated across countries and continents, but have to be adapted to local circumstances . As far as the UNDP is concerned, it is crucial to understand a countrys specificity and the possible interactions and externalities between programmes rather than selecting a specific programme suitable for every situation . However, learning from existing experiences and from the positive spill-over effects of social protection measures, UNDP could provide support for some simple programmes (such as pension schemes, child benefits, health programmes and the like) and then build up from there . It could also be important for UNDP to support programmes that have been implemented, but have to be discontinued due to lack of funding could be important . A long- term view is crucial for social protection to have a positive impact on growth and MDGs . But to have a longterm view means to have reliable funding Regards, Giorgia Giovannetti, Professor of Economics University of Firenze; and Part time Professor, European University Institute, Scientific Coordinator of the European report on development 2009 (Overcoming Fragility) and 2010 (Social Protection for Inclusive Development) Florence, Italy

Bishwa Nath Tiwari, Human Development Report Unit, UNDP AsiaPacific Regional Centre
Dear All: This brief note focuses on defining social protection . In doing so, it first points out some reasons why social protection lacks a uniform definition . The first reason for the difference in definition is related to the lack of agreement on the coverage or scope of social protection: whether it is to focus on its traditional role of social insurance and social assistance or take a broader view of sustained poverty reduction and human development through economic and social policy . The concept is diluted with the use of different terminologies by different agencies (for example, social protection, social security and social safety nets are used interchangeably, with agency-specific connotations) . Another reason for discrepancies in definitions has to do with differing context and priorities of developed and developing countries . The concept of social protection evolved from social security aimed to support people in developed countries who fail to earn income because of disability, old age, unemployment,

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or imperfections in the labour market . However, because developing countries vary considerably from developed countries, the concept of social security cannot be applied to developing economies in the same way . Developing countries are characterised with low per capita income, high poverty, high vulnerability and low human development . These countries are growing, but with rising inequality and a slow rate of structural transformation . They have a large informal sector, coupled with high preponderance of self-employment and unstable and irregular wage employment . Thus, social security policy benefits only a limited number of employees in the formal sector . The credit and insurance markets of developing countries are also underdeveloped, restricting scope for private insurance . All these features together with a large concentration of the population living in rural areas (with diverse and diffused occupations) create further economic and administrative challenges for implementing social security measures in these countries . In addition, the implementation of short-term project-based poverty reduction measures together with perennial measures of social insurance policy, which generally cover the formal employment sector, creates confusion as to whether social protection is a short- or long-term measure . Many developing countries lack a comprehensive social protection policy altogether . Finally, social protection gets renewed focus with the risks and vulnerability growing over time . In order to address the impact of global crises of the last decade, an emphasis has been placed on social protection by UN agencies .104 Now social protection is being advanced as a new policy paradigm, with the prospect of attaining growth alongside protection of vulnerable and excluded groups . Social protection can help achieve growth differently through: Consumption smoothing: it can help meet basic needs including food during economic crisis, thus smoothing consumption (keeping demand for goods and services in the economy constant in order to avoid recession) . Multiplier or Keynesian effect: it encourages production through increased demand for commodities . The poor have a relatively higher marginal propensity to consume . Sustaining human development outcomes: it can support parents to keep their children in school, and seek medical services even during the economic crisis . This leads to sustained human development outcomes . Decreased dependence on foreign market: it can help build savings and assets of the poor and excluded groups, which encourages demand for local goods and services .
104 ILO and WHO, The Social Protection Floor: Joint Crisis Initiatives of the UN Chief Executive Board of Coordination on the Social Protection Floor (Geneva: October 2009) .

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 Maintaining political and social stability: finally, social protection could help decrease the gap between rich and poor, thus maintaining stability .105 The concept of social protection is evolving over time even in a developing country context: from a more passionate supply-driven to a demand-driven approach incorporating a rights-based approach along with encouraging human agency, from short to longer term focus, and from the narrow confines of smoothing income and consumption during shocks to contributing to a more inclusive form of growth . In sum, social protection consists of all policy and programmes, which are part of development policy, which ensure inclusive growth and development and reduce vulnerability to risks . To what extent social protection can help protect the poor and vulnerable groups depends on the governance capacity and fiscal space . Some studies point out that political will is of greater significance than fiscal resources for effective coverage of social protection .106 However, both economics and politics are equally important to guarantee human rights, such as the right to food or work, which are enshrined in the constitution of several developing countries . While it remains a right in principle, the challenge is to ensure that it is properly enforced . Best regards, Bishwa Nath Tiwari, Deputy Programme Coordinator Human Development Report Unit UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Bangkok, Thailand

Gran Jonsson, UNDP Bangladesh

Dear All: The rationale for social protection is to mitigate risks and address vulnerabilities . In short, it protects against the negative consequences of uninsured risks . Different vulnerabilities require different policy responses . However, when decomposing the vulnerability package it is easy to see that the social protection agenda often overlooks social dimensions of vulnerability . Social protection has
105 Armin Bauer et al ., "Global Crisis and Fiscal Space for Social Protection" (a paper prepared for 3rd China-ASEAN Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction, ADB, December 2009) . 106 Bishwa Nath Tiwari, "Social Protection against Global Crises: Some Challenges in Nepal" (a paper presented at Research Meeting on Social Protection in South Asia, New Delhi, March 18-19, 2010) .

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in practical effect often been reduced to economic protection, focusing on income poverty more than the underlying causes of vulnerability . Social protection seldom addresses the structural root causes of poverty . It has become an instrument to react to shocks contingent on specific events like cyclones, floods and spiralling food prices, more than proactive intervention to address or reform structures of social exclusion and discrimination . Social protection is considered to have three dimensions or roles: prevention, protection and promotion . In addition, it has also been acknowledged that social protection has a transformative potential; it can empower poor people and provide them an opportunity for greater participation and voice . It has potential to address social and political exclusion and economic marginalization . The transformative potential of social protection can actually go a long way in addressing the root causes of vulnerability; eradicating certain forms of social injustice can help reduce the need for social protection measures, such as social transfers . However, social transformation does not happen automatically . Social protection schemes require special attention to the design and implementation, particularly targeting of the poor and marginalized . Without these considerations, social transfer programmes could unintentionally reinforce the abuse of power and paternalistic patterns by supporting detrimental patron-client relationships . A transformative approach needs to achieve a positive change in such power relations . Strengthening the capacity of the poor to make demands and claim entitlements should be a central part of social protection . A need-based approach recognizes that poor households deserve assistance . In contrast, a rights-based approach recognizes that they are entitled to assistance . Crucially, poor peoples choice of livelihood strategies, their willingness to take risks, the asset accumulation and other outcomes they can achieve through a combination of own agency and social transfers are heavily influenced by powerful external factors which constitute the vulnerability context . In determining benefit packages of programmes including a graduation trajectory, it is important to have a deep understanding of the vulnerability situation to address . Social protection can assist poor households to upgrade survival strategies to dynamic livelihood strategies, including a diversified livelihoods portfolio to spread the risks . Diversified livelihoods are a patent way for the poor to protect consumption, and programmes should enhance their skill base to make it possible for them to participate in the labour force at a higher level of the productivity scalewith the government stepping in only as the employer of last resort when everything else has failed . Beneficiaries of social cash transfers often use these mechanisms to invest in productive activities and assets, thus setting a multiplier effect in motion . They feel more secure to take up more rewarding, but riskier activities if there are benefits from a social safety net (like predictable and regular transfers or savings

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accumulated from earlier transfers) to fall back on . They also do not have to resort to damaging and often irreversible coping strategies, like distress sale of productive assets, if affected by shocks . However, it has to be realized that moving out of poverty is a cumulative process, which is most often achieved in tiny increments and with occasional setbacks in case of adversities . This results in a seesaw pattern of slow upward movement . In order to address structural poverty, it is crucial not to be blinded by the symptoms of extreme poverty, but to dig deeper to understand the underlying causes or triggers of poverty, and to drive in a counterattack aimed directly at these triggers . Illness is commonly observed as a driver of poverty; a specific measure like health, or at least hospitalization, insurance could drastically reduce the occurrence of chronic poverty . The economic and social dimensions of social protection are obviously intertwined . Social stigmatization makes it very difficult for some people to at all participate in the economic life of the local community . People can survive by living on the dole, it can even give a sense of uprightness to receive relief from government, but it is hardly adequate for a modern social protection agenda . Most vulnerable groups can be mainstreamed in the economy, with relief being only a temporary contingency measure . Social protection does not work in isolation from other policy instruments . Important preventive strategies that fall outside the purview of current social transfer policies include sound (inclusive) macro-economic policies, fiscal stimulus to counter global economic downturns, infrastructure development, and policies for delivery of basic services like health and education . There are also complementarities between social protection and policy instruments for productive sectors . Guaranteed purchase of principal crops at pre-announced minimum prices makes farmers less at the mercy of volatile farm gate prices and provides some security needed for farmers to take risks and plan ahead . Measures like better tenancy terms for tenant farmers and registration of ancestral lands of farmers belonging to ethnic minorities would promote productive investment for now very insecure farmers . It is important, in particular for the promotion or graduation aspect of social protection, to look at market integration: how to make markets work better for the poor . This includes looking at the poor as producers, suppliers of labour and consumers of basic services: three aspects where the market often fails to permit access or where the transaction costs for the poor are high . If beneficiaries of social transfer programmes cannot participate in markets that are inclusive, programme impact will not be sustainable . A major barrier preventing people from breaking out of poverty is not poverty itself but the problematic

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environment in which poor people are forced to pursue their livelihoods . It, therefore, becomes important to level the playing field and make the poor better positioned and more capable to participate in market systems on equal terms and not as losers in perpetual need of social assistance . Gran Jonsson, International Team Leader Rural Employment Opportunities for Public Assets Capacity Strengthening Team UNDP Bangladesh

Upendranadh Choragudi, ActionAid International

Dear All: Social protection in developing countries has become popular in the context of increasing risks and vulnerabilities resulting from recent crises and shocks, including disasters, which have decreased security of employment, especially for those working in the informal sector . There are a variety of social protection programmes . They aim to address risks and shocks such as loss of employment, retrenchments, poor health, disability and work place accidents . Because the poor in most developing countries lack capabilities to secure livelihoods and avail themselves to social security benefits, a wider notion of social protection incorporates basic social security (capabilityenhancing mechanisms) and contingency social security (mostly work-based security) . It is widely argued that social protection policies and programmes can contribute to poverty reduction and development gains . As the literature reveals social insurance, social assistance and social security form the core of social protection .107 The Social Protection in Asia (SPA) Research Program has identified conceptualization, vulnerability analysis, programme design, governance and institutional aspects as important factors for determining success of social protection initiatives .108 Political will and civil society also have important roles to play in sparking transformative109 change through social protection initiatives .

107 See www .socialprotectionasia .org . 108 See SPA Synthesis Report, available at www .socialprotectionasia .org . 109 Social protection programmes (design and implementation) are expected to be transformative in the sense that these programmes would create entitlements and sustainable livelihoods, and enhance social status of the recipients; would have potential to alter power imbalances including intra-household division of resource ownership and access; and would respect social and cultural values .

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In several developing countries, social protection programmes are yet to be properly institutionalized, and comprehensive social protection systems are yet to take hold . Limited administrative capacities and ineffective governance structures are identified as major challenges in this respect . Moreover, there is a resource crunch; governments in the current climate are unable to domestically finance their social protection programmes . Transformative social protection As discussed above, social protection discourse addresses shocks, risks and vulnerabilities through schemes and programmes . Sometimes, outcomes of such policies and programmes can go beyond short-term healing and can catalyse positive changes in power relations . For example, Indias public employment programme (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act [MNREGA]) not only offers employment for those who are unemployed, but also includes enablers of more long-term transformation110 . Public works projects, such as repairs of water bodies and development of barren and fallow land belonging to scheduled caste and tribe households, not only improve agricultural output, but also provide households with additional skills developed through employment on these projects . Other critical components of transformative social protection include the idea of universalism, citizenship-based entitlements, voice and representation, and transparency and accountability in the implementation of social protection schemes . The communities we work with in developing countries articulate the importance of these foundational features . Thus, social protection itself can potentially be part of the realization of economic, social and cultural rights . An important criterion for evaluating the success of a social protection programme should be to measure the redistributive impact (i .e . to what extent social protection programmes are redistributive, rebalance the existing power relations, and/or empower communities and individuals to become more resilient) . Incorporating equity and justice into this paradigm becomes essential as the impact of social protection schemes may largely depend on power relations, elite capture and social discrimination . Social protection and development agenda Realization of development goals involves an appropriate policy mix in terms of development investments, as well as financing social protection schemes and programmes . Conditional cash transfers, which have education or healthcare
110 See working papers and reports of studies on MNREGA conducted as part of SPA research . Available at www .socialprotectionasia .org

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requirements built into them, can aid in the realization of development goals . At the same time, essential development infrastructure (including provision/ delivery of basic social services) should be provided . It is essential that supplyside challenges and constraints are adequately addressed in the design phase of the programme so that programmes are able to achieve their stated objectives . The governments sectoral policies can also incorporate incentives (in cash or in kind) in order to induce positive behavioural change . For example, universal education policies can incorporate incentives like cash scholarships, meals, free books, and uniform . Such incentives may encourage parents to send their children to school . For social protection to really take hold it should be integrated as part of the social and economic policy agenda of the country through the respective economic planning ministry . This would also ensure that adequate resources are set aside for programmes that are designed to address essential needs . For example inclusive growth policies (employment augmenting) should be combined with specific social protection measures that further build resilience of the rural poor . Such joining-up of standard development efforts with more targeted social protection initiatives can create a positive multiplier effect . For a long time, social protection initiatives have been seen as residual and addon programmes (often funded through external resources), separate from standard development programming . It is essential that social protection be mainstreamed as part of development planning . This would entail synchronizing social and economic policies with ideas of protection, as well as promotion . At the same time, social protection should not be seen as a replacement or alternative for development investments, including investments in education and health infrastructure . In the final analysis, social protection should supplement standard development efforts by the state . However, to achieve meaningful impact and sustainability, social protection should become a permanent feature of development budgeting and planning . Regards, Upendranadh Choragudi, Asia Coordinator Just and Democratic Governance ActionAid International Bangkok, Thailand

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Julia Kercher, Shivani Nayyar and Claudia Vinay, Poverty Practice, UNDP Bureau of Development Policy
Dear All: We would like to share some thoughts on two aspects of the discussion so far . Social protection and other development policies In terms of the relationship between social protection and development, it may be useful to see social protection as a means to achieve the objectives of social and other development policies more broadly, especially by making basic goods and services accessible to everyone . If the ultimate objective of social policies is to realize peoples social rights, social policies need to ensure that services are available, accessible and of adequate quality (these are the three dimensions that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has defined as the core content of economic, social and cultural rights agreed upon by 160 countries; see, for example, General Comment No .14 on the Right to Health) .111 Social protection can then be seen as a means to achieve specifically one of those objectives, namely the accessibility of basic goods and services .

Social protection could thus be understood as a set of nationally owned policies and instruments that support access to basic goods and services by all households and individuals in situations of vulnerability . In some cases, vulnerability may be short term and social protection aims to ensure access while also preventing setbacks in long-term human development . In other cases, vulnerability can be chronic and social protection can build resilience in
111 Available on the Official Document Systems of the United Nations (ODS) available at http:// daccess-ods .un .org/access .nsf/Get?Open&DS=E/C .12/2000/4&Lang=E

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order to prevent it from being passed on to the next generation . Lastly, vulnerability may be long-term, for instance for the elderly or persons with disabilities, and social protection can ensure access to social services more continuously for those groups .112 In short, since there will always be people who cannot enter the labour market due to illness or disability, or who cannot go to school due to lack of resources or the involved opportunity cost, there will always be a need for social protection to ensure the effectiveness of other development policies . This also means that social protection policies should not exist on their own but should be part of a broader system of development policies . In our view, it would therefore be advantageous to consider these two policy areas as complementary rather than substitutes . This links to a very important point, which has been mentioned by other contributors: social protection should be conceived as a coherent set of services and interventions with proper linkages to other policies in the same sector and across policy areas . While the primary objective of social protection may be to ensure the accessibility of social services and other development interventions (see above), social protection may at the same time also facilitate the availability and quality of broader social services . For example, conditional cash transfer programmes can encourage complementary government action to ensure the availability of health and education services . This is a way to operationalize the complementarity between social protection and broader development and it is also a way to work towards universality in coverage . It also helps in avoiding duplication of objectives and coverage in certain populations and vulnerabilities while underserving others . A coherent system can have targeted interventions for the poorest that can enable this group of people to access other programmes and schemes of more general coverage . For example within Chile Solidario, a social protection programme in Chile, poor households are informed of other existing programmes that address different issues and are supported by social workers in accessing these benefits . The intentional links that other successful programmes have made to broader development objectives and policies have contributed to realizing the full potential of both these programmes and development objectives . Public works programmes, for example, can enable the development of community assets and preservation of natural resources . Financial trade-offs and progressive realization This well-integrated system has to be constructed at a speed and scale in accordance to the needs of each country, and accompanied by concerted development of financial, administrative and technical capacities . Through its countercyclical nature, social protection expenditure provides a cushion against risk and shocks in individual incomes and aggregate demand . On the other hand, it also means it has to be activated when public revenues are under pressure .
112 For a similar distinction, see Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, A64/279 .

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Rattharin.INT

Whether a particular social protection intervention can or should be financed in the first place requires an assessment of its benefits and costs, relative to other options arriving at similar objectives . Once the benefits and costs have been carefully studied, fiscal space for social protection programmes needs to be created in ways that are sustainable . In practice, this would mean a combination of mobilizing additional resources (through taxes, grant financing or borrowing), reallocating expenditures across sectors (particularly freeing up resources being used inefficiently), and building up reserves in good financial times for social protection in bad times . However, the potential for reaching satisfactory levels of expenditure on social protection and thus to achieve universal coverage within public budgets may inherently be limited in low-income countries . HagenZancker and McCord examine the issue of financial capacity by comparing the totality of five African countries recommended expenditure levels per internationally agreed targets in six key sectorssocial protection, health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, and water and sanitationto actual government expenditures .113 They find that in all but one case, the current size of the budget does not allow all of these
113 Jessica Hagen-Zanker and Anna McCord, "The Affordability of Social Protection in the Light of International Spending Commitments" (ODI Background Paper, March 2011) . Available at http://www .odi .org .uk/resources/details .asp?id=5704&title=affordability-social-protectionlight-international-spending-commitments

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targeted expenditure levels to be met at the same time, even if individual sector targets remain affordable, indicating the need for considering tradeoffs and political compromises but also the limitations of financing through reallocation . This is where the human rights concept of progressive realization becomes relevant; it constitutes a recognition of the fact that full realization of all economic, social and cultural rights will generally not be able to be achieved in a short period of time . An assessment of national priorities, capacities and scale needs to be undertaken to make decisions about what programmes to implement first and to build a base from which to continue constructing a comprehensive social protection system . For example, in relation to the question regarding the inclusiveness of social protection, and in particular the debate between targeted and universal approaches, while universal coverage is desirable, reaching it might require different approaches given each countrys vulnerabilities and needs . In this sense, one could be thinking in terms of a menu of programmes and mechanisms that respond to vulnerabilities faced by individuals and households at different stages of the life cycle and under different circumstances . This menu could include targeted interventions, when they make sense, while others are broader; the combination of these can amount to universal coverage . The concept of progressive realization allows for this as long as concrete steps are taken and progress is monitored and ensured to leads to increased equality rather than reinforcing discrimination . Targeting can therefore be a valid policy decision as long as certain qualifying principles are considered (see report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, A64/279)114: eligibility criteria need to be fair, reasonable, objective and transparent, and mechanisms for redress in case of errors are necessary . To this end, social protection systems, especially targeted ones, need to be designed and implemented with the involvement of those who are supposed to benefit from them . Lack of information may lead to unfair exclusion and lack of transparency and accountability may easily expose social protection systems to corruption and manipulation, all of which increase the risk of neutralizing the benefits of targeting . With regard to discrimination, it is important to ensure that targeted schemes do not lead to the stigmatization of beneficiaries . With regards to gender, social protection policies and programmes that address vulnerabilities and risks related to the formal sector can exclude women and girls who are usually overrepresented in the informal sector . On the other hand, schemes that explicitly target or involve women may not automatically lead to transformative change in the lives of women, or more generally, to gender equality . For example, some programmes (such as conditional cash transfers or social pensions for elderly women taking care of children) target women, but only in their role as
114 Available on the Official Document Systems of the United Nations (ODS) available at http:// daccess-ods .un .org/access .nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/64/279&Lang=E

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mothers or care-takers . This may reinforce womens traditional roles or overburden their already scarce time in complying with the requirements of the programme . There may well be benefits to these interventions; but from a gender empowerment perspective, it will be necessary to analyse and address power dynamics that may affect the impact of such programmes . Best Regards, Julia Kercher, Policy Specialist, Human Rights; Shivani Nayyar, Economics Consultant; and Claudia Vinay, Policy Specialist, Social Protection Poverty Practice UNDP Bureau of Development Policy New York, United States

Rui Gomes, UNDP Timor-Leste

Dear All: Social protection predates the European welfare state .115Under the Roman Emperor Trajan, the state provided free grain to poor citizens of the empire . Public funds were also instituted to support poor children . This form of social protection was believed to be a means to maintain a certain living standard and address transient poverty . Social protection can be clustered under four main models . First, the Nordic model, which is rooted in the principle of citizenship, provides the social insurance with little or no conditionality . Unemployment is suppressed through rapid inclusion of the unemployed into the labour market . Second, the Continental model, rooted in the principle of security, provides pensions and invalidity subsidies . Here active labour market policies seem to be less important than in the Nordic model . Third, the Anglo-Saxon model, which is rooted in the principle of ones productivity, provides social assistance and subsidies to a greater extent to the working population, and pensions to a lesser extent . Hence, active labour market policies are of extreme importance . Fourth, the Mediterranean model is strongly based on pensions and to a lesser degree on social assistance . As to the labour market policies, legislation on employment protection is rigid and there is frequent resort to early retirement as a means to improve employment conditions .

115 Within the welfare state thinking, the state is responsible to provide welfare services to citizens because they form the core of peoples rights that need to be fulfilled . Welfare services can then be provided by corporations, government, individual or charity .

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Today developing nations have also used social protection as a powerful policy tool to address issues of persistent poverty and inequalities, and also to target certain structural causes of vulnerability . What is Social Protection and why is it necessary? Social protection is a system with aimed to maintaining peoples welfare without guaranteeing anything . It is not a panacea for welfare . It is meant to compensate for the absence of income or loss of income due to certain circumstances, such as illness, maternity, work-related accidents, physical and mental incapacity, aging, death and unemployment . There are four reasons for setting up a social protection system . First, it is a basic human right (see Articles 22 and 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) . Second, it helps reduce hardships among families . Third, it generates economic activity by introducing money into the local economy, which in turn increases (internal) demands . Fourth, poverty among children affects their health status, reducing and impairing their productivity when they become adults . Most of the social protection schemes in the Asia-Pacific region follow this line of thinking per the International Labour Organizations (ILO) 102nd Convention . Types of Social Protection In general, there are three types of social protection interventions: labour market policies and scheme, social insurance schemes, and social assistance initiatives . Labour Market Interventions: Labour market policies can potentially provide protection for those poor and vulnerable that are capable of gaining employment . Passive policies may alleviate financial burdens of unemployed people but may not necessarily improve their employability . Examples of these include unemployment insurance, income support and changes in labour legislation . Active policies seek to help people get absorbed by the labour market in order to help them overcome hardships resulting from unemployment or sudden loss of income . The main difficulty in implementing active labour market interventions has to do with extending coverage to include the informal economy, which is often a significant portion of the workforce in developing countries . Social Insurance: Social insurance schemes are contributory programmes that protect beneficiaries from catastrophic expenses in exchange for regular payments of premiums . Health costs can be very high, so health insurance schemes are a popular way of reducing risk in the event of external shocks . However, an individual with low income may not be able to afford insurance . Community-based health insurance allows pooling in settings where institutional capacity is too weak to organize nationwide risk-pooling, especially in low-income countries, making insurance more affordable . In

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risk-sharing schemes, the insurance premium is unrelated to the likelihood that the beneficiary will fall ill and benefits are provided on the basis of need . Social Assistance: Social assistance schemes comprise programmes designed to help the most vulnerable individuals, households, and communities (i .e . those with no other means of support, such as single parent households, victims of natural disasters or civil conflict, handicapped people, or the destitute poor) to live a decent life . Social assistance is fundamentally a redistribution mechanism of income (funded through taxation or national revenues) . Social assistance interventions may include provision of welfare and social services to groups of people with physical or mental disability, orphans, or substance abusers; cash or in-kind transfers (e .g . food stamps and family allowances); and temporary subsidies (e .g . life-line tariffs, housing subsidies, or support of lower prices of staple food) in times of crisis . Informed policy and decision makers will have to carefully consider whether there is political support for such social protection schemes, administrative capacity of the government to implement them, and commitment to ensure financial sustainability so that schemes are effective and efficient . Regards, Rui Gomes, Programme Specialist UNDP Timor-Leste

Roula Koudsi, UNDP Syria

Dear All: Id like to discuss the poverty situation in Syria and also briefly go over what the government intends to do in the near future vis--vis social protection . While development is improving peoples lives by increasing their choices and opportunities, social protection starts by providing basic needs to the ultra-poor and moves towards ensuring sustainable human development . The ultra-poor who live below the lower poverty line, and cannot cover their basic food and non-food needs, cannot be targeted with development programmes before securing their basic needs . This group of the population may be classified in two categories: (a) the vulnerable ultra-poor not able to work, and (b) the ultra-poor able to work if they are offered suitable assistance .

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Poor that fall under this first category need to be targeted through a proper mechanism that provides subsidies and cash assistance to help them secure their basic needs . This mechanism may take the form of cash transfers through a national social welfare fund . Statistics and surveys that estimate poverty can help identify such groups . In addition to this, the State needs to ensure the provision of basic services such as drinking water, health-care, sanitation, roads and schools . The second category of persons can be targeted by development programmes combined with better provision of basic services . Those programmes can be planned through an integrated community development approach, which ensures sustainability and real change in poverty . These concepts help to frame the poverty situation in Syria . The recent UNDP poverty study116 provides detailed information about poverty in Syria, including its geographical distribution . In 2004, about 2 .2 million people (11 .4 percent of the population) lived under the lower poverty line, meaning they could not satisfy their basic food and non-food needs . However, this statistic masks the following important details: 1 . Poverty appears to be more of a rural phenomenon than an urban one, with poverty incidence in rural areas 1 .55 to 1 .96 times higher than in urban areas . Poverty is strongly concentrated in one region of the country, the NorthEast, which hosts less than 45 percent of the population but 58 percent of the poor . In addition, this region exhibits the highest level of inequality . The middle and coastal regions also have significant concentrations of poverty . Finally, the southern urban region is relatively more affluent; yet, even within this region, there are pockets of poverty developing in unauthorized settlements around cities, such as Damascus . While overall poverty decreased in Syria between 1997 and 2004, the rural southern and urban coastal parts benefited from the most positive pattern in term of poverty reduction; there was an increase in per capita expenditures combined with an improved income distribution . All urban regions, except the coastal ones, experienced an intermediate pattern, with the positive impact of per capita expenditures increase being hampered by a worsening income distribution . Finally, the rural Northeastern region displayed the worst pattern: poverty level increased as expenditure per capita decreased, and income distribution worsened .

2 .

3 .

116 Heba El Laithy and Khalid Abu-Ismail,Poverty in Syria: 1996 2004: Diagnosis and Pro-Poor Policy Consideration (UNDP, April 2005) .

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123RF

Main characteristics of the poor Education: There is a very high correlation between education and poverty in Syria . The great majority of the poor (81 percent) have only a primary level of education or no education at all . Eighteen percent of the poor are illiterate, and poverty is the most severe within this group . Health, including reproductive health: The Household Income and Expenditure Survey, 2003-2004 reveals that only three quarters of the rural population are within 5 kilometres (km) to health units and hospitals . Maternal mortality ratio has significantly dropped from 134 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 57 .4 in 2004; however, wide disparities exist, from 34 .3 in Damascus to 81 in Al-Raqqa governorate in the eastern region . In rural areas, 50 .8 percentof the birth deliveries were at home, out of which only 30 .9 percent were supervised by a traditional birth attendant .

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Employment, unemployment and underemployment: In general, the participation rate of the poor is relatively inferior to the non-poor, particularly in urban areas (the ratio reaches 37 .5 percent and 39 .5 percent for rural and urban areas, respectively) . When they work, the poor are more often engaged in irregular or seasonal activities . The number of persons among the poor holding more permanent or secure employment is significantly lower in comparison to the non-poor: the difference is 15 percentage points for urban areas, and 12 percentage points for rural areas . Economic sector and employment status: At the national and regional levels, poverty is highest among workers in the informal private sector and lowest among public sector employees . Sector-wise, the poor are over-represented at the national level in agriculture and construction, and to some extent in the manufacturing industries; all these sectors pay relatively low wages . About 38 .3 percent of poor are engaged in agriculture; poverty incidence is highest in this sector . Poverty and household size: Even if larger families can benefit from economies of scale, their resources per capita are lower in absolute terms . Fifty-three percent of the poor live in households with more than three children, and 44 percent of families comprise seven to nine persons . The fertility rate remains high, but has declined from 5 .1 during 1991-1995 to 3 .6 in 2004 . Social Protection and other measures in Syria Subsidies still constitute one of the main pillars of the Syrian social protection system . On an annual basis, $3 .8 billion (14 percent of GDP in 2005) are devoted to maintain the price of energy (oil, petroleum derivate products, gas and electricity) and basic food products . To increase the welfare impact, the Government is considering their removal in favour of cash and in-kind transfers (similar to Iran) . While different scenarios for lifting subsidies are still under discussion, the idea of establishing a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is well accepted . The tenth fiveyear plan call for establishing an SWF that aims to lower the poverty incidence by one-forth (i .e . by 2 .85 percent points) . The SWF is likely to be used as an emergency fund targeting the ultra-poor, especially those that are unable to work (aged, disabled, orphans, widowed and divorced females head of households) . The five-year plan also mentions establishing the Development Wakf Fund .

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In the category of risk mitigation, the most important instrument at the disposal of the Ministry of Social Affairs is the Social Insurance Establishment, responsible for three distinct funds: a pension, a work accident insurance and a death insurance fund . Despite it being offered to workers in both the public and private sectors, only 27 .7 percent of the employees benefited from social security and pension funds in 2004 due to various administrative bottlenecks . Poverty alleviation is considered to be the top priority of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2006 2010) . Chapter six of the Plan, entitled Inter-Sectoral Common Issues, adopts the following five objectives: 1 . 2 . 3 . Link the macroeconomic policies to poverty reduction and social cost; Expand investment in human development sectors and increase opportunities of the poor to access the social and financial resources; Expand economic opportunities of the poor and the underdeveloped regions through targeting programmes and projects, paying special attention to the North-Eastern region; Increase the coverage and accessibility of the poor to social protection programmes by expanding their inclusion process and setting up suitable social safety nets; and Increase the capacity and empowerment of the poor and enhance their community organizations . Beyond this, the plan also mentions increasing the coverage of the poor with social protection programmes and through expansion of social safety nets (in relation to Objective 4) . Also, adoption of a direct cash subsidy or transfer system that targets the vulnerable ultra-poor (after revising the present subsidy policy) and implements emergency programmes is to become the core of a forthcoming social security system . Specifically, they intend to target those that are unable to work (due to chronic illness, disability and old age or due to social reasons such as widowhood or divorce), under-age children, orphans and disabled .117

4 .

5 . 6 .

Regards, Roula Koudsi, Programme Officer Social Development Team UNDP Syria

117 10th 5 Year Plan, Arabic version, pp 167, 170 and 223 .

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Henry Jackelen and Subathirai Sivakumaran, Private Sector Division, UNDP Partnership Bureau
Dear All: We would like to discuss emergency cash transfers . Regarding what constitutes social protection and how can (or should) it be distinguished from general development efforts, we propose the following . Social protection cash transfers have had a long and varied history . The issue of relief payments in the realm of emergencies and how these can be linked to longer-term social protection programmes is an interesting issue for us . While sustainability of social protection is the ideal goal to reach, the reality of many social protection programmes is that they are contingent on funding, political will and a number of other supply-side, as well as demand-side, issues . In this way, they are not very different from significantly long-term (more than a year) emergency cash transfer programmes whose objectives are similar (in reducing vulnerability for the poorest, ensuring access to basic human rights and in smoothing consumption) . Yet, both governments and donors insist on treating these two areas differently: in terms of funding, programme design, implementation and monitoring . The examples of Haiti and Pakistan, recurring emergencies in the Horn of Africa, and chronic conflicts in other parts of the world suggest that these shocks are not isolated to the same populations . In that context, understanding the purpose of cash transfer programmes is important . The purpose of most programmes is to ensure basic food security, though more experimentation is being done now to ensure tenure security, education access and wealth accumulation . Government agencies work with relief agencies to ensure logistical access and cooperation; but little coordination is achieved (in the later stages of the emergency; not even the initial stages) between welfare ministries and relief departments, let alone finance departments . We do not propose to add an intensive administrative burden during the already overstretched times of an emergency; however, pre-emptive framework planning, especially in countries that are prone to repeated disasters or prolonged conflict, can help to integrate relief agencies and government ministries into the specific area of cash transfers, in order to achieve sustainability and bridge the gap between relief and early recovery . UNDP has recently conducted research on this topic in the area of Haiti where UNDP is leading 12 NGOs in the Early Recovery cluster . A draft report entitled Lessons Learned from Cash Transfers in Haiti examines the lessons learned in disbursing cash transfers as part of humanitarian protection and specifically looks at private sector involvement in emergency cash transfers . This report will

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serve as a basis for continuing programming in Haiti by the community in 2012 . In addition, the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Istanbul in May 2011 featured the launch of a joint Bureau on Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR)-Partnerships Bureau (PB) publication, From Emergency to Recovery: Partnering with Financial Service Providers in Emergency Cash Transfers, which examined many of these issues from a global perspective . Both the primer and a draft of the first part of the report can be obtained by contacting owen .shumba@undp .org or Sahba .sobhani@undp .org . Government-to-persons payment and the potential of payment mechanisms in introducing financial inclusion . On a separate note, there has been significant research and exciting innovations in leveraging traditional social protection cash transfer programmes to also include financial inclusion for the poor (through access to accounts and access to saving methods; whether it is through formal bank accounts, electronic debit cards, mobile accounts or other forms) . Such payment methods are already revolutionizing much of the world of traditional banking; and by employing them in social protection cash transfers, the potential to include vast numbers of the poor into the formal economy is huge . Of course, concomitant advances need to be made in the areas of agent banking, furthering low cost transactional methods, and identity and fraud protection; but these advances are already being made, and should be exploited to their full potential in the developing markets of the poor . In order to achieve the fullest impact from both social protection and development programmes, traditional silo approaches should no longer be employed; rather, an emphasis should be placed on leveraging multiple existing programmes and policies in an era of diminishing fiscal ability . We would also note that cash transfers, regardless of underlying purpose, can prove to be high risk and poor policy options if the interface between recipient and provider is not carefully designed . Unintended consequences of civil servants distributing physical cash include fostering dependency and opportunities for corruption . For these reasons we would argue that as much effort as possible be given to at least providing the stipend via a pre-paid/debit/ ATM card . While this does not resolve all the issues raised, it does allow for transparency and recipient privacy . In this area UNDP has also established partnerships with the New America Foundation, Ford Foundation and Citi Foundation, which launched an inaugural Savings and Conditional Cash Transfers Colloquium last year in November 2010 . The colloquium seeks to investigate the particular strand of how conditional cash transfers can lead to savings, focusing on how recipients can be incentivized to accumulate wealth .

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The report from the colloquium was jointly published recently, as Savings Linked Conditional Cash Transfers: Lessons, Challenges and Directions118 . In tandem with this partnership and conference, UNDP, together with New America Foundation119, also published an advocacy white paper, called a Third Way for Official Development Assistance: Savings and Conditional Cash Transfers . With an accompanying op-ed in Slate120 and a launch webcast and e-discussion121, this publication calls for donors to be bolder in directing resources to this area . Regards, Henry Jackelen, Director; and Subathirai Sivakumaran, Lead Research Consultant Private Sector Division UNDP Partnership Bureau New York, United States

Anuradha Rajivan and Ryce Chanchai, Inclusive Growth and Poverty Reduction, UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre
Dear Colleagues: We recently organized the UNDP Regional Meeting on the MDG Acceleration Policies, Strategies and Good Practices: Towards Inclusive and Sustainable Development and had a fruitful brainstorming session with government representatives and colleagues from UNDP country offices on social protection for accelerating and sustaining the achievement of the MDGs . Drawing on realities on the ground, we would like to share some of our reflections below: Social protection is interlinked with general development efforts: Social protection cannot work independent of general development efforts for more sustainable and inclusive development outcomes . Social protection
118 New America Foundation, Savings Linked Conditional Cash Transfers: Lessons, Challenges and Directions (Report from a Global Colloquium, May 2011) . Available at http://gap .newamerica . net/sites/newamerica .net/files/program_pages/attachments/SLCCTColloquiumReport .pdf 119 UNDP and New America Foundation, A Third Way for ODA: Savings and Conditional Cash Transfers to the Poor (March 2011) . Available at http://www .growinginclusivemarkets .org/ media/publications/AThirdWayForODA_Final .pdf 120 See Henry Jackelen and Jamie Zimmerman, Money to People, Slate, February 25, 2011 . Available at http://www .slate .com/articles/technology/future_tense/2011/02/money_to_the_ people .html 121 New American Foundation, Can Technology Save Foreign Aid, Youtube . Available at http:// www .slate .com/articles/technology/future_tense/2011/02/money_to_the_people .html

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interventions alone cannot addresses underlying long-term structural issues, such as inequitable and exclusionary development patterns, which are highly prevalent in the Asia-Pacific context . Such challenges can keep the poor and marginalized vulnerable for a very long time, even with social protection floors in place . Without explicit linkages to broader social and economic development policies, social protection instruments cannot provide a comprehensive response to these structural issues, despite being well designed, well funded and well targeted . Addressing the supply side is just as important as responding to demand: In the push for largely need-based interventions, sufficient attention has not been paid to the supply-side issues and constraints, especially the provision of basic social services (e .g . health and education) to meet the demand . Sometimes, overcoming the supply side issues becomes the main purpose of a social protection scheme; but, the basic supply needs to be part of broader development . Bringing it under social protection may not be fiscally sustainable . Caution about cash: While cash transfers (conditional or unconditional) could provide a good option, they may not work in many specific situations in the Asia-Pacific, where basic social services are inadequate . Provision of cash may be an easy way out for governments, but cannot address the issues of accessibility, affordability, acceptability and availability . There are no substitutes for supply . Sustaining social protection: Fiscal sustainability requires close attention . There are lessons from the recent fiscal turmoil in many developed countries . And it is not just the cost and financing of social protection . The better the provision, quality and coverage of regular basic social services, the less there is a need for social protection interventions (less pressure on fiscal space for additional protection measures) . Disadvantage is dynamic: The concept of graduation out of eligibility needs to be considered as conditions and options of targeted beneficiaries improve . This will minimize elite capture and allow next batches of the vulnerable and disadvantaged to enter into the social protection programmes . Money matters; monitoring budget share: Everything good is not social protection, even though there is a trend to include a wide range of development measures under social protection . Without this clarity, calculating percent share of budgetary expenditure on social protection may produce questionable or non-comparable results . A better understanding of what social protection is in a particular context can help in ring-fencing budgets, building political agreement on minimum standards, and monitoring coverage and financing . What indicators could be used in tracking progress under social protection? Should monitoring of social protection go hand-inhand with monitoring social services, since better provisioning of the latter

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can reduce the need for special schemes? To be clear about what constitutes social protection, can we establish what it is not? It may be useful to see social protection as means, one among others, to achieve the objectives of development policies, with its focus being on making basic goods and services accessible to all, i .e . bringing down barriers to access. Barriers to access include economic obstacles (affordability), but also structural, transient or long-term barriers . If the ultimate objective of social policies is to realize basic human rights, they need to ensure that services are available, of acceptable quality, and accessible to all (in consistency with the core principle of economic, social and cultural rights) . This may be a meaningful and practical way of responding to all the points above . Best regards, Anuradha Rajivan, Practice Team Leader; and Ryce Chanchai, Programme Analyst Inclusive Growth and Poverty Reduction UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Bangkok, Thailand

Qimti Paienjton, UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office
Dear All: As has been noted by several of us already, the relationship between social protection and broader development is characterized by significant overlap . It has also been noted that one can promote the other (i .e . social protection can promote broader development objectives) and vice versa . Furthermore, the answer to what constitutes social protection? varies depending on whether one views social protection as a policy instrument or policy paradigm; while it can be both, considering it as one or the other when addressing the question is likely necessary in order to reach a meaningful conclusion . I share here a few thoughts that may be of relevance to the question and the discussion that has ensued . If viewed as a policy paradigm, social protection entails ensuring that everyone has access to essential social services (e .g . health and education) and minimum income security . This requires policy instruments and mechanisms that cater to the rights and needs of those who have been excluded or marginalized from broader development, as well as policy instruments and mechanisms to address specific risks and vulnerabilities that people may face at different stages in their life (age-specific vulnerabilities) and due to external shocks and circumstances (such as natural disasters, conflicts and economic crises) .

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In order to achieve effective social protection, action is needed at various levels and on different fronts . On the policy side, action is needed to ensure that availability and quality of essential social services are adequate in addition to the availability of social assistance, social insurance and other measures that help to improve accessibility of these services . Action is also needed in the form of legislation . Anti-discrimination laws can go a long way in addressing exclusion faced by various population subgroups (women, people living with HIV/AIDS, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, migrants, etc .) . All these actions contribute to the realization of effective social protection, whether we consider them as constituting social protection or not . Finally, as proponents of a human rights-based approach, we must be careful not to discredit ourselves by making inappropriate claims . There is no legal basis for the claim that social protection is a right . A right to social protection is not enshrined in either the Universal Declaration on Human Rights or in the Convention on the Rights of the Child . Social security is a right in itself . But social security does not equal social protection; it is narrower and therefore merely a component of social protection . That social protection is not a right per se does not make it any less important . Social protection, by addressing the needs of those whose rights are not met, is an extremely useful policy tool to ensure universal realization of basic rights . Best regards, Qimti Paienjton, Consultant Social Policy and Economic Analysis UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office Bangkok, Thailand

Katja Hujo, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
Dear All: Thank you very much for this interesting online debate on social protection in Asia and beyond . As other colleagues have already pointed out in this forum, social protection policies are increasingly perceived as very useful instruments to foster development and human well-being and to mitigate the negative impact of economic crisis, natural disasters and environmental change . On the other hand, there is an ongoing and sometimes contested debate on best practices, underlying principles and strategies, long-term and short-term goals, integration of social protection policies into broader policy frameworks, impact measurement, and sustainability of systems .

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I would like to respond to the main question of this second part of the online debate on how we can distinguish social protection policies from general development policies of the State, and also provide some general thoughts on how to move the debate further . Social protection is an important part of development policy, but not every policy that promotes development with potentially beneficial effects for the broader population is a social protection policy . Definitions tend to be either very broad or very narrow, with the broad variants equalizing social protection with social policy and the narrow variants defining social protection as policies targeted at the vulnerable and poor . In the previous contribution to the e-Discussion, Barrientos has put forward a convincing distinction between approaches that are based on the experience of the more developed welfare states (what he labels the social policy / public finance approach) with the traditional classification of social insurance, social assistance and labour market policies, and development approaches that place greater emphasis on poverty reduction and aspects of promotion . Social protection, as the term implies, protects individuals and households against income loss due to lifecycle contingencies or market risks and also tackles permanently low incomes in the case of marginalized and excluded population groups . This happens usually in the form of cash transfers or in-kind assistance, such as food . Social protection defined as income transfers is therefore one pillar of social policy, with social services, such as education, health, care, water and sanitation, and housing, constituting the second main pillar . Based partly on findings emerging from UNRISD research on combating poverty and inequality122 and subsequent discussions on the report, the following issues invite further thinking: How can we design and implement social policy systems which are transformative,123 contributing more effectively to economic production, redistribution, social reproduction, protection, democratization and equality? How can we move towards universal systems that create the kind of interlinkages between social classes, generations, gender, ethnic and regional groups that are conducive to greater social cohesion and sustainability of policies? How can we link contributory and non-contributory programmes in order to avoid adverse incentives and to contribute to both, increased formalization

122 UNRISD, Combating Poverty and Inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy and Politics (Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 2010) . 123 UNRISD, Transformative Social Policy: Lessons from UNRISD Research (Geneva: Research and Policy Brief No . 5, 2006) .

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of the economy and extension of social rights for those that have been excluded in the past? How can we move beyond fragmented projects and programmes that stabilize minimum living standards and achieve the meaningful participation of the poor in processes of growth (social mobility)? How can we understand what drives reforms and how progressive social change evolves in different country contexts? How can we design rights-based social policies that effectively empower citizens (and other residents such as migrants) and foster broad-based participation? How can we fund social policies in a sustainable way, making sure that financing policies are equitable and contributing to redistributive goals? How can we integrate social policies and social objectives into national development strategies and macroeconomic frameworks in order to produce positive synergies between social and economic goals?

Regards, Katja Hujo, Research Coordinator United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Palais des Nations Geneva, Switzerland

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BIGSTOCK

Conclusion
Over 45 responses from Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Europe and CIS, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Arab States were received during the course of the e-discussion, Ensuring Inclusion: An e-Discussion on Social Protection . This diversity of contributions made the discussion truly global in nature and provided a platform for sharing and exchanging knowledge across all regions . The contributions were rich and broadened our understanding of social protection in terms of policies and programmes. The lessons and experiences that emerged from the e-discussions were shared with 18 UNDP country offices as well as other UN agency staff at a recent Community of Practice meeting held in October 2011 by the Inclusive Growth and Poverty Reduction Team in Bangkok . The cross-regional experiences shared through the discussion also enriched our regional UN Development Group (UNDG) meeting on social protection . In addition to advancing understanding and fostering an exchange of experiences, the e-discussion was invaluable in enriching the debate on the practical implications of social protection . It also created opportunities for collaboration among UNDP staff at the global, regional and country levels; development practitioners from different UN agencies; civil society, academics and experts . These partnerships will hopefully spur the necessary actions in promoting effective social protection initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region . The e-discussion responses are available on the UNDP Teamworks at https:// undp .unteamworks .org/node/124146 .

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UNDP is the UNs global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life . We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges . As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners .

December 2011 Copyright @ United Nations Development Programme All rights reserved . This publication or parts of it may not be reproduced, stored by any system or transmitted, in any form or medium, whether electronic or mechanical, photocopied, recorded or of any other type, without the prior permission of the United Nations Development Programme . The views and recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of UNDP, the United Nations or its Member States . The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on maps do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations . Sole responsibility is taken for errors of omission or commission . Front cover photos (clockwise): BIGSTOCK, Leonardo Sexcion UNDP, Ari Vitikainen/UNDP, iStock Edited and designed by Ins Communication Printed by Advanced Printing Service Co .,Ltd

Empowered lives. Resilient nations.

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