Cover -- Title Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- CHAPTER 1 Introduction -- Introduction -- 1.1 How Do Safety Nets Contribute to Development Policy? -- 1.2 What Is a Good Safety Net? -- 1.3 What Is a Safety Net? -- 1.4 How Is This Book Organized? -- Chapter 2: The Case for Safety Nets -- Chapter 3: Financing of and Spending on Safety Nets -- Chapter 4: Enrolling the Client: Targeting, Eligibility, and Intake -- Chapter 5: Benefit Levels and Delivery Mechanisms -- Chapter 6: Using Monitoring and Evaluation to Improve Programs -- Chapter 7: Understanding Common Interventions -- Chapter 8: Assisting Traditionally Vulnerable Groups -- Chapter 9: Weaving the Safety Net -- Chapter 10: Customizing Safety Nets for Different Contexts -- CHAPTER 2 The Case for Safety Nets -- Key Messages -- Introduction -- 2.1 Why Should Countries Have Safety Nets? -- Safety Nets have an Immediate Impact on Reducing Inequality and Extreme Poverty -- Safety Nets Enable Households to Make Better Investments in Their Future -- Preventing Malnutrition -- Preventing Underinvestment in Education -- Investing in Productive Assets -- Safety Nets Help Households Manage Risks -- Reducing the Incidence of Negative Coping Strategies -- Managing Risks Ex Ante -- Safety Nets Help Governments Make Beneficial Reforms -- Replacing Inefficient Redistributive Elements in Other Programs -- Facilitating Changes in the Economy Aimed at Supporting Growth -- Fostering More Inclusive Growth -- Additional Empowerment Effects -- Safety Nets for Protection and Promotion -- 2.2 How Do Safety Nets Fit in Wider Development Policy? -- 2.3 What Are the Challenges to Safety Nets? -- Can Developing Countries Afford Safety Nets? -- High Cost of Inaction -- Trade-offs and Balances -- Safety Net Spending May Replace Other Less Effective Spending.

Redistribution to the Rich versus Redistribution to the Poor -- Bottom Line on Finding Budget for Safety Nets -- Concern Over Reducing Work Effort -- Developed Countries -- Developing Countries -- Measures to Foment Work Effort -- Crowding out Private Transfers -- Possible Effects on Fertility -- Doubts About Administrative Feasibility and Program Management -- Summary -- Notes -- CHAPTER 3 Financing of and Spending on Safety Nets -- Key Messages -- Introduction -- 3.1 The Theory on Expenditure Allocation -- 3.2 Sources of Financing for Safety Nets -- Reallocating Expenditures -- Increasing Taxes -- Obtaining Grant Financing -- Borrowing or Using Deficit Financing -- 3.3 In Search of Countercyclical Financing for Safety Nets -- 3.4 The Cost of the Welfare State in Developed Countries -- 3.5 Levels and Patterns of Safety Net Spending in Developing and Transition Countries -- 3.6 Delivering Safety Nets in a Decentralized World -- The Central Government as Principal Financier of Safety Nets -- Local Governments as Implementers of Safety Nets -- Principles and Mechanisms for Sharing Financial Support -- Allocation of Administrative Functions Between Central and Subnational Governments -- Economies of Scale -- Administrative Capacity -- Clarity and Consistency -- Management of Heterogeneity in Program Administration -- A Multifaceted Approach to Managing a Safety Net in a Decentralized Setting -- Notes -- CHAPTER 4 Enrolling the Client: Targeting, Eligibility, and Intake -- Key Messages -- Introduction -- 4.1 Basic Concepts of Targeting -- Possible Gains from Targeting -- Costs of Targeting -- Targeting Errors -- 4.2 Results of Targeting -- Errors of Inclusion -- Errors of Exclusion -- Administrative Costs -- Private Costs -- Incentive Costs -- Social Costs -- Political Costs -- 4.3 Targeting Options -- Means Tests -- Proxy Means Tests.

Community-Based Targeting -- Geographic Targeting -- Demographic Targeting -- Self-Targeting -- Guidance on Choice of Method -- 4.4 Implementation Matters for Targeting -- From the General Population to the Targeted Population -- Budgetary Implications -- Policy Coordination -- Administrative Feasibility and Accuracy -- Transparency and Political Feasibility -- From the Targeted Population to the Pool of Applicants -- Have a Sufficient Budget for Adequate Outreach and Intake -- Ensure Adequate Dissemination of Information about the Program -- Ensure Low Transaction Costs for Beneficiaries -- Have an Open Application Process -- From Applicants to Beneficiaries -- No Verification -- Applicants Provide Paper Documentation -- Program Intake Workers Make Home Visits -- A Third Party Verifies Welfare: The Community Option -- A Third Party Verifies Welfare: The Electronic Option -- From Beneficiaries to Former Beneficiaries -- Mechanisms for Handling Appeals and Grievances -- The Frontline Service Provider -- The Higher or Independent Level of Appeal -- Judicial Appeals -- Examples of Promising Practice -- Communications and Clerical Accuracy -- Community Committees to Validate Eligibility Decisions -- Community Agents -- Call Centers -- Community Appeals Committees -- Administrative Capacity to Support Targeting Systems -- Staffing -- Rules of the Game -- Information Systems and Technology -- Material Inputs -- Institutional Roles -- Monitoring and Oversight -- Time -- Policy Reform and Targeting Systems: An Illustration from Armenia -- Notes -- CHAPTER 5 Benefit Levels and Delivery Mechanisms -- Key Messages -- 5.1 Determining Benefit Levels in Theory and Practice -- Size of Transfers -- Other Elements of Benefit Formulas -- Deciding on Flat versus Variable Benefit Formulas -- Determining the Recipient of the Benefits -- Handling Inflation.

Benefit Levels in Practice -- 5.2 Managing Work Disincentives -- Evidence from Developed Countries -- Evidence from Developing Countries -- Options for Minimizing Labor Disincentives -- 5.3 Enhancing Safety Net Programs to Promote Household Independence -- Transfers with Requirements -- Labor Activation Programs -- Conditional Cash Transfers -- Nonconditional Links Between Transfer Programs and Other Programs and Services -- Documentation and Other Legal Services -- Other Social Assistance Programs -- Social Care Services -- Income Generation -- Options for Linking Transfer Programs to Other Programs and Services -- Operating in the Same Geographic Area -- Providing Information -- Locating Different Services in the Same Office -- Integrating Intake Procedures -- Having Social Workers Provide Ongoing Support -- 5.4 Managing Payments -- Principles and Goals -- Delivery Agencies and Delivery Instrument Options -- Distributing Agencies and Locations -- Banks, Traveling Banks, ATMs, and Branchless Banking -- Post Offices -- Retail Stores -- Public Agencies and Offices, Project Offices, and NGOs -- Payment Centers -- Delivery Instruments -- Cash -- Bank Transfers -- Checks and Vouchers -- Debit Cards, Smart Cards, and Cell Phones -- Selection of a Delivery Mechanism -- Taking Appropriate Context and Political Economy Considerations into Account -- Adapting to Local Conditions and Avoiding Unintended Effects -- Notes -- Annex: Generosity of Safety Net Programs of Last Resort in OECD Countries -- CHAPTER 6 Using Monitoring and Evaluation to Improve Programs -- Key Messages -- 6.1 The Value of Good Monitoring and Evaluation -- 6.2 Distinct, but Complementary, Tools -- 6.3 Development of an M&E System -- Understanding the Program's Objectives -- Developing The M&E Plan -- Collecting M&E Data -- Administrative Records.

Beneficiary Surveys and Citizen Report Cards -- Representative Household Surveys -- Impact Evaluation Surveys -- Qualitative Techniques -- Revisiting the Plan and the M&E System Over Time -- Matching the M&E System to Program Realities -- 6.4 Monitoring -- Determining what Information to Collect -- Define Indicators -- Input and Output Indicators -- Outcome Indicators -- Performance or Efficiency Indicators -- Track Indicators over Time -- Set Targets -- Making Monitoring Information Useful -- Helping Ensure the Success of a Monitoring System -- The M&E Unit Must Be Independent -- Coordination and Communication Are Essential, Particularly for Complex Programs -- Transparency Is Critical -- Expensive, High-Tech Systems Do Not Ensure Success -- A Good MIS Supports and Enhances the Monitoring System -- Scaling Up: A Sectorwide Monitoring System -- 6.5 Evaluation -- Process Evaluation -- Assessment of Targeting Accuracy -- Measuring Targeting Accuracy -- Looking at the Average Incidence of Benefits of a Safety Net Program -- Data Requirements -- Methodology -- Caveats -- Undertaking More Elaborated Forms of Targeting Assessment -- Accounting for the Behavioral Responses of Recipients -- Understanding Dynamic Targeting Assessment -- Simulating How Changes in a Program Would Affect Incidence -- Understanding the Value Added of a Targeting Assessment -- Impact Evaluation -- Establishing a Counterfactual -- Estimating Program Impact -- Implementing an Impact Evaluation -- Deciding When Impact Evaluations Should Be Conducted -- Notes -- Annex 6.1 Sample M&E Indicators for Typical Safety Net Interventions -- I. Cash transfers -- Input indicators -- Output indicators -- Beneficiaries -- Benefits and services -- Intermediate outcome indicators -- Access and satisfaction -- Outcome indicators -- Depending on program objective.

Process and efficiency indicators (to be compared to targets, past performance, or other measurement units).