This study brief on "Social Assistance Programs and Household Welfare in Eswatini" examines the performance of Eswatini's main social assistance programs. These programs employ varying combinations of categorical and self-targeting to reach the poor and vulnerable

Belarus has a large and extensive social protection system (SP) covering a significant share of the population. Belarus has adopted a single methodology for calculating income to target Public Targeted Social Assistance (GASP). This methodology also is used when testing an applicant's...

Argentina approaches its bicentennial as an independent republic and has a window of opportunity in social protection policy. Following the most serious economic crisis in its history during 2001-02, the country mobilized an effort to provide income support to the population in need. Now, as...

"Since the early 1990s, several states in India have introduced financial incentive programs to discourage son preference among parents and encourage investment in daughters' education and health. This study evaluates one such program in the state of Haryana, Apni Beti Apna Dhan (Our Daughter,...

"A variety of theories of skill formation suggest that investments in schooling and other dimensions of human capital will have lower returns if children do not have adequate levels of cognitive and social skills at an early age. This paper analyzes the impact of a randomized cash transfer...

"A growing number of developing countries have introduced conditional cash transfer programs that provide money to poor families with certain contingencies attached - such as requiring school attendance or regular immunization and health check-ups. As the popularity of conditional cash transfer...

"The authors test whether poor households use cash transfers to invest in income generating activities that they otherwise would not have been able to do. Using data from a controlled randomized experiment, they find that transfers from the Oportunidades program to households in rural Mexico...

"Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs aim to alleviate poverty through monetary and in-kind benefits, as well as reduce future levels of poverty by encouraging investments in education, health, and nutrition. The success of CCT programs at reducing poverty depends on whether, and the extent...