The present report draws on experience from industrialized and developing countries in terms of capital market financing of domestic infrastructure projects, and discusses the applicaiblity of these lessons in the Chinese context. It also describes the strategies these economies have adopted to...

Although Togo has had limited social protection programs, the economic shock and natural disasters starting in 2008 brought the need for better mechanisms of social protection to the fore. The Government response has focused on measures to address the immediate needs of the affected populations,...

This assessment shows that Mozambique social protection system is developing. While programs to address most of the risks identified exist, there are still major gaps. Poor families with children are not adequately supported, there is no significant youth program, and subsistence farmers and...

This report lays the groundwork for a safety net system that can address the needs of the poor in Cameroon. Cameroon does not have a coordinated system of safety nets; rather, small, isolated interventions which together do not address the needs. Moreover, food and fuel price subsidies which...

Safety nets are on the rise in Africa, and beginning to evolve from scattered standalone programs into systems. Until recently, many African countries approached social protection on an ad-hoc basis. But when the global crisis threatened recent progress in poverty reduction, safety nets...

The report lays out options to use social safety nets to meet the goal set by the Government of Botswana to eradicate extreme poverty by 2016 and in a budget neutral way. Introducing a Family Support Grant is argued to be a more efficient way to address absolute poverty by offering a family...

Safety Nets are limited in Liberia and, although as a share of GDP, expenditures are higher than the regional average, the average benefit amount is equal to only 7-20 percent of the poverty line. The current system focuses on the country’s most vulnerable populations but that the system is...