Cash transfers have proliferated in the past decade as key policy instruments to tackle vulnerability and inequality. Payment mechanisms (PMs), the backbone of cash transfers, are the channels through which cash travels from the funding source to the hands of beneficiaries. In theory, the...

This note reviews recent World Bank experience with projects using results-based lending in Social Protection and Labor (SP&L) in preparation for stepped-up engagement under the proposed Program-for-Results (P4R). The P4R is expected to be launched in 2012. Given the already strong use of...

This paper looks at the experiences of various Asian countries in expanding the coverage of the pension system to informal sector workers. The paper argues that given aging and growing informality, a rapid forward-looking response from governments in the region is necessary to provide protection...

The review's objective is to assess the evolution of the social funds portfolio, with a specific focus on the fiscal years 2000 to 2007, and the portfolio's role in the implementation of the Social Protection Sector Strategy (SPSS). Lending trends, the evolution of the social funds model, and...

The WorldBank's conceptual framework to assess pension systems and reform options evaluates initial conditions and the capacity to improve the enabling environment, and then focuses on how best to work within these to achieve the core objectives of pension systems - protection against the risk...

This paper presents an overview of the World Bank's lending and knowledge building activities that have improved pension systems in client countries during the past two decades. The objectives of this report are: i) to describe the policy framework that has guided the Bank's work on pension...

Across the world, pension systems and their reforms are in a constant state of flux driven by shifting objectives, moving reform needs, and a changing enabling environment. The ongoing worldwide financial crisis and the adjustment to an uncertain'new normal'will make future pension systems...

Pension and social insurance programs that prevent a substantial loss in consumption resulting from old age, disability, or death are an integral part of any social protection system. The dual objectives of such programs are to allow for the prevention of a sharp decline in income when these...

The main goal of this paper is to draw lessons from the past to better understand the role and potential of social protection in response to crisis, and support the definition of the World Bank social protection and labor strategy 2012-2022. This paper uses selected crises (1990-present), their...

Developing countries have responded to the multiple shocks from the food, fuel and finance crises of 2008-2009 with a mix of responses aimed at both mitigating the immediate impacts of the crises on households (and particularly children), and protecting future investments in human capital. While...