This paper reviews the experience with public works programs (PWPs) in several countries over the past 20 years to delineate use patterns and to determine the factors contributing to its use as a successful safety net program. The analysis shows that PWP have been used extensively in response to...

High labor intensive (HIMO) public works programs have been very popular in recent years in Madagascar. They have been one of the most common safety net programs used in Madagascar to address poverty and vulnerability. The objectives of these programs are to provide income support to the poor...

This paper summarizes the state of the portfolio of World Bank lending activities and analytic work on social safety nets between FY2002-2007. It presents a description of the methodology used for compiling the inventories and analyses by region, type of intervention involved, sector board, and...

An effective public safety net can be important in a poor transition economy such as Vietnam. Yet we know very little about the performance of existing public transfers as a safety net. Using panel data, the paper investigates whether Vietnam's main social welfare transfers promoted poor people...