The Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS) has taken the decision to rollout in 2009 a national social cash transfer scheme (SCTS) to cover the whole country by 2012. Thus far, social cash transfer schemes are being piloted in five districts in Southern and Eastern...

GLOBAL CRISIS AND POVERTY PREVENTION Most recent statistics indicate that the global financial crisis will cause a fall in export earnings in Sierra Leone of approximately fifteen percent in 2009 compared to 2008. A regression-based model estimates that this decline in exports earnings could...

This country study investigates the history and eventual conclusion of Nicaragua?s conditional cash transfer programme, the Red de Protección Social (RPS). Specific features of the programme, in both its first and second phase, are described thoroughly to provide readers with an appropriate...

During 2005-2006, appreciation of the Kwacha, Zambia?s currency, had a significant negative impact on public income. This exchange-rate effect received little notice in the debate over macroeconomic policy. The appreciation reduced fiscal space largely because of binding IMF conditionalities on...

The newly independent Republic of Moldova joined the World Bank and the IMF in 1992. The World Bank designated it a ?middle-income? country, a status it retained for Bretton Woods lending until 1997. The middle-income designation implied that the government of Moldova was not eligible for...

For a large proportion of the South African population, social welfare grants are an important source of income. Since 2000, rapid increases in government expenditure on social security have further enhanced the contribution of welfare grants to the income of poor households and have thus been...

This Country Study is based on a full national report that is the first to draw a profile of poverty in Lebanon based on money-metric poverty measurements of household expenditures. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the characteristics of the poor and estimates the extent of...

In the context of the increasing prominence of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in the development agenda of many developing countries, this Country Study provides an analytic overview of the challenges faced by El Salvador?s CCT programme, Red Solidaria, (Solidarity Network). The purpose is to...

This country study evaluates the experience of the South African economy with respect to growth, poverty and inequality trends since the advent of democracy in 1994. The post-apartheid government took a definite turn toward greater spending on social security, while job creation and a narrowing...

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