The State of Economic Inclusion Report 2021 sheds light on one of the most intractable challenges faced by development policy makers and practitioners: transforming the economic lives of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Economic inclusion programs are a bundle of coordinated,...

This paper analyzes global evidence on the impact and costs of economic inclusion programs to transform the economic lives of households and communities living in extreme poverty. The analysis uses 107 quantitative and qualitative impact evaluations from 80 economic inclusion programs....

This paper analyzes global evidence on the impact and costs of economic inclusion programs to transform the economic lives of households and communities living in extreme poverty. The analysis uses 107 quantitative and qualitative impact evaluations from 80 economic inclusion programs....

This paper reports on a rapid assessment of Malawi’s integrated social registry, known as the Unified Beneficiary Registry (UBR). The timing of the assessment was ripe given the upcoming round of continued expansion of the UBR and a planned shift in registration targets (from 50 percent to 100...

Together with reductions in indirect taxes on food imports, cash for work programs were one of the main responses implemented by African governments following the food, fuel, and financial crisis of recent years. The main objective of those programs was to help the poor cope with the various...

This paper reviews a small community-based school feeding program launched in Togo in response to the 2007/08 food price crisis. The discussion focuses on the operational and policy lessons emerging from the program, to better understand opportunities for scale up and sustainability in the...

What has the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic been on poverty in Zambia, and how can social protection programs mitigate these effects? This paper estimates the pre-pandemic poverty level in Zambia and then simulates the distributional impact of COVID-19 in the country. The paper also estimates...

A rapidly urbanizing world presents enormous economic opportunities for the poor and vulnerable but also presents significant barriers to their economic inclusion. About two thirds of the world's population is expected to live in urban centers by 2050, with nearly 90 percent of this increase in...

A rapidly urbanizing world presents enormous economic opportunities for the poor and vulnerable but also presents significant barriers to their economic inclusion. About two thirds of the world's population is expected to live in urban centers by 2050, with nearly 90 percent of this increase in...