Reducing Poverty and Investing in People: The New Role of Safety Nets in Africa

By Victoria Monchuk

For the past two decades, Africa has experienced strong economic growth. However, high levels of chronic
poverty persist, with poor households exposed to frequent shocks and a widening gap between income
groups in terms of human capital outcomes and access to basic services.

By providing regular, reliable support to poor and vulnerable households and by helping individuals invest in
productive activities, targeted interventions such as safety nets have shown to help reduce poverty, reverse
the trend of increasing inequality, and build household resilience.

In the wake of the global economic crisis, an increasing number of policy makers in Africa have come to view
safety nets as core instruments for reducing poverty and managing risk. Momentum is growing toward
rationalizing public spending by better targeting measures to the poorest individuals.

Reducing Poverty and Investing in People: The New Role of Safety Nets in Africa assesses the objectives,
features, performance, and financing of safety nets in 22 Sub-Saharan African countries and identifies how
governments and donors can strengthen safety net systems to better support poor and vulnerable people.
Overall, the author finds that safety nets are on the rise in Africa and are beginning to evolve from
fragmented stand-alone programs into integrated systems. Social protection has started to change largely
from emergency food aid programs to regular, predictable safety nets including targeted cash transfers and
cash-for-work programs. Some African countries, including Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania, are working
toward consolidating their programs into a national system.

With the timely analysis of safety nets in Africa, the encouraging results from impact evaluations, and the
productive aspects of cash transfer programs in these countries, African decision makers are now prioritizing
safety nets on their development agendas as effective instruments to reduce poverty and vulnerability.

• Language: English
• Publisher: World Bank Publications
• Release date: Dec 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781464800948

Book preview

��fbook_preview_excerpt.html