The overall objective of the ER+ component is to assist ultra-poor women and their families in disaster-prone areas of Bangladesh… Read more in lifting themselves above the lower poverty line toward greater food security. To achieve the objective, a third “promotional” year has been introduced to ER, during which women—either ER laborers/trainees themselves or the wives, daughters, mothers, or sisters of male ER laborers/trainees—receive a substantive cash grant to invest in a productive asset or income-generating activity in combination with relevant business-related training, a one-year monthly cash allowance, and intensive follow-up support. The resulting model therefore combines the pre-existing “protective” elements (employment generation and community asset development) with “promotional” elements for a more viable pathway out of extreme poverty and toward food security Read less ...

This paper reviews in a systematic way the evidence on impact evaluations of active labour market programmes (ALMP), with a… Read more focus on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It thus serves as a background paper for a more comprehensive project that the ILO’s Research Department is undertaking to assess the usage of and experience with active labour market programmes in the region. The paper starts with a description of the main types and key mechanisms of ALMP. After summarizing the previous evidence on active programmes in general and for LAC, in particular, the empirical part first uses a sample of ALMP evaluations worldwide – compiled in Card, Kluve and Weber (2015) – to provide meta-analytical estimates of programme effectiveness. The second, novel part of the empirical analysis constructs an additional sample of impact evaluations from LAC and presents results from meta-regressions for this regional sample. Read less ...

This study seeks to identify synergies and complementarities between conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs) and productive projects (or rural development programs,… Read more RD), such as those promoted by IFAD, in order to better understand how households react to intervention by both programs simultaneously, compared to participation in only one program or none at all, in terms of key variables such as productive factors, poverty reduction, gender equality and financial inclusion. If these synergies are identified, rural development projects could be made more effective in terms of poverty reduction, and CCT programs would have better graduation strategies. Read less ...

In this study, authors specifically assess the synergetic effect between Ingreso Ético Familiar (IEF) and a limited set of productive… Read more development programs (PDP) executed by the Solidarity and Social Investment Fund (Fosis) in Chile, based on the assumption that the collective execution of these programs has a positive effect on the well-being of the beneficiary households. We also carried out an institutional level qualitative assessment of the constraints and opportunities in terms of moving forward towards greater articulation between them Read less ...

 This paper examines possible synergies between conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs) and rural development policies in Brazil. Policy synergies could exist… Read more for a variety of reasons. In environments where there are market failures for credit and insurance, CCTs could provide liquidity and reduce vulnerability to shocks, thereby contributing to the success of rural development interventions. CCTs might improve the nutrition and health of households, allowing them to work more productively and increase the independence and bargaining power of women, permitting them to participate more fully in community-based development projects. Synergies could also run in the opposite direction. Rural development policies that succeed in raising income could enhance the impacts of CCTs on the health and education of children. To the extent that synergies exist, government officials might seek to coordinate the design and delivery of these policies in order to take advantage of complementarities and increase program impacts. In this paper, we test for the existence of policy synergies and estimate their magnitude in rural Brazil. Read less ...

 This document sums up all the main results of the impact assessment for Oportunidades Rurales and its interaction with Familias en Acción.… Read more The analysis sheds light on the links between the social programs which, in theory, could generate a greater potential in the fight against poverty but that, in practice, fall short in their attempts because of design and targeting problems. Read less ...

Productive inclusion programs provide an integrated package of services, such as grants and training, to promote self-employment and wage employment… Read more among the poor. They show promising long-term impacts, and are often proposed as a way to graduate the poor out of social assistance. Nevertheless, neither productive inclusion nor social assistance will be able to solve the broader poverty challenge independently. Rather, the future is in integrating productive inclusion into the existing social assistance system, though this poses several design, coordination, and implementation challenges. Read less ...

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016 is the first of an annual flagship report that will inform a global audience comprising… Read more development practitioners, policy makers, researchers, advocates, and citizens in general with the latest and most accurate estimates on trends in global poverty and shared prosperity. This edition will also document trends in inequality and identify recent country experiences that have been successful in reducing inequalities, provide key lessons from those experiences, and synthesize the rigorous evidence on public policies that can shift inequality in a way that bolsters poverty reduction and shared prosperity in a sustainable manner. Specifically, the report will address the following questions: • What is the latest evidence on the levels and evolution of extreme poverty and shared prosperity? • Which countries and regions have been more successful in terms of progress toward the twin goals and which are lagging behind? • What does the global context of lower economic growth mean for achieving the twin goals? • How can inequality reduction contribute to achieving the twin goals? • What does the evidence show concerning global and between- and within-country inequality trends? • Which interventions and countries have used the most innovative approaches to achieving the twin goals through reductions in inequality? The report will make four main contributions. First, it will present the most recent numbers on poverty, shared prosperity, and inequality. Second, it will stress the importance of inequality reduction in ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity by 2030 in a context of weaker growth. Third, it will highlight the diversity of within-country inequality reduction experiences and will synthesize experiences of successful countries and policies, addressing the roots of inequality without compromising economic growth. In doing so, the report will shatter some myths and sharpen our knowledge of what works in reducing inequalities. Finally, it will also advocate for the need to expand and improve data collection—for example, data availability, comparability, and quality—and rigorous evidence on inequality impacts in order to deliver high-quality poverty and shared prosperity monitoring. Read less ...

In this presentation Devereux and Roelen explore the potential of various graduation programmes, based on comparative research conducted in six… Read more countries. As the limitations of simple cash transfers as a tool for achieving food security and sustainable poverty reduction are recognized, combined interventions are increasingly being implemented. Such integrated approaches include: 1) cash transfers + savings provision, to alleviate extreme poverty, and 2) asset transfers + training for livelihood promotion. Research shows that sustained poverty alleviation (so-called ‘graduation’ from poverty) is most successfully achieved using a third combined intervention: cash or food + behaviour change communication (BCC). Findings suggest that effective graduation can be achieved if the following are taken into account: 1) money is not enough, coaching and support are necessary; 2) the impact of coaching and support stretches beyond direct programme beneficiaries; 3) sustained impact requires sustained investments; and 4) the combination of cash and BCC is particularly effective. Read less ...

Universalism is at the core of the human development approach. Human freedoms must be enlarged for all human beings—not a… Read more few, not the most, but all, in every corner of the world—to be able to realize their full potential now and in the future. The same spirit is shared by the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals—leaving no one out. So human development must be ensured for everyone. However, human development is about more than satisfying basic needs. It encompasses voice and autonomy that matter in a dynamic world and through varying life conditions. Human development is about agency, self-determination and the freedom to make choices and shape outcomes. Human development for everyone requires refocusing on some aspects of the human development approach— collective capabilities, not only individual capabilities; voice and autonomy, not only well-being; and inclusion, not only diversity. It also needs focusing on assessment perspectives going beyond averages and quantitative achievements only. Caring for those left out requires a four pronged strategy at the national level: reaching those left out using universal policies, pursuing measures for groups with special needs, making human development resilient and empowering those left out. National policies must be complemented with actions at the global level by addressing issues related to the mandate, governance structures and work of global institutions. We have every reason to hope that things can be changed and transformations can be made. What seem to be challenges today can be overcome tomorrow. The world has fewer than 15 years to achieve its inspirational agenda of leaving no one out. With our hearts, heads and hands together, we shall strive for peace and prosperity, partner with each other and seek a balance between the people and the planet. Once those objectives are achieved, we will reach the end of the road together. And when we look back, we will see that no one has been left out. Read less ...