Authors present evidence from Rwanda's Girinka (‘One Cow per Poor Family’) program that has distributed more than 130,000 livestock asset… Read more transfers in the form of cows to the rural poor since 2006. Supply side constraints on the program resulted in some beneficiaries receiving complementary training with the cow transfer, and other households not receiving such training with their cow. They exploit these differences to estimate the additional impact of receiving complementary training with the cow transfer, on household's economic outcomes up to six years after having received the livestock asset transfer. Results show that even in a setting such as rural Rwanda where linkages between farmers and produce markets are weak, the provision of training with asset transfers has permanent and economically significant impacts on milk production, milk yields from livestock, household earnings, and asset accumulation. The results have important implications for the design of ‘ultra-poor’ livestock asset transfer programs being trialled globally as a means to allow the rural poor to better their economic lives. Read less ...

This study evaluates a large social protection program in rural Ethiopia, the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP). The effectiveness of… Read more the PSNP is of interest because the program was implemented at scale in one of Africa’s poorest countries, which has limited physical and communications infrastructure and scarce administrative resources. Using longitudinal survey data collected in 2006, 2008, and 2010 at the household and locality levels, we employ an extension of the propensity score matching method to continuous treatments to estimate the impact of transfers from the PSNP and a separate program on household food security. Against the formidable background of rising food prices and widespread drought, participation in the Public Works component of the PSNP has modest effects. The PSNP reduced the length of the last hungry season by 1.29 months among households that received transfers for 5 years compared to eligible households that received almost nothing. Five years of participation raises livestock holdings by 0.38 tropical livestock units relative to receipt of payments in only 1 year. There is no evidence that the PSNP crowds out private transfers. The joint impact of access to the PSNP along with a program that helps households to increase agricultural income and build assets is even higher. Having both of these programs reduced the length of the last hungry season by 1.5 months per year and increased livestock holdings by 0.99 tropical livestock units. Read less ...

We study a government program in Uganda designed to help the poor and unemployed become self-employed artisans, increase incomes, and thus… Read more promote social stability. Young adults in Uganda’s conflict-affected north were invited to form groups and submit grant proposals for vocational training and business start-up. Funding was randomly assigned among screened and eligible groups. Treatment groups received unsupervised grants of $382 per member. Grant recipients invest some in skills training but most in tools and materials. After four years, half practice a skilled trade. Relative to the control group, the program increases business assets by 57%, work hours by 17%, and earnings by 38%. Many also formalize their enterprises and hire labor. We see no effect, however, on social cohesion, antisocial behavior, or protest. Effects are similar by gender but are qualitatively different for women because they begin poorer (meaning the impact is larger relative to their starting point) and because women’s work and earnings stagnate without the program but take off with it. The patterns we observe are consistent with credit constraints. Read less ...

A review of rigorous evaluations of interventions that seek to empower women economically shows that the same class of interventions… Read more has significantly different outcomes depending on the client. Capital alone, as a small cash loan or grant, is not sufficient to grow women-owned subsistence-level firms. However, it can work if it is delivered in-kind to more successful women microentrepreneurs, and it should boost the performance of women's larger-sized SMEs. Very poor women need a more intensive package of services than do less poor women to break out of subsistence production and grow their businesses. What works for young women does not necessarily work for adult women. Skills training, job search assistance, internships, and wage subsidies increase the employment levels of adult women but do not raise wages. However, similar interventions increase young women's employability and earnings if social restrictions are not binding. Women who run subsistence-level firms face additional social constraints when compared to similar men, thus explaining the differences in the outcomes of some loans, grants, and training interventions that favor men. Social constraints may also play a role in explaining women's outcome gains that are short-lasting or emerge with a delay. The good news is that many of the additional constraints that women face can be overcome by simple, inexpensive adjustments in program design that lessen family and social pressures. These include providing capital in-kind or transacted through the privacy of a mobile phone and providing secure savings accounts to nudge women to keep the money in the business rather than to divert it to non-business uses. Read less ...

We conduct a randomized experiment among women in urban Sri Lanka to measure the impact of the most commonly used… Read more business training course in developing countries, the Start-and-Improve Your Business (SIYB) program. We study two groups of women: a random sample operating subsistence enterprises and a random sample out of the labor force but interested in starting a business. We track impacts of two treatments – training only and training plus a cash grant – over two years. For women in business, training changes business practices but has no impact on business profits, sales or capital stock. The grant plus training combination increases business profitability in the first eight months, but this impact dissipates in the second year. Among potential startups, business training hastens entry – without changing longer-term ownership rates – and increases profitability. We conclude that training may be more effective for new owners. Read less ...

The paper explores whether one of the largest programs in the world for women's empowerment and rural livelihoods, the Indira… Read more Kranti Patham in Andhra Pradesh, India, has had an impact on the economic and social wellbeing of households that participate in the program. The analysis usespanel data for 4,250 households from two rounds of a survey conducted in 2004 and 2008 in five districts. Propensity score matching was used to construct control groups and outcomes are compared with differences-in-differences. There are two major impacts. First, the Indira Kranti Patham program increased participants' access to loans, which allowed them to accumulate some assets (livestock and durables for the poorest and nonfarm assets for the poor), invest in education, and increase total expenditures (for the poorest and poor). Women who participated in the program had more freedom to go places and were less afraid to disagree with their husbands; the women participated more in village meetings and their children were slightly more likely to attend school. Consistent with the emphasis of the program on the poor, the impacts were stronger across the board for the poorest and poor participants and were more pronounced for long-term Scheduled Tribe participants. No significant differences are found between participants and nonparticipants in some maternal and child health indicators. Second, program participants were significantly more likely to benefit from various targeted government programs, most important the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, but also midday meals in schools, hostels, and housing programs. This was an important way in which the program contributed to the improved wellbeing of program participants. The effects captured by the analysis accrue to program participants over and above those that may accrue to all households in program villages. Read less ...

Social protection policies play a critical role in realizing the human right to social security for all, reducing poverty and… Read more inequality, and promoting inclusive growth – by boosting human capital and productivity, and by supporting domestic demand and structural transformation of national economies. This ILO flagship report provides a global overview of the organization of social protection systems, their coverage and benefits, as well as public expenditures on social protection. The report follows a life-cycle approach, starting with social protection for children, followed by schemes for women and men in working age, and closing with pensions and other support for older persons. It also assesses progress towards universal coverage in health. The report further analyses trends and recent policies, such as the negative impacts of fiscal consolidation and adjustment measures, and urgently calls to expand social protection for crisis recovery, inclusive development and social justice. The World Social Protection Report 2014/15 includes valuable and comprehensive statistical annexes with the latest social protection data. Read less ...

Social protection policies aim to reduce socio-economic risks, vulnerability, extreme poverty and deprivation, while smallholder agricultural policies focus on improving… Read more productivity in crops, fisheries, forestry and livestock and improving access to markets. Both areas of policy are important in poverty reduction strategies, but little attention has been paid to the interaction between them and how that influences their design and implementation. Conceptually, there is a two-way relationship between social protection and agriculture. On the one hand, poor rural households that mostly rely on agriculture for their livelihoods are often affected by limited access to resources, low agricultural productivity, poorly functioning markets and repeated exposure to covariate and idiosyncratic risks. Social protection can help to alleviate credit, savings and liquidity constraints by providing cash and in-kind support. In addition, the regularity and predictability of social protection instruments help households to better manage risks and to engage in more profitable livelihood and agricultural activities. On the other hand, agricultural policies and programmes can help smallholder households manage risk by stimulating farm output, income and overall household welfare. Since social protection and smallholder agricultural interventions often cover the same geographic areas and target the same households, there are opportunities for synergies and complementarities that would strengthen the livelihoods of poor rural households. This study explores the interaction between formal social protection and agriculture by proposing a theory of change and conducting an empirical review that identifies how social protection impacts agricultural production and how agricultural interventions reduce risks and vulnerability at the household and local economy levels. The paper seeks to provide an empirical rationale for building synergies and coordinating complementarities between social protection and smallholder agriculture in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The review also provides some insights to the FAO and its partners on how social protection and agriculture can potentially complement each other. Read less ...

This study investigates an attempt to economically and socially empower some of the poorest and most vulnerable young women in… Read more one of the poorest and most fragile places in the world: northern Uganda. Investing in women is said to be a key to development. Educate her, buy her a cow or goat, or help her start a business and great things will follow: sustained increases in income, greater empowerment and social inclusion, health and education for the children, and (especially in war-affected regions) mental health and happiness. This report provides provisional answers to these questions based on data collected from April 2009 to August 2012. The questions will continue to be explored and analyzed in academic papers in future, but the authors attempt to draw out the key findings and policy lessons as close to the end of the intervention and data collection as possible. Read less ...

As the debate on the post Millennium Development Goals agenda gathers pace, the ILO calls for job creation and social… Read more protection to be included in the list of Development Goals which will be drawn up by the United Nations after the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals passes in 2015. Read less ...