During the recent Covid-19 shock (2020/21), most countries used cash transfers to protect the livelihoods of those affected by the pandemic or by restrictions on mobility or economic activities, including the poor and vulnerable. While a large majority of countries mobilized existing programs...

Energy subsidies, which have a long history of use by governments around the world, have been rising in recent years after a brief period of decline. Despite their significant wider costs, subsidies are used by governments for various policy, and political, reasons. Faced with recent external...

This paper examines the current state of play and trends in social assistance in terms of spending, coverage, incidence, benefit size, and poverty reduction impacts using administrative data and household survey data from about 70 countries worldwide. This paper is the fourth edition of the...

With nearly 420 million children reached worldwide, school meals are among the largest-scale social protection interventions. This paper traces the evolution of school meals programs globally, examines the empirical evidence underpinning them, reviews select implementation practices with an...

During the recent Covid-19 shock (2020/21), most countries used cash transfers to protect the livelihoods of those affected by the pandemic or by restrictions on mobility or economic activities, including the poor and vulnerable. While a large majority of countries mobilized existing programs...

This paper reviews the current and potential roles of social protection and jobs (SPJ) policies and mechanisms in supporting address the challenges related to climate change. Given its central role in reducing poverty and vulnerability and in helping people cope with various shocks, SPJ can play...

The multiplier effects of cash transfers are receiving renewed attention globally. The existence of multipliers-or the generation of additional dollars for every one dollar injected as cash transfers-illuminates new aspects of the impacts of social assistance and holds the potential to redefine...

The Nepal Poverty Alleviation Fund is a World Bank supported community-driven development program. Its objective is to improve rural welfare, particularly for groups that have traditionally been excluded for reasons of gender, ethnicity, caste, and location. Since its launch in 2004, the Fund...

Unannounced visits were made to health clinics in Bangladesh to determine what proportion of medical professionals were at their assigned post. Averaged over all job categories and types of facility, the absentee rate was 35 percent. The absentee rate for physicians was 40 percent at the larger...

Unannounced visits were made to health clinics in Bangladesh to determine what proportion of medical professionals were at their assigned post. Averaged over all job categories and types of facility, the absentee rate was 35 percent. The absentee rate for physicians was 40 percent at the larger...