Half of the moderately poor, and one third of the extremely poor now live in urban areas in Mexico. While cities offer a number of opportunities and specific challenges for the poor, low quality and high costs restrict real access to basic public services. Yet, the urban-rural distinctions need...

This report proposes a toolkit which can be used to produce national assessments in MENA countries. The toolkit consists of a series of four questionnaires to be completed by institutions delivering specific programs in the areas of Social Assistance, Social Insurance, Health and Education. A...

The note first discusses the main pillars of financial securityat older ages before focusing on the status of contributory and noncontributory (orsocial) pension systems in developing countries. It highlights worrying under-coverage ofcontributory pension systems in the face of persistent labor...

The objective of this report is to present a comprehensive review of the activities funded under the RSR-ADSP Gender Window. Specifically, it aims to synthesize the key thematic learnings from the analytical products developed under the RSR-ADSP Gender Window, and assess the influence of RSR...

The Government of Malawi put in place a mechanism that enables its flagship unconditional cash transfer program-the Social Cash Transfer Program (SCTP)—to scale up response to additional beneficiaries when shocks occur. Making the SCTP shock-responsive is a key strategic pillar of the...

Women's and girls’ empowerment (WGE) is a key priority for the World Bank's engagement in the Africa region. Gender equality has long been central to the World Bank's twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The Bank has made substantial investments aimed at closing...

This report lays out a strategy for Ukraine to make the transition to a market economy in the social sectors, taking into account the widespread system of benefits and the high spending on education and health inherited from the former Soviet Union. A central part of this strategy is the need to...