Tajikistan - Delivering Social Assistance to the Poorest Households

During the food, fuel, and financial crises of 2008 and 2009, the Government and donors found themselves without an effective mechanism for channeling assistance to the poor. In 2009, the Government of Tajikistan asked the World Bank to support imp...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	World Bank
Format:	Other Poverty Study
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank 2012
Subjects:	ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS ADMINISTRATIVE FEASIBILITY BANK BRANCH BANK BRANCHES BANKS BARTER BASIC HEALTH BENEFICIARIES BENEFICIARY BENEFICIARY HOUSEHOLDS BLOCK GRANT BUDGETING CASH PAYMENT CASH PAYMENTS CASH TRANSFERS CENTRAL BANK CENTRAL BANKS CHECKS COMMERCIAL BANK COMMUNITY GROUPS COMPENSATION PAYMENTS CONFLICT CONSUMER DURABLES CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURES CORRUPTION CURRENCY DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS DEPOSITS DISABILITY ALLOWANCES DISABILITY PENSION DISABLED DUMMY VARIABLES ELDERLY PEOPLE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION ELIGIBLE CHILDREN EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE EQUIPMENT EXCHANGE RATE EXCLUSION EXPENDITURE EXTREME POVERTY EXTREME POVERTY LINE FAMILY ALLOWANCES FAMILY MEMBERS FAMILY POVERTY FAMILY POVERTY BENEFIT FINANCES FINANCIAL CRISES FINANCIAL CRISIS FINANCIAL SUPPORT FISCAL CAPACITY FISCAL RESOURCES FOOD AID FOOD CONSUMPTION FOOD POVERTY FOOD PRICE FRAUD GENDER GOVERNMENT BUDGET GOVERNMENT BUDGETS GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA HOUSEHOLD HEAD HOUSEHOLD HEADS HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD NEEDS HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HOUSEHOLD WELFARE HOUSING HUMAN CAPITAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IMPACT ON POVERTY INCOME INCOME GROUPS INCOME POVERTY INFLATION INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY INSURANCE INSURANCE PENSION INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LABOR MARKETS LEGAL FRAMEWORK LIVING STANDARD LIVING STANDARDS LOCAL CAPACITIES LOCAL GOVERNMENT MALNUTRITION MEANS TESTING MEANS TESTS MINIMUM WAGE MONEY TRANSFERS MOUNTAINOUS AREAS NUTRITION OLD AGE PAYMENT SYSTEM PENSION PENSION FUND PENSION INCOME PENSION PAYMENTS PENSIONS PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION POOR POOR BENEFICIARIES POOR CHILDREN POOR FAMILIES POOR HOUSEHOLDS POOR PEOPLE POOR POPULATION POVERTY ASSESSMENT POVERTY IMPACT POVERTY LINE POVERTY MAP POVERTY RATES POVERTY THRESHOLD POVERTY UPDATE PRIVATE TRANSFERS PUBLIC POLICY REAL ESTATE RECEIPT REGIONAL DATA REGISTRY SYSTEM REMITTANCE REMITTANCES RETURN RICH REGIONS RURAL RURAL AREAS RURAL HOUSEHOLDS RURAL POVERTY RURAL POVERTY RATE SAFETY NETS SCHOLARSHIP SCHOOL ATTENDANCE SCHOOLING SETTLEMENT SHEEP SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SOCIAL PROTECTION SPECIAL FUND SPECIAL FUNDS TARGETING TARGETING MECHANISMS TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TRANSFER PROGRAMS TRANSPARENCY TRANSPORTATION SERVICES TREASURIES TREASURY UNEMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE UNION UNIONS URBAN AREAS VEGETABLES VILLAGE VILLAGES VULNERABLE GROUPS VULNERABLE HOUSEHOLDS WAR WIRE TRANSFER
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000386194_20110616012044 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2762

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Summary:	During the food, fuel, and financial crises of 2008 and 2009, the Government and donors found themselves without an effective mechanism for channeling assistance to the poor. In 2009, the Government of Tajikistan asked the World Bank to support improvement of its system of social assistance. The World Bank prepared this report to inform its technical and financial support for improvement of social assistance and also to define an initial mechanism for delivering benefits to the poorest households. At present, Tajikistan's system of social assistance exerts almost no downward influence on poverty rates. This note sets forth the case for reform and then presents some specific technical proposals for reforms. To trace the path to reform, this report starts with an assessment of the present system. The other main social assistance program is compensation to needy families whose children attend school. This program pays benefits to selected households if their children enroll in and attend school. The size of the benefit is negligible and is judged too low to influence school attendance. An important step in the reform will be to consolidate the two main social assistance programs, and if possible, all the programs, and replace them with a single targeted social assistance benefit program. This will improve targeting by decoupling social assistance from consumption of electricity and natural gas. This is important since some very poor people live in isolated mountainous areas where they are not connected to the electricity and gas grids, and thus would not benefit from these compensation transfers. This report presents proposals for scoring formulas (drawn from proxy-means tests) for urban and rural areas, based on data on the characteristics of households and observable proxies for consumption. Empirically, the most important household characteristics for predicting consumption are the number of children, the number of family members, and the oblast of residence.

Tajikistan - Delivering Social Assistance to the Poorest Households

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