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Several East Asian countries, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, are considering an expansion of their social safety net programs. In many cases, existing delivery mechanisms for social assistance in the region tend to be basic, in line with the small size of programs. In a context of coverage expansion and proliferation of new programs, the risk of creating increasingly complex systems characterized by cross-incentives is high. Lack of coordination, ambiguous criteria for identifying and selecting beneficiaries, low administrative capacity, lack of transparency and limited beneficiary participation pose risks for program effectiveness and can decrease accountability. Good governance can improve program outcomes through effective program coordination, stronger accountability arrangements, provider incentives and greater transparency and participation. This paper proposes an analytical framework to systematically identify governance risks and constraints which, if removed, could improve the outcomes of modern social assistance programs.

Accountability --- Adolescents --- Conflict --- Corruption --- Decentralization --- Disclosure --- Discrimination --- Financial Crisis --- Financial Management --- Food Assistance --- Good Governance --- Governance --- Governance Indicators --- Health Insurance --- Health Monitoring & Evaluation --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Hospitals --- Household Income --- Human Capital --- Human Resources --- Insurance --- Judiciary --- Local Government --- Means Testing --- National Governance --- Political Economy --- Postnatal Care --- Poverty Line --- Poverty Monitoring & analysis --- Poverty Reduction --- Public Hospitals --- Public officials --- Public Policy --- Public Sector --- Quality Control --- Rule of Law --- School Attendance --- School Feeding Programs --- Social Development --- Social Protections and Labor --- Technical Assistance --- Vulnerable Groups --- Workers

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In 2008, when food prices rose precipitously to record highs, international attention and local policy in many countries focused on safety nets as part of the response. Now that food prices are high again, the issue of appropriate responses is again on the policy agenda. This note sets out a framework for making quick, qualitative assessments of how well countries' safety nets prepare them for a rapid policy response to rising food prices should the situation warrant. The framework is applied using data from spring 2011, presenting a snap?shot analysis of what is a dynamically changing situation. Based on this data safety net readiness is assessed in 13 vulnerable countries based on the following criteria: the presence of safety net programs, program coverage, administrative capacity, and to a lesser degree, targeting effectiveness. It is argued that these criteria will remain the same throughout time, even if the sample countries affected will be expected to vary. Based on this analysis the note highlights that though a number of countries are more prepared than they were in 2008, there is still a significant medium term agenda on safety net preparedness in the face of crisis. In this context, strategic lessons from the 2008 food crisis response are presented to better understand the response options and challenges facing governments and policy makers. The note concludes by calling for continued investment and scale up of safety nets to mitigate poverty impacts and help prevent long term setbacks in nutrition and poverty.

Administrative Costs --- Agriculture --- Capacity Building --- Climate Change --- Commodity Prices --- Conflict --- Coping Strategies --- Developing Countries --- Financial Crisis --- Financial Services --- Food Consumption --- Food Security --- Grains --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Human Capital --- Inequality --- Maize --- Malnutrition --- Means Testing --- Micronutrient Supplementation --- Nutrition --- Nutrition Programs --- Nutritional Supplements --- Political Economy --- Poverty Line --- Poverty Reduction --- Prenatal Care --- Price Volatility --- Public Debt --- Purchasing Power --- Rice --- Rural Population --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- School Attendance --- School Feeding Programs --- Social Development --- Social Protections and Labor --- Soybeans --- Staple Foods --- Sugar --- Technical Assistance --- Unemployment --- Wheat --- World Development Indicators --- World Food Program

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Developing countries have responded to the multiple shocks from the food, fuel and finance crises of 2008-2009 with a mix of responses aimed at both mitigating the immediate impacts of the crises on households (and particularly children), and protecting future investments in human capital. While some countries have introduced new safety net programs, others have modified and/or expanded existing ones. Since many countries have introduced conditional cash transfers (CCTs) in recent years, these programs have been used as an important starting point for a response. This paper aims to describe how conditional cash transfers have been used by different countries to respond to the crises (e.g. by expanding coverage and/or increasing benefit amounts), distill lessons about their effectiveness as crisis-response programs, identify design features that can facilitate their ability to respond to transient poverty shocks, and assess how they can complement other safety net programs.

Child Development --- Child Health --- Child Labor --- Corruption --- Developing Countries --- Disability Benefits --- Educational Attainment --- Expenditures --- External Shocks --- Financial Crisis --- Financial Literacy --- Fraud --- Health Insurance --- Household Consumption --- Household Income --- Household Surveys --- Human Capital --- Inflation --- Innovation --- Labor Market --- Labor Policies --- Living Standards --- Malnutrition --- Means Testing --- Minimum Wage --- Opportunity Cost --- Poverty Reduction --- Productivity --- Public Investment --- Purchasing Power --- Recession --- Refugees --- Remittances --- Risk Management --- Savings --- School Attendance --- School Feeding Programs --- Services & Transfers to Poor --- Severance Pay --- Social Development --- Social Insurance --- Social Networks --- Social Protections and Labor --- Social Safety Nets --- Technical Assistance --- Unemployment --- Urban Areas --- Villages --- Vulnerable Groups --- Wages --- Working Hours