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This report illustrates a new methodology to develop an Outcomes and Risk Based Supervision (ORBS) framework for funded pensions with a case study of Costa Rica. The approach was used in a FIRST1 funded project in Costa Rica with the regulator and supervisor of pensions SUPEN. The intention is to highlight an approach that may be useful in the region, and globally, to help agencies responsible for private pensions to focus on the long run outcomes they are seeking to achieve, identify the risks to these outcomes and implement the most effective solutions to these risks. This is all done through a consistent framework that embeds the long run outcomes at the heart of the process, and so lends itself naturally to the greater focus on results, and Monitoring and Evaluation that are central to modern development projects. The focus on Costa Rica also helps illustrate the approach in a country that has not typically been used as a case study. This helps to broaden the range of case studies available for practitioners and expands the possibilities for 'South-South' learning. It also shows how the approach can be tailored to the specific characteristics of a country. The report starts with a description of the Costa Rican pension system. This provides the context for the case study. It helps to illustrate the variety of defined benefit and defined contribution pensions that needed to be covered. It also identifies the wide range of different institutions involved in delivering good pension outcomes, and hence the 'eco-system' in which the supervisor needs to operate effectively to improve outcomes for the benefits of pension savers in Costa Rica.

Financial and Private Sector Development --- Pensions & Retirement Systems --- Social Funds and Pensions --- Social Protections and Labor

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In 2008, Chile introduced a New Solidarity Pillar (NSP) designed to eliminate the incidence of poverty among elderly adults by setting a floor at around forty percent of the minimum monthly income for the poorest sixty percent of the population. This paper describes the NSP's main characteristics and the main results achieved during its first seven years of operations: coverage, fiscal cost, poverty reduction, and the system's role in reducing the significant gender gap in pensions. Its effects on incentives to contribute are discussed, as well as the literature that has attempted to measure these effects. Finally, the main challenges facing the NSP and the implications for other countries under defined contribution pension schemes are summarized.

Pension Reform --- Pensions and Retirement Systems --- Social Funds and Pensions --- Social Protections and Labor

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The report is structured as follows. In the first section, authors refer to the demographic and labor market context in Montenegro, which indicate the risks and challenges ahead of the pension system in Montenegro. We also discuss some of the myths that are related to the perception of older workers on the labor market. In the second section, we present the current situation of the pension system in Montenegro in general terms. The third section focuses on the analysis of the available information on the current and future prospects of the early retirement scheme. In section four we present recent developments in the EU and OECD countries related to early retirement solutions, including the developments on early retirement for hazardous and arduous conditions. Special attention is put on the description of the 2008 reform of early retirement of hazardous and arduous conditions in Poland and its outcomes. The polish approach could be used as a model solution in the approach to limit the list of extended service occupations. In section five authors present recommendations for the reform of policies related to the extended service period pensions as well as general early retirement policy in Montenegro.

Demographics --- Disability --- Early Retirement --- Hazardous Occupations --- Labor Market --- Pensions & Retirement Systems --- Social Funds and Pensions --- Social Protections and Labor

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The lack of efficient social security systems, the presence of large informal sectors, and the pace at which the population is aging in some Sub-Saharan African countries are red flags warning of a potential long-term problem: that is, the inability of countries to provide old-age income security to all. Many adults in the region have difficulties accessing health care and other essential services, increasing their vulnerability and their likelihood of becoming impoverished as they age. Since the coverage of contribution-based pension schemes has remained low for decades, direct cash grants (henceforth, universal social pensions) are increasingly proposed as a way to address the coverage gap and to fight poverty among the elderly. This paper explores the role of universal social pensions in 12 Sub-Saharan African countries, showing that they may be part of the answer to the coverage gap in pensions and may be important from a human rights lens. However, they have limited impact on poverty because a significant share of the elderly population is found not to fall into the poorest and most vulnerable segments of society. Universal social pensions can also be quite costly, difficult to sustain in low-income settings, and less cost-effective at fighting poverty compared to poverty-targeted cash transfer programs. Implementation errors are quite prevalent in universal social pension schemes, contradicting the apparent simplicity of identifying program beneficiaries. The report's main findings are that a discussion of poverty targeted programs vis-a-vis universal programs is less relevant for policymakers than how to design and implement a policy or a mix of coordinated and harmonized policies under a robust system that allows governments to reach their main objectives of meeting the basic needs of their most vulnerable citizens.

Cash Transfers --- Demographics --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Poverty Reduction --- Social Funds and Pensions --- Social Protections and Labor --- Sub-Saharan Africa

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The development of Brazil's modern social safety net is quite recent, and social assistance programs claim a relatively small share of resources of the broader social sector. A key feature of the Brazilian social protection system is the duality between formal sector workers, who gained social insurance and labor benefits as early as the 1930s, and the large number of mostly poor informal workers and their families who were historically excluded. The objective of social assistance programs in Brazil is to provide support to people living in poverty and other vulnerable groups. These programs primarily include social pensions for the poor elderly and disabled, conditional cash transfers for poor families, unconditional cash transfers, housing assistance for low-income households, school feeding, food programs, social services, and a variety of other small benefits and services. They are usually targeted to the poor or low-income groups via means-testing, or provide eligibility to specific vulnerable groups. Within the broader system of social protection, social assistance programs complement social insurance pensions, which are contributory by design but have been significantly subsidized from general taxation, and labor market programs, which are largely contributory and include a mix of active and passive benefits and services. The current note focuses on Social Assistance Programs while a second background chapter focuses on Labor market programs. This document is a Background Chapter for the report A fair adjustment : efficiency and equity of public spending in Brazil : Volume 1 - Overview (report No.121480).

Access of Poor to Social Services --- Cash Transfers --- Poverty Reduction --- Public Sector Development --- Social Funds and Pensions --- Social Protections and Assistance --- Social Protections and Labor