Targeting for Social Safety Nets Evidence from Nine Programs in the Sahel

Proxy-Means Testing (PMT) and Community-Based Targeting (CBT) are among the most widely used methods for poverty targeting in low-income settings. This paper analyzes household data from nine programs implemented in the Sahel region using a harmonized approach to compare PMT and CBT selection as con...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Schnitzer, Pascale
Other Authors: Stoeffler, Quentin
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C The World Bank 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: World Bank E-Library Archive - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
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100 1 |a Schnitzer, Pascale 
245 0 0 |a Targeting for Social Safety Nets  |h Elektronische Ressource  |b Evidence from Nine Programs in the Sahel  |c Pascale Schnitzer 
260 |a Washington, D.C  |b The World Bank  |c 2021 
300 |a 42 pages 
653 |a Benefit Allocation 
653 |a Social Protections and Labor 
653 |a Social Safety Nets 
653 |a Inequality 
653 |a SAHEL 
653 |a Poverty Reduction 
653 |a Social Protections and Assistance 
653 |a Targeting Social Programs 
653 |a Poverty 
653 |a Cash Transfers 
653 |a Social Protection 
653 |a Community-Based Targeting 
653 |a Services and Transfers To Poor 
700 1 |a Stoeffler, Quentin 
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520 |a Proxy-Means Testing (PMT) and Community-Based Targeting (CBT) are among the most widely used methods for poverty targeting in low-income settings. This paper analyzes household data from nine programs implemented in the Sahel region using a harmonized approach to compare PMT and CBT selection as conducted in practice, once geographical targeting has been applied. The results show that the targeting performance measured depends critically on the definition of the targeting objectives, share of beneficiaries selected, and indexes used to evaluate targeting. While PMT performs better in reaching the poorest households based on per capita consumption, it differs little from CBT, or a random or universal allocation of benefits when distances to poverty lines are considered. When aiming to identify food insecure households, most PMT and CBT targeting schemes perform no better than a random allocation of benefits. On the other hand, targeting costs represent only a small share of budgets. Overall, the results emphasize the need to study programs as implemented in practice instead of relying on simulations of targeting performance, as widely used by practitioners and academics. Taken together, the findings suggest that while there may be a need to select households resulting from budget constraints, PMT and CBT contribute little to poverty or food insecurity reduction efforts in poor and homogeneous settings