Basic Social Protection Benefit Budgeting Tool for Low-income Countries

The development objective of the project is to develop strategies contributing to the improvement and extension of basic social protection in low-income countries. The project will develop a model that will help governments of low-income countries to assess the costs and affordability of basic social protection in their countries as well as (to measure) the effects of cash transfers on the reduction of poverty. This tool will constitute a blueprint for a policy to extend social security to excluded groups of the population through cash transfers, which will serve as a basis for dialogue with and advice to the Government in support of its campaign for the extension of social security. Specific activities to be carried out under the project include: - Develop a basic social protection model that provides low-income countries with a tool to estimate the costs and direct impact on poverty reduction of basic social protection benefits; - The model will be developed on the basis of the previous costing model and micro-simulations, tested in one country and converted into a generic version. - A seminar to present the model in the country which served as a test case, and training of officials in the use of the model. - The tool should then be disseminated to low-income countries. By the end of the project period, the following will have been established: - A well-tested user-friendly quantitative model developed by the ILO for the costing of basic social protection benefits; - A user guide to the model (in English and French). - Findings of the study will contain concrete policy proposals for the test country in order to form the basis of a coordinated social protection strategy aimed at alleviating and reducing poverty; - A sound knowledge base that can be used for more in-depth technical cooperation activities, namely Social Budgeting projects, Social Protection Expenditure and Performance Reviews (SPERs), as well as for the formulation and implementation of cash-transfer policies in low-income countries.

Project symbol

GLO/06/13/UKM

Admin unit

SEC/SOC

Start date

01/06/2006

End date

29/02/2008

Total allocation

106730

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

106730

Development Partners

United Kingdom, Department for International Development

Country/Countries

Global

Outcomes

Social Security