The World Bank, on June 3, 2009, launched two new publications on social safety nets:

• A report titled 'For Protection & Promotion: The design and implementation of effective safety nets'  by Margaret Grosh, Carlo Del Ninno, Emil Tesliuc and Azedine Ouerghi.
 
• A World Bank Policy Research Paper titled 'Conditional Cash Transfers: Reducing Present and Future Poverty' by Ariel Fiszbein and Norbert Schady.

Highlighting that India has many lessons to offer the world from its experience in implementing social safety nets, Mr Roberto Zagha, World Bank Country Director for India, said, “India spends more of its income on safety – more than two per cent of GDP –than most developing countries and has introduced a vast array of programs ranging from cash and in-kind transfers to workfare and subsidized insurance.  India has in fact become a laboratory and a potentially large source of learning on what works and what doesn’t.”  (Read opening remarks by Roberto Zagha) 

Speaking of India’s recent experience with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme – the world’s largest public works scheme – Mr. Zagha added, “This innovative program is an important cushion for poor people living in rural areas who might be at risk of being pushed further into poverty.  India is fortunate to have in place a program that people can fall back on to find work in these hard times.”

Addressing the audience, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, said that the need for social safety nets rises when countries are in the process of bringing about economic transformation: “As we increase the pace of economic reforms, which require significant structural change, the need for safety nets will only rise. The World Bank’s book on the global experience will be useful to understand how other countries have dealt with this challenge. I look forward to learning from it.”

Launching both books, Ms. Shiela Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi spoke of her experience in implementing a variety of social safety net programs in Delhi and added, “These two books that we have released today will help us clear the cobwebs in our minds on how to bring poor people into appropriate safety nets while addressing the corruption that we see in some existing schemes.”

For Protection and Promotion: The Design and Implementation of Effective Safety Nets marks the first major Bank publication on the topic in over ten years.  The book synthesizes the literature to date and enriches it with new examples on various program options - cash transfers (conditional and unconditional), in-kind transfers, price subsidies, fee waivers, and public works.

Country experiences are provided throughout.  Guidance for the customization of safety nets is explored in six settings – low income, middle income, in or following an economic crisis, following natural disasters and using safety nets to facilitate reform, and for rising food prices.

Conditional cash transfers : Reducing Present and Future Poverty argues that CCTs have been an effective way to redistribute income to the poor, while recognizing that even the best-designed and best-managed program cannot fulfill all of the needs of a comprehensive social protection system. CCTs therefore need to be complemented with other interventions, such as workfare or employment programs and social pensions, the report says.