WB: Improvements needed in safety nets

At least 60 percent of people in developing countries lack effective safety net coverage, as these nations struggle to protect their citizens from the impacts of global financial volatility and food and fuel price hikes, according to a new World Bank (WB) data released in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).

The Bank said that 66 million children around the world go to school hungry and struggle to concentrate and learn, which can be addressed with school feeding programs for the poorest.

Meanwhile, more than 2.8 million newborns die in the first week of their lives, and many of these deaths can be prevented by providing more pre- and post-natal care for mothers and their children.

Food insecurity also leads to greater family conflict and divorce rates.

The WB added that expanding cost-effective safety nets like cash transfers, food assistance, public works programs and fee waivers will help countries respond to crises and address persistent poverty.

The bank noted that the issues will be a main item for discussion by finance and development ministers at the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Development Committee meeting on April 21.

“Safety nets can transform people’s lives and provide a foundation for inclusive growth without busting budgets,” Robert Zoellick, outgoing president of the World Bank Group said.

He added that effective safety net coverage overcomes poverty and promotes economic opportunity and gender equality by helping people find jobs, cope with economic shocks, and improve the health, education and well-being of their children.

Moreover, the WB noted that even though sustained growth in many developing countries was able to pull hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and into the middle class, it has yet to reach a majority in the poorest countries that face unemployment, disability, illness and struggle to protect themselves against economic shocks, persistent poverty, natural disasters or other crises.

The WB also created a new strategy for expanding coverage to the poorest people, which calls for investing in stronger social protection and labor systems to improve the quality and reach of safety nets and other SPL programs in four areas.

The first area is extending of the coverage to the poorest countries, and to poorest and most vulnerable people, where the needs are greatest.

The second is building a coherent and integrated portfolio of national SPL policies and programs that help people deal with multiple risks, and can be scaled up or down in response to crises.

The third is increasing the access to jobs and economic opportunities, with a strong focus on investing in early childhood development and in workers’ skills and productivity.

The fourth is emphasizing evidence-based action and South-South sharing of knowledge of what works.

“With this new strategy, the bank will help countries move their social protection and labor coverage from a set of isolated interventions to a smarter, more inclusive, and more responsive approach,” said Arup Banerji, WB director of Social Protection and Labor.

He said that this systemic approach helps countries address fragmentation and duplication across programs, and create solutions tailored to their own contexts.

“With stronger social protection and labor systems, countries can expand effective coverage to the people who need it most,” the WB official added. –MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO REPORTER, Manila Bulletin