Tanzania : Can Local Communities Successfully Run Cash Transfer Programs?
In Tanzania, an innovative conditional cash transfer program that relies on local communities to administer the payments has succeeded in helping the countrys poorest citizens. But these programs generally require strong central government bureaucr...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/03/19278238/tanzania-can-local-communities-successfully-run-cash-transfer-programs http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22592 |
| Summary: | In Tanzania, an innovative conditional
cash transfer program that relies on local communities to
administer the payments has succeeded in helping the
countrys poorest citizens. But these programs generally
require strong central government bureaucracies to
administer the program and transfer the payments,
potentially limiting the use of these programs where
governments are less experienced or stable. Development
experts are interested in new models for delivering cash
transfers in countries with weak or inexperienced central
governments. One possibility is to rely on communities
themselves, rather than a central bureaucracy, to administer
the cash transfers. But can communities run the programs as
efficiently and ensure that benefits are equally and
regularly distributed? Community-based conditional cash
transfers have proven to be an effective tool for
alleviating poverty and improving health and education
outcomes for the poor. These are important lessons for
development experts and should provide much-needed evidence
for policy makers looking to expand social safety net
programs in low income countries. As the results of a recent
impact evaluation indicate, cash transfer systems can be
adapted to work well in low-income countries that do not
have a strong central government to administer them.
Community groups, provided they are given proper training
and adequate support, can handle the logistics of the cash
transfers, and in doing so, help improve the lives of their
poorest neighbors. This Evidence to Policy note was jointly
produced by the World Bank Group, the Strategic Impact
Evaluation Fund (SIEF), and the British governments
Department for International Development. |
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