Optimal Targeting under Budget Constraints in a Humanitarian Context
The combination of conflict, food insecurity, and displacement generates competing claims for financial resources that stretch the donors' ability to provide funding and the humanitarian organizations' capacity to provide social assistanc...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/448261505228206418/Optimal-targeting-under-budget-constraints-in-a-humanitarian-context http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28368 |
| Summary: | The combination of conflict, food
insecurity, and displacement generates competing claims for
financial resources that stretch the donors' ability to
provide funding and the humanitarian organizations'
capacity to provide social assistance. The paper uses
Receiver Operating Characteristic curves and related indexes
to determine the optimal targeting strategy of a food
voucher program for refugees. The estimations focus on the
2014 food vouchers administered by the World Food Programme
to Syrian refugees in Jordan. The analysis uses data
collected by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees. Based on a poverty model, Receiver Operating
Characteristic curves are used to optimize coverage and
leakage rates under budget constraints. The paper shows how
policy makers can use these instruments to fine-tune
targeting using coverage rates, budgets, or poverty lines as
guiding principles to increase the overall efficiency of a
program. As humanitarian organizations operate under
increasing budget constraints and increasing demands for
efficiency, the proposed approach addresses both concerns. |
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