Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Program

The high level of exposure to shocks, particularly climate-related and conflict-induced shocks, across the Sahel exacerbates the population's vulnerability. In 2018-2019 a new set of harmonized household surveys were conducted that help identify the distributional impact of shocks in much greater detail than before. The key findings can help inform the development of adaptive social protection systems across the Sahel.

Adaptive Social Protection programs are increasingly implemented in fragile and insecure contexts in the Sahel. This note provides a framework, key principles, and a repertoire of options for adapting social safety net projects to unprecedented levels of insecurity. The authors map operational security risks and identify ingredients for an appropriate response in risk assessment, design, beneficiary targeting, and payment systems.

The Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Program (SASPP) - Annual Report 2020, provides an overview of its country and regional activities and summarizes its priorities going forward. In 2020, the program entered its second phase, with a refocused strategic objective of systematically strengthening adaptive social protection systems to enhance household resilience and expand the reach of shock response cash transfer programs. This annual report reflects the program’s transition from phase 1 to phase 2.

The Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Program (SASPP) - Annual Report 2019 provides an overview of the program. It summarizes its achievements since inception priorities going forward and presents an overview of country-level and regional activities.

The Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Program (SASPP) – Annual Report 2018 presents the motivation for and objective of the SASPP, explaining how a theory of change guides it, its main modalities for engagement, primary priorities, and main achievements in each country and by the regional program.

The Adaptive Social Protection Program - Annual Report 2017 summarizes progress made during fiscal year FY17 and sets out the FY18 plan for the program. Since its launch, the program has made significant progress toward enabling access for poor and vulnerable people in the Sahel to adaptive and shock-responsive social protection. 

The Adaptive Social Protection Program - Annual Report 2016. During its second year of implementation FY16, which is covered by this progress report, the program advanced in implementing both country-level and regional programmatic activities and launched the “Innovation Window.” As summarized in this report, country-specific research and knowledge activities were initiated, and several products were completed.

The Adaptive Social Protection Stress Test is a global tool that is fully reflective of the circumstances in the Sahel. The stress test rates countries along a set of criteria grouped into five clusters: government leadership, institutional arrangements, data and information, programs and delivery systems, and finance. The criteria are focused on the key factors and actions needed to ensure steady development of ASP systems. 

This publication highlights recent economic trends and discusses development issues relevant to Burkina Faso, including macroeconomic and microeconomic impacts of the pandemic; the Government’s response; the status of social protection, and policy recommendations.

This case study presents the experience of implementing a coherent set of productive inclusion measures through national social safety nets programs in four Sahel countries. It provides insights on the challenges and opportunities of delivering productive inclusion programs at scale through government systems. 

This paper analyzes household data from nine programs implemented in the Sahel using a harmonized approach to compare Proxy-Means Testing and Community-Based Targeting selection as conducted in practice, once geographical targeting has been applied.

This report sets out the results of a qualitative assessment of the constraints to productive employment that was conducted in the Social Safety Net project areas, across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Chad.

Deprivation mapping uses administrative and geospatial settlement-level data to estimate settlement access deprivations across 4 dimensions: social services, basic infrastructure, opportunities, and exposure to weather/climate shocks. Database and visualizations highlight and rank each settlement’s deprivation index.

Relying on panel data from Niger, this report simulates the performance of various targeting methods that are widely used by development and humanitarian actors. The methods include proxy-means testing (PMT), household economy analysis (HEA), geographical targeting, and combined methods.

This report presents the current state of social safety nets in Burkina Faso and discusses their effectiveness in meeting the needs of the poor. It is meant to inform a debate on feasible reform and policy options to make social safety more effective and impactful. The report also offers guidance on the consolidation of expenditure.

This overview presents the current state of social safety nets in Burkina Faso and discusses their effectiveness in meeting the needs of the poor.

SASPP Regional Activity: Impact Evaluation Design and Pre-Analysis Plan.
A large-scale multi-country randomized control trial is being conducted and a package of productive measures is evaluated in Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Niger.

The Government of Niger set up a national social safety net program that includes unconditional cash transfers as well as behavioural change measures to promote investments in children. Lessons from program implementation and evaluations highlight that this model could reach a large number of poor families and induce changes in parenting practices.

The methods to select safety net beneficiaries are the subject of frequent policy debates. This paper presents the results from a randomized experiment analyzing how efficiency, legitimacy, and short-term program effectiveness vary across widely used targeting methods.

This multi-country collection of case studies provides a fresh examination of the ingredients and conditions under which international humanitarian assistance and adaptive national safety net programs could better coexist and converge.

From evidence to policy - learning what works for better programs and policies: Can cash and behavioral change programs improve child development?

The purpose of this report is to review the state of poverty and vulnerability in Burkina Faso, as well as trends, and to evaluate the possible effects of development strategy policies and the Accelerated Growth and Sustainable Development Strategy on poverty and social development.

This paper presents evidence that a cash transfer project in rural Niger induced investments in assets and productive activities that were sustained among the very poor 18 months after project completion. 

Chad critically needs a government-led and well-designed social safety nets system. Adaptive safety nets can mitigate the impact of climate change, protect the environment, avoid further soil erosion, improve water use, and protect against floods. 

This paper presents evidence that a cash transfer project in rural Niger induced investments in assets and productive activities that were sustained among the very poor 18 months after project completion.

This brief provides an overview of the work of the Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Program: Objectives, accomplishments, and priorities going forward.