Expanding and Improving Social Safety Nets Through Digitalization: Conceptual Framework and Review of Country Experiences
IMF Notes, December 7, 2023
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Expanding and Improving Social Safety Nets Through Digitalization: Conceptual Framework and Review of Country Experiences
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Authors: Nicolo Bird, Emine Hanedar
- Published: December 7, 2023
- Series: IMF Notes
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400257940.068
Summary
- Social safety nets (SSNs) support poor and vulnerable households, most prominently through cash transfers.
- Strong discrepancies persist across countries in terms of spending, coverage, and targeting of SSNs, with larger gaps often found in low-income countries.
- Digital technologies can be vital to supporting a rapid expansion of SSNs worldwide.
- Governments need to do three things to deliver SSNs effectively: identify, verify, and pay.
- The note explains how countries can improve across these three dimensions despite differences in capacity levels.
Major findings
- Innovative digital technologies can help overcome lack of government capacity to implement SSNs, even in countries with limited digital infrastructure or capacity.
- Countries with stronger digital infrastructure or investments in SSNs before COVID-19 were able to:
- complement existing policies,
- reach more people, and
- provide stronger responses than countries without preexisting SSN frameworks.
- Case studies demonstrate varied uses and adaptations of digital technologies driven largely by variations in digital SSN infrastructures in place before the onset of COVID-19.
Case studies examined
- Brazil
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- India
- Pakistan
- Togo
- Türkiye
Policy implications and action points
- Prioritize digital solutions that enable the three core functions for SSNs: identify, verify, and pay.
- Leverage existing digital SSN infrastructure where present to scale coverage and strengthen responsiveness.
- In contexts with weak digital infrastructure, adopt innovative, context-appropriate digital technologies to overcome capacity constraints and expand SSN reach.
Publication and metadata
- Authors: Nicolo Bird, Emine Hanedar
- Date: December 7, 2023
- Series: IMF Notes No 2023/007
- Issue: 007
- Volume: 2023
- Pages: 25
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400257940.068
- Stock No: INSEA2023007
- ISBN: 9798400257940
- ISSN: 2957-4390
- Subject: Economic sectors, Financial crises
- Keywords: COVID-19, digitalization, fiscal sustainability, social safety nets
Source: Expanding and Improving Social Safety Nets Through Digitalization: Conceptual Framework and Review of Country Experiences (IMF Notes, December 7, 2023).
Content in this bundle
- Insea2023007