The Static And Dynamic Incidence Of Vietnam S Public Safety Net

Abstract: Vietnam's social welfare programs do not adequately protect and promote the poor. Increased spending, with better coverage and targeting, could help poor and vulnerable households. How does Vietnam's public safety net affect outcomes for the poor? Although social welfare programs in Vietnam are centrally mandated, they are locally implemented according to local norms and local poverty standards and often rely heavily on local financing. Van de Walle examines the coverage, incidence, and horizontal equity of the programs that can be identified in the data from the Vietnam Living Standards Survey. She looks at the role of location in determining whether the poor are assisted nationally. And she explores dynamic incidence between 1993 and 1998 and the degree to which programs performed a safety net function. The author's analysis shows that coverage and payments to households are low and have had a negligible impact on poverty. In principle, better targeting could improve the impact of current outlays. The analysis also shows that the system was ineffective in protecting households that were vulnerable to shocks. Finally, the results suggest that although there is a greater concentration of poverty-related programs and greater household participation in poorer communes, the system spends more (absolutely and relatively) on the poor in richer communes. This paper"a product of Public Services, Development Research Group"is part of a larger effort in the group to improve the delivery and effectiveness of social protection programs. The author may be contacted at [email protected].

How does Vietnam's public safety net affect outcomes for the poor? Although social welfare programs in Vietnam are centrally mandated, they are locally implemented according to local norms and local poverty standards and often rely heavily on local financing. The author examines the coverage, incidence, and horizontal equity of the programs that can be identified in the data from the Vietnam Living Standards Survey. She looks at the role of location in determining whether the poor are assisted nationally. And she explores dynamic incidence between 1993 and 1998 and the degree to which programs performed a safety net function. The author's analysis shows that coverage and payments to households are low and have had a negligible impact on poverty. In principle, better targeting could improve the impact of current outlays. The analysis also shows that the system was ineffective in protecting households that were vulnerable to shocks. Finally, the results suggest that although there is a greater concentration of poverty-related programs and greater household participation in poorer communes, the system spends more (absolutely and relatively) on the poor in richer communes.

Drawing on a database of more than one hundred anti-poverty interventions in 47 countries, 'Targeting of Transfers in Developing Countries' provides a general review of experiences with methods used to target interventions in transition and developing countries. Written for policymakers and program managers in developing countries, in donor agencies, and in NGOs who have responsibility for designing interventions that reach the poor, it conveys what targeting options are available, what results can be expected as well as information that will assist in choosing among them and in their implementation. Key messages are: - While targeting 'works' - the median program transfers 25 percent more to the poor than would a universal allocation - targeting performance around the world is highly variable. - Means testing, geographic targeting, and self-selection based on a work requirement are the most robustly progressive methods. Proxy means testing, community-based selection of individuals and demographic targeting to children show good results on average, but with considerable variation. - Demographic targeting to the elderly, community bidding, and self-selection based on consumption show limited potential for good targeting. - There is no single preferred method for all types of programs or all country contexts. Successful targeting depends critically on how a method is implemented. The CD-ROM includes the database of interventions, an annotated bibliography (PDF) and Spanish and Russian translations of the book (PDFs).

This publication is a compilation of reports on research projects initiated, under way, or completed in fiscal year 2001 (July 1, 2000 through June 30, 2001). The abstracts cover 150 research projects from the World Bank and grouped under 11 major headings including poverty and social development, health and population, education, labor and employment, environment, infrastructure and urban development, and agriculture and rural development. The abstracts detail the questions addressed, the analytical methods used, the findings to date and their policy implications. Each abstract identifies the expected completion date of each project, the research team, and reports or publications produced.

With the adoption of new market-oriented policies, Vietnam has transformed itself from one of the world's poorest countries during the 1980s, into an economy with one of the highest growth rates during the 1990s. Using macroeconomic and household survey data, this publication examines a range of issues including: the causes of Vietnam's economic growth and future prospects; the impact on household welfare and poverty levels, school enrolment, child health and other socioeconomic outcomes; and the nature of poverty in Vietnam and the effectiveness of government policies for poverty reduction, drawing lessons for Vietnam and for other low-income developing countries.

Key recommendations - Methods and scope. -- Background on street children in Hanoi. Numbers of street children in Hanoi - "Some days I earn nothing"--Government bodies responsible for child protection - Relief, juvenile justice, and administrative policies for children in Vietnam. -- Trang's story: from Dong Dau to Ba Vi and back to the streets again. First arrest (March 2004): "They never gave me any reason" - "They beat me more when I asked them to stop" - "I have read in the newspapers ... they help you go home" - Second arrest (June 1, 2004): "How bad could 15 days be?" - To Va Vi (June 14, 2004): Another commitment - Release (September 14, 2004). -- The evolution of Vietnam's approach to street children. 1980s: institutionalization - New directions in the 1990s - Drop-in centers and street-based services - Ongoing institutionalization and street sweeps - The 2003 crackdown - 2004: more policies, little action - The situation now. -- Human rights abuses of street children. Round-up campaigns - Police custody - Detention at Dong Dau Social Protection Center - Abuses at Dong Dau - Detention at Va Vi Social Protection Center. -- Violations of national and international standards. -- Conclusion and recommendations. To the Vietnamese government - To UN agencies. and donor governments. -- Appendix A. -- Appendix B.

Within the last twenty years a large-scale bottom-up privatization has taken place in Vietnam, changing and dismantling the public health care system. This process has led to severe tensions inherent in the transitional society of Vietnam between equity and access to health care support - especially for the poor, elderly, migrants, and ethnic minorities - on the one hand, and its efficiency on the other hand. The book traces the reform efforts to modernize the health care system by the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Vietnamese government. The author bases her findings on little known primary literature and interviews with key stakeholders of the policy network involved in the reform of the health care system, thereby painting an authentic atmospheric picture of the profound changes in the health care system in Vietnam.

This paper uses regression and matching techniques to evaluate Indonesia's Social Safety Net Scholarships Program. The program aimed to prevent large numbers of children from dropping out of school as a result of the Asian economic crisis of 1998. It was expected that families would find it difficult to keep their children in school and that dropout rates would be high, as they were during the recession of the 1980s. However, dropout rates did not increase markedly, and enrollment rates have remained relatively steady. This paper examines the role played by the scholarship program in producing this result. Data were drawn from a national household survey of 100 rural villages across Indonesia, conducted in 1994 and 5 times in 1997-99. The scholarships were found to have been effective in reducing dropouts at the lower secondary school level by about three percentage points but had no discernable impact at the primary and upper secondary school levels. Analyses also examined how well the program adhered to its documented targeting design and how effective this design was in reaching the poor. The targeting criteria appear to have been followed quite closely, but this did not prevent some households with higher reported per-capita expenditures from receiving the scholarship. (Contains 23 references and data tables and figures.) (Author/SV)