Economic Reforms and the Poor : Social Action Programs and Social Funds in Sub-Saharan Africa

[摘要] For many African countries, and fordeveloping countries in other regions, the latter half ofthe 1980s was a turning point in the struggle to alleviatepoverty. In response to a marked deterioration in the livingstandards of the poor, caused by an economic crisis and theausterity measures instituted to control it, governmentsadded explicit poverty alleviation objectives to theirdevelopment policies. In cooperation with external agencies,they began to design and implement interventions such associal action programs (SAPs) and social funds (SFs) toprotect the poor and some vulnerable groups from the harmfuleffects of the economic situation and from the transitorynegative effects of economic reform. There has been agrowing acceptance of these interventions in Africa as theWorld Bank has placed greater emphasis on protecting thepoor during adjustment. The present study previewed in thisbrief, reviews the experience of twelve SAPs and SFs insub-Saharan Africa. Because a number of the programs arestill in progress at this writing, it is too soon to analyzetheir effects on poverty reduction in depth. However,performance information is increasingly available on theimplementation of these programs. This report is based ondata gathered from project documents and task managers ofthe projects and on findings by the authors during field visits.

[发布机构] World Bank, Washington, DC

[学科分类] 社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

[关键词] BENEFICIARIES;BENEFICIARY ASSESSMENTS;DEVELOPMENT POLICIES;ECONOMIC SITUATION;FOOD SECURITY