Reducing Vulnerability and Increasing Opportunity: Social Protection in Middle East and North AfricaWorld Bank Publications, 2002 - 170 pages The economies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are diverse in many ways, making it difficult to develop a common social protection strategy. Countries differ in size and per capita income. There are differences between urban/rural populations, agricultural/non-farm employment, and the structure of output between oil/non-oil economies. However, the countries of the MENA region share key socioeconomic characteristics and their social protection systems also confront similar design and implementation problems. This report provides a framework for an integrated approach to social protection. It also proposes general recommendations to guide the reform of social protection systems in the MENA region. The report is organized into four chapters which cover highlighting social risks and policy challenges; evaluating formal and informal social protection systems in the MENA region; strategic directions for enhancing these social protection systems; and the World Bank's contribution to social protection in the MENA region. The aim of this report is to contribute to a better-informed and more focused debate on social protection at the national, regional, and international levels. |
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agricultural Algeria ALMPs Arab Rep Asia and Pacific assess Bank and Gaza benefits Caribbean contributions costs dependency ratios Djibouti East and North East Asia economic efficiency Egypt employment Europe and Central financing food subsidies formal governments growth rates households impact improve income increase infrastructure investment Iran Islamic Rep Islamic Republic Jordan Labor Force labor market Latin America Lebanon low-income mechanisms MENA countries MENA region ment microfinance Middle East million Morocco North Africa Pension Fund pension systems Percentage poor population groups poverty line private sector production programs public sector PWPs reduce reform Republic of Iran Republic of Yemen rural areas share social assistance social funds social insurance social protection systems social risks Source South Asia strategy Sub-Saharan Africa sustainable TABLE targeting Tunisia U.S. dollars unemployed urban vulnerable wages West Bank workers World Bank Zakat
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Page xvi - UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNDP................ United Nations Development Programme UNESCO .......... United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization UNGOMAP.
Page 156 - The concentration ratio is the ratio of the area between the Lorenz curve and the diagonal to the area under the diagonal. A concentration ratio of zero implies perfect equality and a ratio of unity implies complete inequality. The figures cited are from Ojha and Bhatt, "Income Distribution," American Economic Review, Table I, p.
Page 115 - Life expectancy at blrth is the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.
Page 115 - The infant mortality rate is the number of infants who die before reaching one year of age, per thousand live births in a given year. The data are from a variety of sources— including issues of the UN Demographic Yearbook and Population and Vital Statistics Report; and UN, "Infant Mortality: World Estimates and Projections, 1950-2025...
Page 113 - Percentage of population with access to safe water is the share of the population with reasonable access to an adequate amount of safe water (including treated surface water and untreated but uncontaminated water, such as from springs, sanitary wells, and protected boreholes).
Page 113 - Percentage of population with access to sanitation is the share of the population with at least adequate excreta disposal facilities that can effectively prevent human, animal, and insect contact with excreta. Suitable facilities range from simple but protected pit latrines to flush toilets with a sewerage connection.
Page 122 - ILO definition of the economically active population: all people who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period. It includes both the employed and the unemployed.
Page 66 - ... with high deadweight and displacement effects rendering the "net" effects of these programs to be quite low. The failure rate of these businesses are quite high in most cases (though businesses assisted through mentoring and business counseling are more likely to succeed). As in the case of training, assistance targeted at particular groups - in this case women and older individuals - seems to have a greater likelihood of success. Program Failure Rate of Businesses Australia (New Enterprise Initiative,...
Page 156 - The difference between the volume of water delivered to a supply system and the volume of water accounted for by legitimate consumption, whether metered or not (or the measured volume of supplied water that is produced or treated less the water that is consumed legitimately, the difference being what is stolen or lost).
Page 66 - ... social exclusion among older workers and single mothers. In summary, evidence indicates that these programs are not likely to be effective; substantial deadweight and substitution effects are associated with them. Wage and employment outcomes of participants are also generally no better than that for a control group. Careful targeting can reduce, but not eliminate, substitution and deadweight effects, and further controls may be necessary to ensure that firms do not misuse this program as a permanent...