TRANSFORM, an innovative training initiative that strengthens individual and institutional capacity for the management of national social protection systems in Africa, has launched a new website, redesigned and updated with the most up-to-date resources. Commissioned by the African Union, and implemented or supported by UNU-MERIT with a dozen international and national agencies including the International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Na...
A new Open Access Handbook on Social Protection Systems features contributions from UNU-MERIT researchers Franziska Gassmann, Tamara Kool and Zina Nimeh, as well as alumni Mira Bierbaum, Victor Cebotari and Eszter Timar. This Handbook provides a comprehensive and globally relevant overview of the instruments, actors and design features of social protection systems, as well as their application and impacts in practice. It is the first book that centres around system building globally, a theme tha...
Franziska Gassmann hails from Switzerland but has lived in the Netherlands for thirty years and is allowed to vote in both countries. She enjoys the Dutch political debates, but is mystified by the Participation Act or the Dutch version of referendums, among other things. “In Switzerland, referendums are our life, so to speak! And if you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain.” Research into the low end of the socioeconomic spectrum “My research is about the low end of the socioeconomic spe...
Empowering people to manage their own money with a one-off cash payment could have an enduring impact on homelessness, if the “beautifully surprising” results of a Canadian initiative are anything to go by. The New Leaf Project, a scheme led by Vancouver-based Foundations for Social Change (FSC) saw a one-off payment of CAD7,500 (around $5,600) given to 50 homeless adults, compared to a control group of 65 homeless people who did not receive any money. The initiative, which began in 2018 and was...
UNICEF Kyrgyzstan has just released two new reports co-authored by Franziska Gassmann and Eszter Timar: a multidimensional poverty assessment for the Kyrgyz Republic, and a position paper on social assistance for poor families with children. The first report proposes a national multidimensional poverty index (MPI) tailored specifically to the Kyrgyz Republic. It incorporates indicators related to health, education, food security, living conditions and monetary poverty. Such a measure provides a ...
Our institute has received the sad news of the passing away of Wolfgang Scholz in early June 2020. Wolfgang was a key member of the ILO team that collaborated with the Economics Department at Maastricht University to start a mid-career Master’s programme in Social Protection for social security professionals in Maastricht in 2001. This Master’s programme grew in scope and outreach to become what is now known as the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance. A rich source of information on the sta...
Beyond Static Inequality, Thailand “A recent study reveals that in OECD countries, children from poor families would need at least 150 years to reach the average income level, while in some developing countries such as Brazil, Colombia and South Africa, it could take as long as 300 years.” Enter keywords...
Are farmers willing to accept payments for ecosystem services? If so, what should be the mode and timing of payments? A new article examines the case of climate-smart agroforestry in Ethiopia. What is the best blend of policies to promote innovation among SMEs in traditional industries? A new article based on data from 300 SMEs in seven European regions says policymakers should promote variety in firms’ innovation efforts and capabilities. What’s the real background to the oil curse? A new...
In my dissertation, I am looking at the link between a popular form of social protection – cash transfers – and child nutrition. Previous research has shown a mixed effect, sometimes positive, sometimes no effect, so I was interested in investigating this issue in more detail. I was also interested in examining how intra-household dynamics could play a role in the impact of cash transfers on child nutrition. I used data from an impact evaluation of a cash transfer programme in Ghana (LEAP 1000) ...
A new report for the World Food Programme (WFP), co-authored by Prof. Franziska Gassmann and Eszter Timar, presents the findings of three country case studies – Armenia, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan – and provides a general overview of social protection and safety nets issues in relation to food security and nutrition outcomes in the sub-region, with a synthesis of the main trends and a set of consolidated findings and policy recommendations. This report is part of a series of scoping stud...