One Step Beyond: From Social Protection Recipients to Citizens

This article confronts theoretical links between rights, citizenship and social protection, reviewing discourses on rights and citizenship and revealing fault?lines and trade?offs. Through the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP), Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) cases, it outlines the political conditions for the uptake of social policies. It reviews the scope of action of civil society, governments and donors and their impacts on the politics of accountability, attempting to outline a role for social protection as a means to inclusive and democratic citizenship

Poverty-Centred Rural Road Funds Sharing in Sub-Saharan Africa

Poverty-centred allocation of funds for rural roads and their systematic prioritisation are important to enhance sustainability, provide equality of transport opportunities and mitigate poverty. The aim of this work was to investigate and develop new approaches with specific emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa, given that the existing decision systems do not appropriately consider social impacts and poverty. An understanding of rural road funds allocation and road scheme prioritisation to alleviate poverty is important as road transport is by far the most predominant form of transport in Africa. This study developed new allocation and prioritisation processes for rural roads based on expert opinion surveys and empirical evidence, which were then applied to analyse allocation and road scheme selection processes used in Uganda and Ghana. The study found that the multi-dimensional poverty index is the most highly prioritised factor in rural road scheme selection and, for regional rural road funds sharing, poverty is equally weighted with the rural accessibility index. A goal programming model, based on expert opinion weightings, is recommended for poverty alleviation

Adaptive Social Protection in Rwanda: ‘Climate?proofing’ the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme

Rwanda has a high rate of rural poverty, population density and pressures on its natural resource base. One government response has been a social protection intervention, the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP). VUP provides ‘public works’ employment for members of extremely poor households with able?bodied members, and ‘direct support’ cash transfers for poor households without members who can work. Many public works projects focus on environmental protection. VUP also promotes risk reduction activities related to food security and related health or nutrition issues. With increasing weather?related hazards and possibly climate change, administrators recognise the need to ‘climate?proof’ VUP in a manner that integrates social protection with disaster risk management, climate change adaptation and food security. This article highlights the potential for social protection policies and programmes in Rwanda to increase household and community resilience, by applying concepts of adaptive social protection and ‘no regrets’ approaches in a territorial context