2. Social safety nets, or
"socioeconomic safety
nets", are non-
contributory transfer
programs seeking to
prevent the poor or
those vulnerable to
shocks and poverty
from falling below a
certain poverty level.
Safety net programs
can be provided by
the public sector or
by the private sector.
3. Cash transfers,
Food-based programs such as supplementary
feeding programs and food
stamps, vouchers, and coupons,
In-kind transfers such as school supplies and
uniforms,
Conditional cash transfers,
Price subsidies for food, electricity, or public
transport,
Public works,
Fee waivers and exemptions for health
care, schooling and utilities.
4.
5. Food-based safety net programs
support adequate consumption and
contribute to improving nutrition and
securing livelihoods. They differ from
other safety net programs in that they are
tied to the provision of food, either
directly or through cash-like instruments
(food stamps, coupons) that may be used
to purchase food.
6.
7. Supplementary feeding programs provide a
direct transfer of food to target households or
individuals. The food may be prepared and eaten
on-site (e.g., in child feeding centers or at
schools), or given as a dry ration to take home.
School feeding programs encourage children’s
enrollment and improve their ability to pay
attention in class.
Food for work (FFW) programs provide food
rations in exchange for a given amount of work
done.
Emergency food distribution includes direct
provision of food, supplementary feeding for
vulnerable groups, and therapeutic feeding
during crises, emergencies and situations in
which people are displaced.
Food stamps, vouchers, and coupons are near-
cash paper tokens targeted to poor
householdsthat they can use to purchase food at
authorized retail locations.
8.
9. Safety nets are part of a broader poverty
reduction strategy interacting with and
working alongside of social insurance;
health, education, and financial services; the
provision of utilities and roads; and other
policies aimed at reducing poverty and
managing risk.
10. Safety net programs can play four roles in
development policy:
Safety nets redistribute income to the poorest and
most vulnerable, with an immediate impact on
poverty and inequality.
Safety nets enable households to make productive
investments in their future that they may otherwise
miss, e.g. education, health, income generating
opportunities.
Safety nets help households manage risk, at least
offsetting harmful coping strategies and at most
providing an insurance function which improves
livelihood options.
Safety nets allow governments to make choices that
support efficiency and growth.
11.
12. Welfare is the provision of a
minimal level of well-being and
social support for all
citizens, sometimes referred to as
public aid. In most developed
countries, welfare is largely
provided by the government, in
addition to charities, informal social
groups, religious groups, and inter-
governmental organizations.
13. The United States would be the only
industrialized country that went into the
Great Depression with no social insurance
policies in place. It was not until 1935 that
significant, if conservative by European
standards, social insurance policies were
finally instituted under Franklin D.
Roosevelt's New Deal. In 1938, the Fair Labor
Standards Act, limiting the work week to 40
hours and banning child labor for children
under 16, was passed over stiff congressional
opposition. The price of passage of the New
Deal's Social Security and Fair Labor acts was
the exclusion of domestic, agricultural, and
restaurant workers, who were largely
African-American, from social security
benefits and labor protections.
14.
15. In the United States, Social Security
refers to the Old-Age, Survivors, and
Disability Insurance federal program. The
original Social Security Act (1935) and the
current version of the Act, as
amended, encompass several social welfare
and social insurance programs.
Social Security is currently estimated to
keep roughly 40 percent of all Americans age
65 or older out of poverty. The Social
Security Administration is headquartered in
Woodlawn, Maryland, just west of Baltimore.
16.
17. Federal Old-Age (Retirement), Survivors, and
Disability Insurance,
Unemployment benefits,
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Health Insurance for Aged and Disabled
(Medicare)
Grants to States for Medical Assistance Programs
(Medicaid)
State Children's Health Insurance Program
(SCHIP)
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
18. The earliest age at which (reduced) benefits
are payable is 62. Full retirement benefits
depend on a retiree's year of birth.
19.
20. Children of a retired, disabled or
deceased worker receive benefits as a
"dependent" or "survivor" if they are under
the age of 18, or as long as attending primary
or secondary school up to age 19 years, 2
months; or are over the age of 18 and were
disabled before the age of 22.
21. A side effect of the Social Security program in
the United States has been the near-universal
adoption of the program's identification
number, the Social Security number, as the de
facto U.S. national identification number. The
government originally stated that the SSN would
not be a means of identification, but currently a
multitude of U.S. entities use the Social Security
number as a personal identifier. These include
government agencies such as the Internal
Revenue Service, the military as well as private
agencies such as banks, colleges and
universities, health insurance companies, and
employers.
22.
23.
24. In the U.S., programs that meet these
definitions include Social
Security, Medicare, the PBGC program, the
railroad retirement program and state-
sponsored unemployment insurance
programs.
25.
26. the benefits, eligibility requirements and
other aspects of the program are defined by
statute;
explicit provision is made to account for the
income and expenses (often through a trust
fund);
it is funded by taxes or premiums paid by (or
on behalf of) participants (although
additional sources of funding may be
provided as well);
the program serves a defined population, and
participation is either compulsory or the
program is heavily enough subsidized that
most eligible individuals choose to
participate.
27. Typical similarities between social
insurance programs and private insurance
programs include:
Wide pooling of risks;
Specific definitions of the benefits provided;
Specific definitions of eligibility rules and the
amount of coverage provided;
Specific premium, contribution or tax rates
required to meet the expected costs of the
system.
28. Typical differences between private insurance
programs and social insurance programs
include:
Participation in private insurance programs is
often voluntary,
The right to benefits in a private insurance
program is contractual, based on an
insurance contract,
private insurance is fully funded, but this is
not always true.