This report presents the livelihoods reference profiles in seven food economy zones (FEZs) of Zimbabwe between June 2006 and July 2007. It also builds on some of the analysis conducted over the last five years since June 2001.

This report sets out the livelihood baseline profiles developed during participatory field assessments in July and August 2006 in all of the livelihood zones in rural and periurban Swaziland. This report builds on the initial analysis generated in 1998 and 2002 with the additional analyses in November 2003 and April 2004.

The Lesotho Vulnerability Assessment Committee (LVAC) is a government led multi disciplinary committee responsible for livelihood vulnerability analysis and aims to provide timely analysis for emergency interventions as well as long term programming.

This presents the results of an exercise commissioned by DFID in 2005 to test the feasibility of comparing the cost-efficiency of alternative social transfer instruments using common indicators, based on available data for recent schemes in Malawi and Zambia as case studies.

Are development programs reaching those most in need, or are they primarily benefiting those who are easier to reach, leaving the very poorest behind?

Global Hunger Index: Facts, determinants, and trends - Measures being taken to reduce acute undernourishment and chronic hunger

Although it is commonly assumed that rural households will be buffered from the effects of global food prices, they are in fact extremely vulnerable to rising food prices.

RHVP Programme Director, Nicholas Freeland, was one of the speakers at this conference - the objective of which was to better understand the potential role of social protection in addressing food security, and the logic behind the idea of social transfers within the access to food component.

This briefing explores the policy processes that led to the creation of Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP)-the largest social protection programme in Africa. It examines the openings, hurdles and incentives Government and donors faced in forging consensus on the PSNP.

The African Union Commission, in collaboration with Help Age International, convened the first of its series of three Regional Expert Meetings on social protection in Kampala, Uganda from 28th to 30th April 2008. The meeting reviewed progress, challenges and opportunities to extend social protection across Africa.

The concept and practice of social protection in developing countries has advanced at an astonishing pace over the last decade or so. There is a growing consensus around the view that social protection constitutes an effective response to poverty and vulnerability in developing countries, and an essential component of economic and social development strategies.

The rise in food prices poses a threat to food security in developing countries, and calls for urgent coordinated action by the international community and in particular by the United Nations.

This study is based on the premise that Brazil is a best-case study for examining the implementation of a social grant system in the SADC region.

Universal non-means-tested pensions automatically protect an entire population, in a way that contributory, earnings-related pensions never can. The author examines the value of this scheme for low-income countries and argues that an income test, if desired, is best done ex post through the tax system rather than ex ante, even though there are few examples of ex post recovery systems operating in the world today.

This paper presents findings from a HSRC Survey which examined attitudes around issues relating to the importance of work and the relationship between social grants and employment. The findings demonstrate a strong attachment to the labour market among the unemployed, support for more financial assistance for poor people including those who are unable to find work, and no evidence that social grants in South Africa foster a 'dependency culture'.

Since its transition to democracy in 1994, the South African government has embarked on an ambitious reform programme to improve the economic situation of its historically disadvantaged population. Its commitment to poverty reduction has resulted in a plethora of initiatives designed to achieve better living standards and enhanced opportunities for its poorest citizens. But are they sustainable?

This report evaluates the 2006/7 Malawi Government Agricultural Input Subsidy Programme (AISP). The main objective of the evaluation is to assess the impact and implementation of the AISP in order to provide lessons for future interventions in growth and social protection.

We know that the world can afford to make a right to social security a reality not just a dream. According to ILO calculations, less than 2 per cent of global GDP would be necessary to provide a basic set of social security benefits to all of the world's poor.

This paper is a synthesis of emerging evidence on the following aspects of social transfers: potential to contribute to achieving the MDGs; links to economic growth and economic reform; rates of return and cost effectiveness; and affordability in low income contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to share experiences and information about the Mchinji Social Cash Transfer Pilot Scheme in Malawi and its role as the Malawi Social Protection Policy and Framework is being

developed. Lessons learned in the process of designing and initiating the Pilot Scheme are presented to stimulate debate as to why different categories of vulnerable people require different types of social protection interventions, with Social Cash Transfers in particular.

Economic, moral and political reasons may underlie the choice between targeting and universal models of social provision. In the debate about universal versus targeted solutions for combating poverty and social exclusion, many have called for targeted interventions, arguing that they are an effective way to reach the poor while maintaining budgetary restraint.

The primary purpose of the study is "to examine the effectiveness of the current community-based targeting system, and compare it with alternative methods suited to the Zambian context." The study will guide longer-term strategies for the scaling up process and inform the Technical Working Group on Social Assistance (TWG-SA), ensuring that the trade-offs between cost, accuracy and feasibility of the various targeting methods are fully understood.

An important historical record of one part of post-apartheid South Africa's policymaking, this book charts the generation of the Report of the Lund Committee, which ultimately resulted in the establishment of the Child Support Grant (CSG) in post-apartheid South Africa.

This report presents the findings and conclusions of a team which studied the feasibility of using cash based interventions as part of a humanitarian response in Lesotho for 2007/8.

The paper analyses the food security situation in southern Africa in 2007/08 from markets and trade perspective. This is based on analyses of secondary information from wide ranging sources including

recent assessments.

• an assessment of changes at sequential levels
• changes in understanding of the problem
• how this has been incorporated into policy,
• and how programming has changed to align with the stated policy objectives and the underlying analysis.

1. Looking at Social Protection Through a Livelihoods Lens: introduction to the paper written by Stephen Devereux
2. Developing a Social Protection Index for Asia: written by Bob Baulch
3. Child Poverty and Cash Transfers: written by Armando Barrientos and Jocelyn DeJong
4. Unconditional Cash Transfers in Africa: written by Stephen Devereux
5. Social Protection for Informal Workers: written by Armando Barrientos and Stephanie Ware Barrientos
6. Transformative Social Protection: written by Stephen Devereux and Rachel Sabates-Wheeler
7. Reconciling Different Concepts of Risk and Vulnerability: written by Lawrence Haddad and Rachel Sabates-Wheeler
8. Social Assistance in Developing Countries (SADC) Database: written by Armando Barrientos and Rebecca Holmes
9. Each article investigates the issues and provides further recommended readings.

• African governments will put together costed national cash transfer plans within the next three years. These will be integrated within national development plans and budgets.
• Social protection programmes, including social pensions and cash transfers to vulnerable children, older persons and their dependants and people with disabilities, will be used more in response to poverty in African countries.
• Reliable long-term funding for social protection will use financial resources both from national budgets and development partners.
• Greater cooperation between African and other countries will facilitate the exchange of information, experiences and action on social protection and cash transfers.

• high levels of poverty act as a brake on addressing unemployment, as they affect demand for locally produced goods and services - South Africa is still importing at a higher rate than it is exporting which needs to be addressed
• eliminating the current poverty-unemployment nexus requires a re-focus from pursuing higher levels of economic growth to a more rounded understanding of the social and economic structure of society
• there is an urgent need to expand the cover of social security as unemployment continues to rise - social spending must be appreciated as an investment and not as soft spending, as adequate social security is a constitutional right
• there is a need to move beyond ideologically entrenched notions inherited from liberal democracies and ask the bold question of what a developmental state facing these challenges needs to be doing.

• knowledge about the disease and how to protect oneself from it is widespread
• attitudes towards e.g. commercial sex, multiple sex partners and extra-marital sex are changing
• sexual behaviour is gradually changing
• emerging cooperation between government institutions and community-based organisations
• good prospects for international support
• continued medical progress
• future reversal in the demographic trend to a higher share of the population in the most productive age groups

• increased poverty and vulnerability at the household level
• an increased number of orphans
• shortage of human and financial resources and institutional capacity
• higher costs of production
• further erosion of Malawi?s international competitiveness
• the deep-rooted tradition of male dominance in the Malawian society

• prevention care must dare to address sensitive issues while avoiding antagonising traditional customs and authorities
• education and information about sexual and reproductive rights must go beyond simple slogans to deeper issues related to myths, prejudice, and norms of sexual behaviour. Faith and community-based organisation, traditional authorities and healers need to be included in this process
• extra-marital unprotected sex must be stigmatised
• support from the highest political leadership is essential
• education and information about sexual behaviour must be accompanied and backed by legislation
• women?s economic and social empowerment is crucial for sustained progress
• existing voluntary counseling and testing VCT facilities need to be expanded
• improved distribution of condoms
• improved treatment of other sexually transmitted diseases

• given the human resource constraints in Malawi, donor procedures should be harmonised and streamlined
• donors should commit their support for a period of at least 10 years.

• After the agencies have had time to consider the recommendations and their implications, the DEC to hold a meeting in three months? time to discuss which of the recommendations the DEC agencies as a body accept, and how they plan to implement them. The plan from this meeting to be placed on the public area of the DEC site.
• The DEC to hold a further meeting in twelve months time to review the progress in implementing the recommendations. The minutes of this meeting again to be published on the DEC website.

• national ownership and development partner commitment to a national process
• partnerships for improved analysis
• responsiveness to user needs
• accountability
• use of the most cost-effective methods
• consensus-building in analysis of the food situation and appropriate response options
• linkages to long-term development programming.