Introduction

Perhaps the most significant change in antipoverty policy in developing countries has been the growth of large-scale programmes providing direct transfers in cash and in kind to families and individuals facing poverty and vulnerability, with the objective of facilitating their escape from poverty. The spread of antipoverty transfer programmes since the turn of the century has been astounding. Our estimates suggest that by 2010 between 750 million and 1 billion people in developing countries lived in households receiving antipoverty transfers (Barrientos et al, 2010). This chapter examines the growth of antipoverty transfer programmes in low and middle income countries, and assesses their potential contribution to reducing poverty and eradicating extreme poverty.

The rapid growth of antipoverty transfer programmes has taken many in the international development community by surprise (Hanlon et al, 2010). Practice has sprinted ahead of the conceptual frameworks needed to study and assess them. As a consequence, there is some uncertainty around the orientation and scope of antipoverty transfers, especially in international policy debates. Some brief comments on approach and terminology will be helpful.

From an institutional perspective, antipoverty transfers are one of the components of social protection. Social protection includes social insurance which consists of schemes financed by contributions from workers and employers aimed at addressing life course and work contingencies; social assistance which includes tax-financed programmes addressing poverty; and employment programmes, whether ‘active’, facilitating employment and training, or ‘passive’, concerned with the protection of workers’ rights.

In a developing country context, stakeholders sometimes conflate humanitarian and emergency assistance with social or public assistance.

The notion of safety nets, as employed by Bretton Woods institutions for example, makes no distinction between short-term emergency assistance and social or public assistance (Weigand et al, 2008). Humanitarian and emergency assistance has an important role to play in addressing the effects of disasters and conflict. But the recent expansion of social protection in the South is focused on establishing and developing longer-term institutions needed to eradicate poverty and deprivation.

The growth of social protection programmes has been swift in middle income countries, which is of great importance given the fact that a majority of poor people in the world lives in middle income countries. Progress has been slower in low income countries.