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Social Protection for a Changing India : Executive SummaryIndia's surge in growth and rapid
 expansion in public spending in the past decade has created
 new possibilities for its social protection system. The
 growing importance of social protection (SP) is reflected in
 the Government of India (GoI) common minimum program and
 eleventh five year plan which commit to institutionalization
 of programs as legal rights (as in the case of public works,
 through the national rural employment guarantee act),
 continued up-scaling of interventions (e.g., social pensions
 and midday meals), and proposals to expand new types of SP
 interventions to the large unorganized sector (e.g., social
 security). The report draws on existing and new data
 sources,. including analysis of: (i) administrative data;
 (ii) several rounds of the National Sample Survey (NSS)
 data; (iii) a social protection survey (SPS) undertaken for
 this report in 2006 in rural areas of Orissa, Madhya
 Pradesh, and Karnataka; (iv) dedicated surveys on social
 pensions in Karnataka (KSPS) and Rajasthan (RSPS) in 2005
 and 2006 respectively; and (v) a living standards survey
 conducted in Jharkhand in 2005 (JLSS). In addition, the
 report incorporates a rich body of secondary sources on SP
 program performance and impact by national researchers and
 government agencies.
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Social Protection in Pakistan : Managing Household Risks and VulnerabilityThe report is the result of an
 inter-institutional collaborative effort between the
 Government of Pakistan, civil society, and international
 donors. This report finds that while Pakistan implements a
 wide array of social protection programs, the effectiveness
 of these programs could be significantly improved. The
 report finds that social protection programs in Pakistan
 face important constraints in terms of coverage, targeting,
 and implementation, and inability to respond to
 vulnerability, which will need to be overcome in order that
 they can more effectively protect the poor. The report
 suggests a two-pronged approach for social protection
 reform: (i) improving the ability of safety net programs to
 reach the poor, promote exit from poverty, and respond to
 natural disasters; coupled with (ii) a longer term approach
 for strengthening social security. Considering social
 protection as a system rather than a collection of different
 programs would allow the government to curtail
 fragmentation, improve the quality of social protection
 spending, and have higher impact. Given fiscal constraints,
 the report suggests that coverage expansion first exploits
 the opportunity for efficiency improvements in current
 programs, through better targeting and reduction in
 duplication and overlap. However, the decline in real
 spending on the two main safety net programs is worrisome.
 It is therefore welcome that the government is considering
 how best to ensure adequate yet fiscally affordable spending
 on safety nets as part of its draft social protection strategy.
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Managing Risk, Promoting GrowthA growing body of evidence demonstrates
 that individuals and households experience a range of
 positive outcomes from social protection. Social protection
 increases productivity and growth. Countries can realize
 significant benefits by creating an integrated social
 protection system. Social protection is affordable in
 low-income countries despite tight budgets. While overall
 spending on social protection in Africa remains low by
 international standards, experience suggests that social
 protection programs can achieve national coverage at the
 cost of only 1 to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
 While this is only a portion of the financing required to
 operate a social protection system, it draws attention to
 what countries can achieve in the short-term. Indeed, one
 way in which existing social protection spending can be made
 significantly more efficient would be by reallocating
 existing financing for inefficient subsidies and ad hoc
 emergency food aid to predictable safety nets. At the same
 time, pursuing reforms to social security systems will
 ensure their fiscal sustainability, while expanding
 coverage. Notably, the costs of not protecting poor families
 are very high, are borne disproportionately by women and
 children, and undermine the productivity of future
 generations. The Strategy will be implemented by leveraging
 partnerships, knowledge, and the World Bank's financing
 instruments. The World Bank will continue to invest in
 analytical work to fill knowledge gaps and promote an
 evidence-based dialogue for social protection systems in
 Africa and further innovation. It will work with governments
 to build country-owned national social protection systems
 with the aim of reducing fragmentation in the sector. The
 Bank also will pay particular attention to institutional
 development and capacity building by using its lending to
 increase the coverage of successful social protection
 interventions. Throughout this work, the Bank will work in
 coordination with governments, development partners, the
 private sector, academics, civil society, and beneficiaries.