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Social Protection in Low Income Countries and Fragile Situations : Challenges and Future DirectionsDemand for social protection is growing in low income countries and fragile situations. In recent years, the success of social protection (SP) interventions in middle income countries (MICs) like Brazil and Mexico, along with the series of food, fuel, and financial crises, has prompted policymakers in low income countries (LICs) and fragile situations (FSs) to examine the possibility of introducing such programs in their own countries. Flagship programs in countries as diverse as Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, and Rwanda have shown the adaptability of social protection interventions to the LIC context. Yet, despite growing levels of support for these initiatives, many challenges remain. In LICs and FSs, governments are confronted with a nexus of mutually reinforcing deficits that increase the need for SP programs and simultaneously reduce their ability to successfully respond. Governments face hard choices about the type, affordability, and sustainability of SP interventions. The paper reviews how these factors affect SP programs in these countries and identifies ways to address the deficits. It supports the establishment of resilient SP systems to address specific needs and vulnerabilities and to respond flexibly to both slow and sudden onset crises. To achieve this, both innovation and pragmatism are required in three strategic areas: (i) building the basic blocks of SP systems (e.g., targeting, payments, and monitoring and evaluation); (ii) ensuring financial sustainability; and (iii) promoting good governance and transparency. These issues suggest the possibility of a different trajectory in the development of social protection in LICs than in MICs. The implications for World Bank support include the need to focus on increasing knowledge and operational effectiveness of SP programs, fostering institutional links between multiple SP programs, and using community capacity and technological innovations to overcome bottlenecks in operations.
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Mongolia Policy Options for Pension ReformThis report was prepared in response to
 a request by the Mongolian authorities for an evaluation of
 the Mongolian pension system and policy reform options. The
 report identifies a number of design weaknesses in the
 current pension insurance scheme and needs for reform in
 response to changes in the Mongolian economy. The summary of
 this report provides a brief synopsis for key policymakers
 of the rationale for reform and policy options considered.
 The main text responds to requests by the Mongolian
 authorities for the Bank's assessment. It considers the
 design architecture and parameters of the pension insurance
 scheme, the design of non- contributory elderly social
 assistance, pension provisions for herders and the rationale
 and design options for a pension reserve fund. The
 appendices provide more detailed analysis for technical
 staff including current pension insurance parameters; needs
 and policy options for herders and other informal sector
 workers; options for establishing a pension reserve fund;
 and elaboration of the actuarial modeling methodology
 employed, key assumptions and parameters, and detailed
 findings. Mongolia's economy, labor market and fiscal
 position are undergoing rapid changes as a result of growth
 in the mining sector. These changes present both challenges
 and opportunities for reform in pension provisions.
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Matching Contributions for Pensions : A Review of International ExperienceEstablishing robust, equitable, and
 effective social protection is essential to reducing poverty
 and boosting prosperity at all levels of development. The
 demographic transition that has already transformed most
 high-income societies will exert similar and growing
 pressures on others, reinforcing the role of pensions and
 savings for old age as a central pillar of social protection
 systems. One possible solution that has emerged in recent
 years that offers the potential to overcome this challenge
 is the provision of contribution matches to provide an
 immediate and powerful incentive for participation in
 pension saving systems. Originating in several high-income
 settings there are now a number of innovations and
 substantial experience in low-income countries in using this
 design to stimulate coverage and savings. This experience
 now provides a rich opportunity for learning, not just from
 the longer experience of a few high-income countries but
 also the more meaningful South-South learning across
 developing countries.This volume, which reviews
 the experience with matching pension contributions across
 the range of countries that have used the design, makes an
 initial, but critically important investment in this
 learning process. The description and analysis of this
 experience which is the product of partnership and
 collaboration across many public and private institutions
 provide an invaluable early assessment of the design to
 inform policy makers and practitioners as well as serve as a
 model for the kind of cooperation that will be required to
 address this difficult challenge. At the World Bank, we look
 forward to being part of this learning process of how to
 best provide old-age security for all.