The Cash Dividend: The Rise of Cash Transfer Programs in Sub-Saharan Africaassimilates results of a thorough review of the recent use of cash transfer programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing from sources including program documentation, policy papers, peer-reviewed publications, and interviews, it paints a picture of the evolution and current state of cash transfers, which include unconditional and conditional cash transfers and emergency- and development-focused transfers. It presents analysis from data collected and describes broad trends in design features and implementation, including objectives, targeting, benefits, payment mechanisms, conditions, monitoring, evaluation, institutional location, program costs, and more. It also addresses political economy issues relevant to cash transfer programs, discusses the challenges to implementing cash transfer programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, and highlights lessons learned from existing African cash transfer programs. The comprehensive nature of the review, and its thorough analysis of previously unassimilated data, fills a gap in knowledge related to cash transfer programs in the region. The book is expected to benefit the donor community and domestic policymakers involved in cash transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa, guiding both program design and future research. It will help shift the debate on cash transfers in Africa from whether they are possible to how they can best be implemented."

Achieving Better Service Delivery Through Decentralization in Ethiopia examines the role decentralization has played in the improvement of human development indicators in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has made major strides in improving its human development indicators in the past 15 years, achieving significant increases in the coverage of basic education and health services in a short period of time. Improvements took place during a period of massive decentralization of fiscal resources, to the regions in 1994 and to woredas in 2002-03. The devolution of power and resources from the federal and regional governments to woredas appears to have improved the delivery of basic services. Surveys of beneficiaries reveal that they perceive that service coverage and quality have improved. Beneficiary satisfaction has increased markedly in education, and less conspicuously in water and health services. In the south, the decentralization to woredas in 2002-03 tended to narrow differences in per capita expenditures on education and health across woredas. Decentralization disproportionately favored woredas that are remote (more than 50 kilometers from a zonal capital), food-insecure, and pastoral, suggesting that decentralization has been pro-poor. Decentralization also narrowed the gap in educational outcomes between disadvantage and better-off woredas, especially in the south. Pastoral, food-insecure, and remote woredas gained in terms of the educational outcomes examined (gross enrollment rates, grade 8 examination pass rates, repetition rates, pupil-teacher ratios, and teacher-section ratios).