A synopsis of ‘Revisiting Targeting in Social Assistance: A New Look at Old Dilemmas’

• There is a strong consensus around the need to reduce poverty and inequality and a drive toward Universal Social Protection (USP) as part of the Sustainable Development Goals to be met by 2030, a goal shared by governments around the world and supported by the World Bank as part of the USP 2030 initiative.1 • Hundreds of social programs around the world differentiate eligibility and/or benefits in various ways, for example, regions of residence, individual or household characteristics, social vulnerabilities or welfare, or a combination of these, and nearly every country has at least one poverty-targeted social assistance program, and often one or more of these are flagship programs of high profile. • The job of targeting individuals or groups is difficult and there are many criteria and metrics with which success or lack thereof can be gauged. Thus, the issue of whether current practice is acceptable, can be improved upon or should be abandoned recurs in instance after instance.