What Works for Africa's Poorest: Programmes and policies for the extreme poor(Open Access)

Although great strides have been made, Africa still lags behind other parts of the world in the reduction of poverty. We now know that the poorest people rarely benefit from poverty reduction programmes, and this is especially true in some countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Microfinance programmes, for example, that can help many poor people improve their lives do not generally reach the poorest people – casual labourers in remote rural areas, ethnic and indigenous minorities, older people, widows, migrants, bonded labourers and others. As a result, NGOs and donors have started to mount programmes explicitly targeting the extreme poor, the poorest and the ultra-poor. This book follows on from What works for the Poorest: Poverty Reduction Programmes for the World's Extreme Poor and examines such initiatives in Africa. Through a set of carefully selected papers it questions why the poorest often do not benefit from poverty reduction and growth policies, analyses innovative ultra-poor programmes from around the continent, and explores the lessons that emerge from this new and important body of knowledge. What Works for Africa's poorest: poverty reduction programmes for extremely poor people contains a unique cross-section of country-specific case studies from across SSA, combined with cross-country analyses of important programmes, written by practitioners, academics and advisers. It is essential reading for researchers and students studying poverty in international development and for policy makers and programme managers involved in poverty reduction programmes.

Table of Contents:
Prelims [Preface| Foreword| Acknowledgements] Part A Who are sub-Saharan Africa’s extreme poor and how to target them 1. What works for Africa’s poorest? David Hulme and David Lawson 2.Defining, targeting, and reaching the very poor in Benin Anika Altaf and Nicky Pouw 3. Towards inclusive targeting: the Zimbabwe Harmonized Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) programme Bernd Schubert Part B Africa’s children and youth 4. Africa’s extreme poor: surviving early childhood Lawrence Ado-Kofie and David Lawson 5. Cash for care? Researching the linkages between social protection and children’s care in Rwanda Keetie Roelen, Helen Karki Chettri and Emily Delap 6. Promoting employment, protecting youth: BRAC’s Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescent Girls Programme in Uganda and Tanzania Nicola Banks Part C Getting Africa to ‘work’ 7. Female engagement in commercial agriculture, interventions, and welfare in Malawi Ralitza Dimova and Ira N. Gang 8. Effects of food assistance: evaluation of a food-for-training project in South Sudan Munshi Sulaiman 9. The role of public works in addressing poverty: lessons from recent developments in public works programming Anna McCord 10. Exploring potentials and limits of graduation: Tanzania’s Social Action Fund Usha Mishra and Emmanuel J. Mtambie 11. Do ‘graduation’ programmes work for Africa’s poorest? Stephen Devereux Part D Poverty reduction for Africa’s poorest – implementation and policy thoughts 12. Institutional and policy challenges in the implementation of social protection: the case of Nigeria Rebecca Holmes 13. The conditions for conditionality in cash transfers: does one size fit all? Luca Pellerano and Valentina Barca 14. Effective cash transfers for the poorest in Africa: a focus on supply capacity Francisco Ayala 15. Access to justice for the very poorest and marginalized in Uganda Adam Dubin and David Lawson 16. Conclusion David Hulme, David Lawson and Lawrence Ado-Kofie Index

About the Author :
David Lawson is a Research Fellow, Global Poverty Research Group and Brooks World Poverty Institute; he is an author of journal articles on poverty, health and gender. He is also the Convenor of postgraduate programmes on Development Economics at the University of Manchester. He has advised the World Bank, DfID and many governments in relation to poverty and poverty dynamics. Professor Hulme is Founder-Director of the Global Poverty Research Group and Brooks World Poverty Institute; author of numerous well-received books on poverty, rural development and development studies; Director of post graduate programmes on Development Studies at the University of Manchester; and adviser to the UN, World Bank, DfID and many governments and leading NGOs. Lawrence K. Ado-Kofie is a Research Associate at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.