Editorial»
Targeting criteria for poverty alleviation fund
JAN 17 - Targeting is an issue of increasing inter
est in an environment of tighter fiscal
policies, shrinking donor grants, and decreasing share of development expenditure in Nepal. The 10th Plan builds on four strategic pillars, including targeted programmes and social inclusion for the poor and disadvantaged populations. Implicit in the Plan is the recognition that Mid- and Far-Western development regions are the most disadvantaged areas, and women, Dalit and Janjatis are the disadvantaged groups where and for whom the targeted programmes are to be imple- mented.
Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) is an umbrella programme designed for strengthening all targeted projects/activities. Collecting resources from government organisations, donor countries and agencies, PAF will mobilise local institutions to implement poverty reduction programmes and projects. As an autonomous institution, the PAF’s target beneficiaries are the population below poverty line. However, the success of PAF depends on how effectively it is targeted.
PAF office has recently been set up, and its operational and financial manuals/guidelines are under preparation. To help in the preparation of the manuals, a brainstorming session on different aspects of PAF including targeting has recently been organised. Inspired from that Session the author writes this note with the expectation that it can give some feedback to the concerned stakeholders preparing targeting criteria of PAF.
PAF targeting criteria
PAF outlines two types of targeting and also recognises the need for different criteria of targeting for its two types of sub-projects: income generating and infrastructure. The household level targeting criteria for income generating sub-projects recognise that Nepal’s poverty is still income/asset-based poverty and is concentrated in rural areas and disadvantaged groups of population. Moreover, PAF opts for poverty ranking for prioritisation of VDCs. The criteria pointed in PAF document ~ ~ are to be refined, and it is expected that its operational manuals will provide explicit targeting criteria.
Suggested criteria for PAF interventions
There could be two types of targeting: geographic and household. Since targeting at regional level is obvious in the 10th plan, this note provides targeting criteria for the other three levels: district, VDC/settlement and household. However, in view of the fact that the poor are everywhere in Nepal, targeting at lower level (VDC/settlement) is of more concern than that of regional or district level targeting.
District level targeting
It is suggested that following criteria could be used to select districts: (i) proportion of population below national poverty line; (ii) district level Human Development Index (HDI); (iii) district poverty index/formula prepared by Ministry of Local Development, and by the Central Bureau of Statistics; (iv) proportion of underweight children under five years; (v) proportion of adult illiterate women; (vi) per capita availability of basic infrastructures, such as road density; and (vii) proportion of disadvantaged groups of population including Dalit and Janjati.
Excluding the first two criteria, all other can be updated based on the currently available data from population census 2001, Nepal Demographic Health Survey 2001 and records of concerned ministries. As to the criteria of proportion of population below national poverty line, pooling of census and NLSS data is necessary for providing district level estimates of poverty. In 1997, ICIMOD and SNV prepared district profiles based on 39 development indicators and ranked all 75 districts of the country. Updating of these profiles has recently been undertaken jointly with CBS, which can also help in selecting districts for PAF interventions.
VDC/Settlement level targeting
Targeting of VDCs and settlements is of greater concern than targeting of districts because of lack of quality and disaggregated data within district, and little analysis of whatever district level data exist currently. However, targeting at VDC or down to settlement level could be done by holding participatory discussions on some criteria related to following features with district stakeholders: (i) environmental features (including topography, climate and natural risks and hazards); (ii) social characteristics (education, caste/ethnicity/social groups); (iii) access to infrastructure, utilities and services (road, communication, schools, hospitals, extension services, market facility, etc.); and (iv) economic characteristics.
However, before such participatory discussions, VDC level poverty mapping, GIS maps of Participatory District Development and Local Governance Programmes (PDDP and LGP), and socio-economic information of district line agencies including those of DDCs, I/NGOs need to be analysed and used to guide such participatory discussions.
Household level targeting
Once VDCs or settlements are identified, following criteria with some modifications as per the specific features of a settlement could be used for screening beneficiary households within that settlement: (i) proportion of able-bodied labour; (ii) size and quality of landholding; (iii) size of animal holding; (iv) access to service or pension income or foreign remittances; (v) working as wage labour or not; (vi) reliance on tenancy arrangement or not; and (vii) whether from disadvantaged groups or not. It is suggested that wealth ranking be performed for identifying poor households within a target settlement rather than prioritising VDCs in a district as suggested by PAF, so as to make targeting timely and cost efficient.
As to the community assets or infrastructures sub-projects under PAF, it may be difficult to apply targeting at household level by the existing administrative means, and therefore self-targeting and community targeting mechanisms using participatory approaches are to be used. Moreover, if the geographical targeting down to the community level is efficient or if the target population is properly defined, and if measures are adopted to reduce targeting leakage, then even random distribution of benefits at settlement level could result into higher coverage and higher social impact of PAF’s infrastructure sub-projects.
Intra-household level targeting
At intra-household level, women have been identified as a disadvantaged group of population in Nepal. Pregnant women, nursing and lactating mothers, young children, old, sick and disabled people are generally more insecure than other members of households. Once poor households are identified, separate criteria are not required for intra-household level targeting. What is required is the implementation of those projects that benefit such disadvantaged members of households. Thus, targeting is not only related to the selection of target beneficiaries but also selection of sub-projects in the PAF. Use of self-targeting mechanism and selection of those infrastructure sub-projects which are more benefiting to women and other disadvantaged groups of population need to be selected.
Conclusion
Improved targeting is a prerequisite for all interventions. In fact, it is difficult to separate concerns for improved targeting from those for improved overall programme design. Therefore, targeting of PAF also depends on the types of sub-projects to be supported under it. Under the geographic targeting, ranking of districts can be done by using district profiles, district poverty mapping and HDI. The selection of target VDCs or settlements is more difficult than the selection of districts. An analysis of existing data and information such as poverty mapping at VDC level, GIS maps of PDDP/LGP, data repository in DDCs and line ministries, and consultation with the government line agencies together with civil societies including I/NGOs could help identify and rank VDCs of a targeted district. Finally, as to the selection of poor households in a settlement or VDC, use of participatory approaches and tools such as wealth ranking complemented with VDC records on household assets is necessary. It is expected that the criteria suggested here contribute to the refinement of PAF criteria so that government’s pro-poor spending reaches at the poor and disadvantaged, and thus contributes to the sole goal of the poverty reduction of Nepal. Posted on: 2004-01-18 02:53
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