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"SOCIAL ACTION FUND"
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A path appears : transforming lives, creating opportunity
\"From the authors of the #1 New York Times best-selling Half the Sky, a unique and essential narrative about making a difference in the world--a roadmap to becoming a conscientious global citizen. Equal in urgency and compassion to Half the Sky, this galvanizing new book from the acclaimed husband and wife team is even more ambitious in scale: nothing less than a deep examination of people who are making the world a better place, and the myriad ways we can support them, whether with a donation of five dollars or five million, an inkling to help or a useful skill to deploy. With scrupulous research and on-the-ground reporting, the authors assay the art and science of giving--determining the current most successful local and global aid initiatives (on issues from education to inner-city violence to disease prevention), evaluating the efficiency and impact of specific approaches and charities, as well as fundraising. Most compellingly, perhaps, they show us how particular people have made a difference, and offer practical advice on how best each of us can give and what we can personally derive from doing so\"--
Book
The world bank group and the global food crisis
The unanticipated spike in international food prices in 2007-08 hit many developing countries hard. International prices for food and other agricultural products increased by more than 100 percent between early 2007 and mid-2008. Prices for food cereals more than doubled; and those for rice doubled in the space of just a few months. The food price increases were particularly hard on the poor and near-poor in developing countries, many of whom spend a large share of their income on food and have limited means to cope with price shocks. An estimated 1.29 billion people in 2008 lived on less than $1.25 a day, equivalent to 22.4 percent of the developing world population. In addition, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 923 million people were undernourished in 2007. Simulation models suggested that poverty rose by 100-200 million people and the undernourished increased by 63 million in 2008. The World Bank organized rapidly for short-term support in the crisis, launching a fast-track program of loans and grants, the Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP). The GFRP mainly targeted low-income countries, and provided detailed policy advice to governments and its own staff on how to respond to the crisis. The Bank also scaled up lending for agriculture and social protection to support the building of medium-term resilience to future food price shocks. The International Finance Corporation responded by sharply increasing access to liquidity for agribusinesses and agricultural traders in the short and medium term, as well as new programs to improve incentives for agricultural market participants. This evaluation assesses the effectiveness of the World Bank Group response in addressing the short-term impacts of the food price crisis and in enhancing the resilience of countries to future shocks.
eBook
Pathways to prosperity in rural Malawi
By most accounts, rural Malawi has lacked dynamism in the past decade. Growth has been mostly volatile, in large part due to unstable macroeconomic fundamentals evidenced by high inflation, fiscal deficits, and interest rates. When rapid economic growth has materialized, the gains have not always reached the poorest. Poverty remains high and the rural poor face significant challenges in consistently securing enough food. Several factors contribute to stubbornly high rural poverty. They include a low-productivity and non-diversified agriculture, macroeconomic and recurrent climatic shocks, limited non-farm opportunities and low returns to such activities, especially for the poor, and poor performance from some of the prominent safety net programs. The Report proposes complementary policy actions that offer a possible path for a more dynamic and prosperous rural economy. The key pillars of this comprise macroeconomic stability, increased productivity in agriculture, faster urbanization, better functioning safety nets, and more inclusive financial markets. Some recommendations call for a reorientation of existing programs such as the Malawi Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) and the Malawi Social Action Fund Public Works Program (MASAF-PWP). Others identify promising new areas of intervention, such as the introduction of digital IDs and biometric technologies to enhance the reach of mobile banking and deepen financial inclusion. Finally, and importantly, the report recommends the scaling up of investments on girls' secondary education to curb early child marriage and early child bearing among adolescents. This will empower women at home and work and bend the trajectory of fertility rates in rural areas in order to boost human development and reduce poverty.
eBook
The Malawi Social Action Fund and community development
In 1996, with credit from the International Development Agency, the concessionary lending arm of the World Bank, the Malawi government established the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) to assist the empowerment of local communities. The Fund is part of the government's poverty alleviation programme which is designed to promote employment creation and provide social and economic infrastructure. It is argued here that whilst this provides a useful experience in project management to local community members, there is a concern that ‘undeserving’ communities will be omitted.
Journal Article
Services and Surveillance
This chapter analyzes the expansion of welfare services after the Fourth Republic collapsed in 1958 and De Gaulle implemented a two-pronged solution to the Algerian war. Alongside the expansion of military and police operations—which resulted in intense bloodshed—the Fifth Republic emphasized its benevolent development project to save French Algeria. By examining the Constantine Plan in Algeria and the Social Action Fund in the metropole, chapter 5 assesses the politics of services in France and Algeria during the final years of the war. Welfare providers’ actions defied simple characterization; some participated directly in state-sponsored violence while others became eloquent and persistent critics of repression. Yet, even the ardent critics continued to fashion themselves as Algerians’ guardians and believed Algerian nationalism impeded Algerians’ inclusion in French society.
Book Chapter
The Great “Hope”
Chapter 6 examines housing policy for Algerians at the end of the war. First, it analyzes the 1959 decision to “liquidate” the bidonvilles. Clearing these shantytowns required a massive investment in family housing between 1959 and 1962, much of which came from the Social Action Fund. Even though worker-housing construction continued, family housing provided a more visible demonstration of the state’s commitment to help Algerians and its effort to shape and monitor Algerians’ behavior. Housing families became a two-step process. First, ‘un-evolved’ families received training in transitional housing projects—mobile home parks where families received gender appropriate educational preparation for life in France. If women responded well to the transformation, social workers decided they could live in HLMs. Yet, few families moved into HLMs even though the welfare network built dozens of complexes. Instead, metropolitans and escaping French colonists moved into apartments earmarked for Algerians.
Book Chapter
Social Protection and Labor at the World Bank, 2000-08
In autumn 2000, the World Bank's board approved the first ever strategy for the new social protection and labor sector, and in January 2001, the sector published the strategy. The subtitle, from safety net to springboard, indicated the World Bank's move toward a broader understanding of poverty reduction and the relationship of risk to poverty. Because risks and access to appropriate risk management instruments matter for poverty reduction and development, the strategy proposed a new conceptual framework - social risk management that will review and reform existing interventions and propose new ones to better assist the vulnerable in addressing the many risks to which they are exposed. After seven years of implementation, it was time to review the strategy and work of the areas of selected core competence: labor market, social insurance (in particular pensions), social safety nets, social funds, disability and development, and risk and vulnerability analysis. The strategic position, its development, and the results by the sector since the launch of its strategy were reviewed and presented to the World Bank's committee on development effectiveness at the end of 2007. The review included a stocktaking of the analytical work and lending operations in each of the six core competence areas. The result of this review and the six stocktaking papers are presented in this publication. They reveal the progress that the World Bank has made in understanding the importance of social risk management for poverty reduction and the critical contribution it makes to equitable and sustainable growth.
Publication
Bronwen & Yaffa (moving towards tolerance)
Against a vibrant soundtrack of punk and rap music, two extraordinary young women from Halifax create change at the grassroots level by organizing benefit rock concerts to raise money for Eastcoast Against Racism (E.A.R.). Bronwen and Yaffa have both experienced racism in their own lives and are determined to make a difference. Their message is simple to those who promote racism and those who struggle against it: 'The world is getting way out of control. We don't have to live this way. We can change it.' Together they reach out to local bands to help raise money for E.A.R., knowing that the universal language of music will speak out to, and help unite, the community. At the same time, they struggle to renew their friendship with Scott, a former, Ku Klux Klan member; he's trying to reform but he admits that there is still conflict within him. He talks about how the Klan provided him with a sense of belonging and how that can be tempting to many young people. His experience is further encouragement for the two young activists to continue to fight against racism and to practice the tolerance that they preach. As Yaffa tells Scott, 'If we don't accept you back, there's no motivation for you to leave the Klan.' Bronwen & Yaffa (Moving Towards Tolerance) chronicles the efforts of these two determined young women as they successfully rally against racism: booking a variety of bands, putting up posters, writing an information booklet, organizing a writing contest so that young people can speak their minds, talking to people in the streets, and even encouraging Scott to speak at the concert. After the show, they realize that, even though the battle is huge, 'It is possible to get your message across and people do listen ... and that's worth everything!'
Streaming Video
Unobserved Actions of Mutual Funds
Despite extensive disclosure requirements, mutual fund investors do not observe all actions of fund managers. We estimate the impact of unobserved actions on fund returns using the return gap--the difference between the reported fund return and the return on a portfolio that invests in the previously disclosed fund holdings. We document that unobserved actions of some funds persistently create value, while such actions of other funds destroy value. Our main result shows that the return gap predicts fund performance.
Journal Article
Moment or movement – the heterogeneous impact of the Black Lives Matter movement on personal and societal charitable crowdfunding campaigns
PurposeWhenever social injustice tackled by social movements receives heightened media attention, charitable crowdfunding platforms offer an opportunity to proactively advocate for equality by donating money to affected people. This research examines how the Black Lives Matter movement and the associated social protest cycle after the death of George Floyd have influenced donation behavior for campaigns with a personal goal and those with a societal goal supporting the black community.Design/methodology/approachThis paper follows a quantitative research approach by applying a quasi-experimental research design on a GoFundMe dataset. In total, 67,905 campaigns and 1,362,499 individual donations were analyzed.FindingsWe uncover a rise in donations for campaigns supporting the black community, which lasts substantially longer for campaigns with a societal than with a personal funding goal. Informed by construal level theory, we attribute this heterogeneity to changes in the level of abstractness of the problems that social movements aim to tackle.Originality/valueThis research advances the knowledge of individual donation behavior in charitable crowdfunding. Our results highlight the important role that charitable crowdfunding campaigns play in promoting social justice and anti-discrimination as part of social protest cycles.
Journal Article