Strengthening social protection systems in advance, including benefit payment systems, poverty targeting systems, program registration systems, etc., is critical to be able to respond to shocks quickly when they happen. For example, Mongolia’s 100% electronic payment system for the universal child grants made it easy to transfer increased grants to recipients. For the poverty-targeted food stamp program, a more updated poverty targeting and streamlined digital registration system could have also extended program benefits to new beneficiaries such as vulnerable households who may have become poor and needed food support—not just the existing beneficiaries. Beyond vertical expansion for existing beneficiaries, so-called horizontal expansion to new beneficiaries has been a useful tool in other countries’ shock-responsive social protection toolbox. Revamping the poverty targeting system or digitalizing social assistance programs was beyond the scope of this EAL to provide rapid, immediate assistance, but follow-on support in these areas is being provided through the Second Shock-Responsive Social Protection Project .
Shock-Responsive Social Protection Project