Art Appraisal Blog

Nations worldwide have responded to COVID-19 through 1,100 social protection programs to help 1.8 billion-plus people. Yet recipients are largely in the dark about the programs and do not know how to access funds. This blog examines the importance of better communication around social protection programs, particularly for the vulnerable population.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the low- and moderate-income (LMI) segment had a direct impact on their day-to-day life. We reflect through Kabita, an LMI customer in Bangladesh, on the barriers LMIs faced during the pandemic and how DFS nudged them towards building resilience.

COVID-19 has seen governments across the globe walk a tightrope as they scramble to contain the spread of the disease while keeping the economy stable. In this unprecedented situation, ground-level data for evidence-based decision-making assumes critical significance. This blog looks at five key lessons from MSC’s research on COVID-19.

The blog highlights the road ahead for the Indian government’s new program—One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC). The objective of the program is to build upon the digitization of the Public Distribution System (PDS) for foodgrains with a focus on beneficiary-centric reforms.

New or scaled-up COVID-19 social assistance in the form of cash transfers now reaches nearly 1.1 billion beneficiaries, one in every six people in the world. In a new CGD policy paper, we draw on early evidence from selected countries on the use of digital technology to implement these government-to-people (G2P) social transfer programs.

For government-to-person payments to truly benefit the most vulnerable during COVID-19, they must tackle the inequalities that women are facing due to the pandemic.

The financial impact of COVID-19 has been hitting the poor. Governments are adjusting cash transfer programs and utilizing national payment systems to mitigate these negative impacts. This blog reviews responses from Latin America, Asia and Sub Saharan Africa where governments with limited resources are coming up with innovative solutions to the crisis.

Advances in payment infrastructure are enabling governments to channel payments through multiple providers, giving people greater choice over how to receive payments. This is an important shift with implications for financial services providers, recipients of government payments and financial inclusion.

Digital payments are central to the global COVID-19 response, but the agent networks that distribute these funds are struggling to remain open. Here are three questions policy makers must answer to ensure agents reach as many people as possible.

As COVID-19 accelerates the shift to digital finance, we need to make sure women are not excluded.