Targeting the poor using community information

Ashok, S.

doi:10.1016/s0304-3878(02)00053-6

Cited by 25 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The same exercise was performed in Ghana by Aryeetey who also used the community concepts of poverty to provide premium exemptions in Ghana National Health insurance scheme [46]. Many other authors have also used this community-based definition of poverty to target the poor [39,55,63,80]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This complexity increases where participatory methods are used and framed in building on the indicators of poverty defined by the target population [36-41]. Indeed in the 1990s, emphasis was put on how poor people themselves viewed their situation [20,39,42]. The local population that lives and works in the same community is in a position to observe the economic status of fellow community members over a long period and can be considered to be a better judge to assess levels of wealth [43-46].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Community-based definitions of poverty were required in various rural settings to target poor people and to address poverty issues. Indeed, Rai showed how Governments and aid agencies could reduce the costs in targeting the poor by using community information [39]. Community concepts of poverty have been used to provide premium exemption in the Ghana National Health Insurance Scheme [46].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Using a community-based definition of poverty for targeting poor households for premium subsidies in the context of a community health insurance in Burkina Faso

et al. 2015

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BackgroundOne of the biggest challenges in subsidizing premiums of poor households for community health insurance is the identification and selection of these households. Generally, poverty assessments in developing countries are based on monetary terms. The household is regarded as poor if its income or consumption is lower than a predefined poverty cut-off. These measures fail to recognize the multi-dimensional character of poverty, ignoring community members’ perception and understanding of poverty, leaving them voiceless and powerless in the identification process. Realizing this, the steering committee of Nouna’s health insurance devised a method to involve community members to better define ‘perceived’ poverty, using this as a key element for the poor selection. The community-identified poor were then used to effectively target premium subsidies for the insurance scheme.MethodsThe study was conducted in the Nouna’s Health District located in northwest Burkina Faso. Participants in each village were selected to take part in focus-group discussions (FGD) organized in 41 villages and 7 sectors of Nouna’s town to discuss criteria and perceptions of poverty. The discussions were audio recorded, transcribed and analyzed in French using the software NVivo 9.ResultsFrom the FGD on poverty and the subjective definitions and perceptions of the community members, we found that poverty was mainly seen as scarcity of basic needs, vulnerability, deprivation of capacities, powerlessness, voicelessness, indecent living conditions, and absence of social capital and community networks for support in times of need. Criteria and poverty groups as described by community members can be used to identify poor who can then be targeted for subsidies.ConclusionPolicies targeting the poorest require the establishment of effective selection strategies. These policies are well-conditioned by proper identification of the poor people. Community perceptions and criteria of poverty are grounded in reality, to better appreciate the issue. It is crucial to take these perceptions into account in undertaking community development actions which target the poor. For most community-based health insurance schemes with limited financial resources, using a community-based definition of poverty in the targeting of the poorest might be a less costly alternative.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-014-1335-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Using a community-based definition of poverty for targeting poor households for premium subsidies in the context of a community health insurance in Burkina Faso

et al. 2015

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“…Hoddinott (1999) raises similar concerns in a review of targeting methods for food security and Abraham and Platteau (2000) discuss a number of reasons for why local information flows may be limited and local informants may be reluctant to provide information to outsiders. Rai (2000) approaches the issue theoretically, arguing that mechanisms designed to get community members to truthfully reveal information about others are vulnerable to collusion, particularly under a soft budget constraint. However Adams et al (1997) found that group ratings in Bangladesh were quite consistent with rankings arrived at through proxy means indicators constructed from a much more expensive household survey.…”

Section: Better Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-Based Targeting Mechanisms for Social Safety Nets: A Critical Review

2002

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This paper interprets case studies and theory on community involvement in beneficiary selection and benefit delivery for social safety nets. Several considerations should be carefully balanced in assessing the advantages of using community groups as targeting agents. First, benefits from utilizing local information and social capital may be eroded by costly rent-seeking. Second, the potential improvement in targeting criteria from incorporating local notions of deprivation must be tempered by the possibility of program capture by local elites, and by the possibility that local preferences are not pro-poor. Third, performance may be undermined by unforeseen strategic targeting by local communities in response to national funding and evaluation criteria, or by declines in political support.

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“…See Crémer and McLean (1988) and Riordan and Sappington (1988) for more on correlation and the costs of asymmetric information. Rai (2002) proposes a scheme in which auditing is costless. This, however, requires that borrowers can be sufficiently punished in case of theft or misreporting.…”

Section: The Optimal Incentive Scheme For a Pro-poor Mfimentioning

confidence: 99%