Tracking Error, Fraud, and Corruption

Because safety net programs channel large amounts of public resources, making sure that these reach the intended beneficiaries is important EFC reduces the economic efficiency of safety net interventions by decreasing the amount of money that goes to the intended beneficiaries and erodes political support for the program. 

Definitions. Although most safety net programs strive to transfer all their resources intended for beneficiaries to the right beneficiaries in the right amount and at the right time, a fraction is lost to EFC (see figure). 

The information from developing countries is scarcer, as only a few programs and countries have tried to measure the incidence of EFC, and measures to control EFC are less uniformly developed. A review of accountability in CCT programs in Latin America and the Caribbean (World Bank 2007c) did not measure EFC as such, but did document widespread use of a range of effective control tools. Elsewhere, the results are not always so encouraging. 

The two South Asian cases underscore the benefits of measuring EFC. Once it was quantified and the sources understood, both programs found that the political will and technical knowledge to address the problem were easier to marshal. 

FOR PROTECTION AND PROMOTION THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF EFFECTIVE SAFETY NETS 

---