Improving Targeting of Poor and Extremely Poor Families in the Anti-Poverty Programme of Georgia

Project budget: US$ 61,000
Duration of project: 7 months

The implementation of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Programme (PREGP) presents a three-tier approach. The first tier comprises the completion of the program of economic and structural reforms. The second tier aims to increase human capabilities, mainly through investment in education and health. The third tier comprises programs of social assistance (monetary/in-kind subsidies including humanitarian aid) for those that "fall trough the cracks". These social assistance programs are expected to provide poor families with a monetary/in-kind supplement so as to avoid malnutrition and other calamities associated with extreme poverty levels.

However, the current targeting of extreme poor and poor families in assistance programs is not adequate. The work performed by the NHDR local team in the year 2001 showed that a substantial share of the assistance provided by the government and international organizations fails to reach those in most need. Specifically, the NHDR team found that extremely poor families receive at best 1/3 of all assistance and at worst only 16%. In contrast, families above the poverty line can receive between one quarter and two thirds of all assistance.

The objective of this project is to substantially improve the targeting of extremely poor and poor families in the implementation of the PREGP.

The project will produce three main outputs as follows: (i) a protocol for targeting extremely poor and poor families in Georgia by regions and urban/rural; (ii) selected gap analyses of anti-poverty assistance developed; (iii) protocols for improved targeting of extremely poor and poor families and information from gap analyses integrated into subsidies, education and health care programs of PREGP.

The project will build upon the work performed by the NHDR team in the year of 2001. The project will use the household survey database of the State Department of Statistics of Georgia (SDS) to define the targeting protocols. Prediction of extremely poor and poor families will be based on a set of visible variables (e.g. family demographic, education, employment, etc). Preliminary results indicate that it is feasible to obtain rates of 82% of correct predictions in winter and 88.8% of correct predictions in summer. The project will also use the targeting protocols in combination with the household survey dataset, the General Population Census data, and health and educational datasets in the construction of selected gap analyses on assistance towards PREGP and Millennium Development goals. Finally, through building of technical capacity, the project will integrate protocols for targeting of extremely poor and poor families and findings from gap analyses into subsidies, education and health care projects in PREGP.

The results of this project are expected to last beyond the project time frame as well as to contribute to UNDP’s effort to support national capacities and the creation of partnerships with government and donor organizations. This will take place through the following mechanisms: (i) UNDP is leading the process of definition of PREGP actions and their implementation. This leading role is expected to ensure the application of improved targeting methods in PREGP well after the duration of this project; (ii) UNDP’s strategy towards the creation of partnerships with government and donor organizations lies on being a knowledge based, client-focus organization. In the present situation of Georgia, characterized by serious budgetary shortfalls, an increased efficiency in the spending of PREGP resources constitute a genuine and demand-driven contribution to the work of government and donor organizations. The project would promote the image of UNDP as an attractive partner for those agencies committed to maximize the impact per dollar unit of anti-poverty programs and projects.