The country has different projects which involve specific vulnerable groups in the social insurance system: the elderly, the disabled, veterans, those suffering from illness, those in need of maternity leave, and those who suffer from work injuries or unemployment. There also are smaller cash transfer programmes, most being cash for work. There are several food transfer programmes, though the country is focusing its attention on cash transfers, mainly conditional in the education area. There are significant experiences and results with Microcredit (e.g. Grameen Bank). Bangladesh has many programs, but no overarching framework.

The Female Secondary School Assistance is an "integrated package approach" incorporating multiple interventions to close the gender gap in secondary education and raise the status of women in the economy and as well as in society.

The Primary Education Stipend Program (PESP) established in January 2003 aims to increase enrolment and reduce the rate of dropout of poor students, thus eliminating child labour and alleviating poverty.

The Bangladesh National Social Protection Project that is currently being drafted is expected to consolidate and expand social protection interventions in the country through strengthening rural safety nets.

The Local Governance Support Project (LGSP) started in 2006 and is another initiative that aims to provide local governments with more discretionary means in order to improve and enlarge their service provision. As the project is still in its early stage, there is limited information available for reference.

Bangladesh has other important programmes, such as: the Programme for Widowed, Deserted and Destitute Women, the Fund for Natural Disasters, the Cash for Education programme, the Old Age Allowance Programme and the Honorarium Programme for Insolvent Freedom Fighters.

References:
Ministry of Social Welfare
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Local Development
Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs
BRAC
Tietjen, Karen (Nov 2003). The Bangladesh Primary Education Stipend Project: A Descriptive Analysis.

The most comprehensive programme in Brunei is the Old Age and Disability Pension which started in 1955. Regulated by the 1955 Old-Age and Disability Pensions Act, the 1984 Universal Pension System Amendment, the 1992 Emergency Order, the Tabung Amanah Pekerja Act, and Chapter 167 on employee trust funds, the framework provides funds for all employees up to age 55 who are citizens or permanent residents of Brunei.

References:
Department of Community Development of the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports

Support for civil service pensions and veteran’s benefits comprise the largest allocations of the national budget. All retired and disabled civil servants and veterans are entitled to the benefits of Chapter 31 in the form of pension and compensation.

Despite the relatively large allocations for civil service pensions and veterans, the payments are insufficient for meeting the basic needs of beneficiaries. Reforms are needed to move towards an effective and sustainable pension system and expand coverage. Government relies on NGOs and donors to fill the gaps in reaching the vulnerable groups.

The Rectangular Strategy, introduced in July 2004, outlines the economic policy agenda of the government. The strategy ties economic issues to issues of social protection, such as the enhancement of the agricultural sector, private sector growth and employment, capacity building and human resource development. The Triangle Strategy of the Royal Government makes no mention of the use of Conditional Cash Transfers

Vocational training is a crucial labour market intervention, which is a major part of social protection in the country.

There is no CCT in place. There was an experience with Targeted Assistance for Education of Poor Girls and Indigenous Children, which was financed by the Japanese Fund for Poverty Reduction.

References:
Ministry of Planning
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Education
Deon Filmer and Norbert Schady. 2006. Getting Girls into School: Evidence from a Scholarship Program in Cambodia. Economic Development and Cultural Change 56(3):581-617.

China used to provide a “Cradle to Grave” Social Protection Policy. Over the years, a number of programmes had to be designed in order to compensate for those who became ‘outsiders’ as the country went through major economic policy changes.

The social welfare system is a system established by the Chinese government to provide funds to ensure the livelihood of senior citizens, orphans and handicapped persons who are in extraordinarily strained circumstances.

The Unemployment Insurance System covers all urban enterprises and institutions and their staff, whereby all enterprises and institutions and their staff must pay the insurance premiums.

The Minimum Living Standards Programme (MLSGS), created in 1993 and administrated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, provides cash assistance for households with per capita incomes falling below local poverty lines. The programme stipulates that urban residents with non-agricultural permanent residence and low per capita income receive basic subsistence assistance from the local government. There is also the Five Guarantees (1956 with reforms in 1978, 1994 and 2003), from which the elderly benefit the most.

References:
Ministry of Civil Affairs
Yuebin, Xu (2007). Social Assistance in China: The Minimum Living Standards Guarantee Scheme. The Institute of Social Development and Public Policy. Beijing Normal University.
Chou, K. & Chow, N. (2005). Universalism or Selectivism: Old Age Allowance as A Case in Hong Kong. Hallym International Journal of Aging, Volume 7, Number 2 (pp. 131-141).

There are numerous social protection schemes; existing programmes are mostly in-kind and conditional transfers focus on cash for work programmes such as the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme.

The National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS) for destitute elderly households, within the National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) and the National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS), is a component of the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) of August, 1995, a social assistance programme for poor households.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (2005) entitles every household in rural areas to at least 100 days of guaranteed employment every year for at least one adult member and unemployment allowance if the said job is not given within a specific period.

The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) was launched on 25 September, 2001 with the objective of providing additional wage employment and food security, alongside the creation of durable community assets in rural areas.

The National Food for Work ProgrammeofNovember, 2004, provides additional resources apart from the resources available under the SGRY to the 150 most vulnerable districts of the country. It focuses on the generation of supplementary wage employment and the provision of food-security through the creation of needs based economic, social and community assets in these districts.

References:
Community & Rural Development Department
Women and Child Development Ministry
Upendranadh, C. (2007). Social Security in India - Lessons from Transfer Mechanisms. Presentation at the International Seminar on 'Evolution and Challenges Facing Conditioned Transfer Programmes' November 20 and 21, 2007.

The safety net programmes introduced in 1998 covered five major sectors: food security, employment creation, education, health, and community empowerment.

In 2005, an Unconditional Cash Transfer for the poor (19.2 million poor and near-poor households) was piloted to compensate for increased fuel prices. The government is currently committed to begin testing different approaches for identifying the most effective model of conditional cash transfers appropriate for Indonesia.

Household and Community Cash Transfer Schemes are to be piloted and the Kecamatan Development Program (KDP) will be scaled up.

References:
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Knoess, Johanna (2007). Introduction of Conditional Cash Transfer Schemes in Indonesia: A Brief Summary. Commissioned by the Social Protection Systems Program, GTZ Eschborn.
Social Safety Nets

There are several social security schemes for workers in the formal or organized sector, although not all are national in coverage and function. It includes the Employer’s Liability Scheme (ELS), covering employment injury compensation since 1952 and sickness and maternity benefits since 1955; the civil service pension (1951), a non-contributory pension scheme for civil servants; the Employee Provident Fund –EPF- since 1951, for all workers not covered by the civil service pension; the Armed Forces Provident Fund and the Workers’ Compensation Scheme (1952).

The Employees’ Social Security Act, 1969 formed the basis of a social insurance system in Malaysia. The scheme covers workers who earn less than RM 2000 a month and is financed by contributions from workers and employers. The scheme is administered by a central government agency, namely, the Social Security Organization.

References:
Ministry of Finance.

The Mongolian public safety net system consists of a range of programmes of two types: social insurance (retirement, unemployment, or sickness); and social assistance (specific benefits to protect vulnerable groups, including the disabled and child allowances). The country is currently experiencing Welfare reforms.

The Child Money Programme was originally designed as a conditional cash transfer programme, supported mainly by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and targeted poor households with children aged 0-18. It introduced two important innovations in the social assistance system: it conditioned the benefit receipt to specific behaviors on the part of the households; and it introduced a proxy-means test for the identification of the poor.

References:
Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor
State Social Insurance General Office
Araujo, Caridad (April, 2006). Assessment of the Child Money Program and Properties of its Targeting Methodology, Paper No. 2006-1. Working Paper Series on Mongolia. The World Bank, Washington-DC, USA.

Social security applies only to workers with permanent status and there is no concrete social security arrangement for the informal sector.

The major programmes include Food for Work, a Welfare fund for the civil service that covers work injuries, maternity, micro-enterprise development; Local Development Fund (SF) for small infrastructure, micro-credit, training, and technology; Micro-credit for poor farmers & small farmers; credit for rural women; emergency funds; welfare schemes; insurance for health, life, livestock; and, lastly, a programme concerning Child Labour, carried out in partnership with UNICEF.

The Old Age Allowance Program (OPA), introduced in December 1994 as a pilot programme in five districts of the country, is a universal flat pension of 100 Rupees to all elderly citizens over 75 years. In 1996, the government introduced two additional social security programs, namely, the Helpless Widows Allowance for widows over 60-years-old and the Disabled Pension.

References:
Ministry of Local Development

The only existing pension scheme in Pakistan is exclusively for public sector employees, in which the age of retirement is 60. The government has recently attempted to introduce voluntary pension schemes for future generations. Employee’s Old Age Benefits Institution.

The Child Support Programme (CSP) was implemented by PakistanBait-ul-Mal, the main agency within the Ministry of Social Welfare. The CSP is a component of the Food Support Programme (FSP), in which beneficiaries are entitled to receive Rs. 3,000 a year and an additional Rs. 200 per month for one child or Rs. 350 per month for two or more children of school age, so long as the recipients comply with the programme’s conditionalities.

The Individual Financial Assistance (IFA) is another State project that has the following two primary objectives: the satisfaction of the immediate needs of the poor, and the provision of support for marginalized groups (poor, widows, destitute women, orphans and disabled persons) through general assistance, education, medical treatment and rehabilitation.

References:
Ministry of Social Welfare, Bait-ul-Mal

The Philippines has two social security systems. The Social Security System covers employees in the private sector and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) covers national, provincial and municipal public employees.

Compared to other Asian countries, the Philippines has a wide scope of programs for social protection. The Social Insurance Scheme includes, according to the 1954 Republic Act 1161 and 1997 Republic Act 8282 amendment, the elderly, the disabled, veterans, those with illness or work injuries, and, lastly those on maternity leave. Moreover, they also provide other cash or in-kind transfers, and temporary subsidies for both employment generation and school food programmes.

In January 2007, the government of Philippines implemented a pilot conditional cash transfer programme in 20 districts, spread throughout the country. Headed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the programme transfers Php1,400 per month to each of the chosen families, which corresponds to roughly $33-$35.

References:
Jehan Arulpragasam, Country Sector Coordinator, Social and Poverty Reduction Cluster, World Bank Office, Manila. Poverty Reduction Through Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs).

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Project, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippines

Sri Lanka ’s social protection system has three main components:employment protection and promotion; social security/insurance, and safety nets. Sri Lanka provides the most extensive social security (pensions, disabilities, veterans and health) coverage in South Asia and includes cash transfers, insurances and credit schemes. However there are many issues with leakage and amount of benefits that are too small.

The National Poverty Alleviation Programme, Samurdhi has been in operation since 1995 with an objective of reducing the vulnerability of the poor in situations of death, birth, marriage or illness in the family . Furthermore, the programme has organised other activities aimed at improving the socio-economic conditions of low-income groups and offering beneficiaries monthly coupons that can be exchanged for goods from the local co-operative stores.

In addition, the country has other programmes such as cash transfers for disabled soldiers and families of military service personnel, the Widows and Orphans Pension Scheme, the Tsunami Aid and the Disabled Pension.

References:
Ministry of Social Services and Social Welfare
Ministry of Samurdhi and Poverty Alleviation
Ministry of Children Development and Women's Empowerment
Salih, Rozana (2000). The Samurdhi Poverty Alleviation Scheme. Paper prepared for the Social Security Division of the ILO, Geneva.
Vodopivec, Milan et al. (1996). Sri Lanka: Strengthening Social Protection Part I & II. Colombo.

The welfare system in Thailand includes the social security system which provides social insurance for those unable to work due to sickness, family death, disability, maternity, child dependency, old age, or simply for unemployment.

The government has an extensive list of programs such as Cash Transfers for children, the elderly, and the disabled; residential care; supplementary food for children, fee waiver for health care; fee waiver for education and disaster relief.

The Strategic Plan for the Promotion of Social Welfare in Thailand, designed for the period of 2007-2011, is an outline plan of action for the future of the country and brings the idea of “Welfare for all”, covering the mains areas of social protection. However it does not mention cash transfer programmes.

The Welfare Fund for Older People, implemented in 1993, is a government project that selects provinces to receive 1 million Baht (US$24,000) to distribute, through their own means, for the welfare of the elderly. It provides funding for nursing homes, elderly health care facilities and a network of elderly support groups.

References:
Social Security Office
Ministry of Social Security
Ministry of Social Development and Human Security Krongkaew, Medhi (2006). The elderly and their Social Protection in Thailand. Paper presented at Parallel 4 Session: New Global Reality - Implications for Development, Subtopic 1: Aging Population in Asia - Towards Sustainable Welfare Society (JICA), Global Development Network (GDN) Annual Conference in Beijing, 16 January 2007.

Pension and other social security programmes are coordinated by the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance. The social security system in Turkey was radically transformed in 2006 with the enactment of the Social Security and General Health Insurance Law and the Social Security Institution Law.

The Social Risk Mitigation Project – SRMP, supported by the World Bank, promotes cash transfers and institutional strengthening. It was implemented after the 2001 crisis and it is a key instrument for social assistance in the country, mitigating the negative impacts of the breakdown on poor households, improving the capacity to cope with similar risks in the future and improving the institutional capacities of state institutions in dealing with poverty.

References:
Directory of Social Services and the Child Protection Agency, Administration for Disabled People, Directory of Family Research Organization, Directory on the Status of Women, Directory of Social Assistance and Solidarity.
Third International Conference on Conditional Cash Transfers. Istambul, Turkey, June 26-30, 2006.

A social security plan provides benefits to veterans, the elderly and the disabled. Worker's injury and medical insurance is provided under this plan as well. The law on social insurance was approved by the National Assembly in 2006, which is intended to provide universal coverage.

The pension scheme in Vietnam is a component of the social insurance system, which has been in operation since 1962. In 1995 the government was forced to reform the scheme, and led to the establishment of a publicly managed pay as you go defined-benefit scheme, of which the Vietnam Social Insurance (VSI) body is responsible under governmental guarantee.

There is a focus on social transfers along with investments in primary education and the delivery of basic health services.

References:
The Ministry of Labor Invalids and Social Affairs