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Inclusion and Resilience: The Way Forward for Social Safety Nets in the Middle East and North Africa
Annex 4C Public Awareness of SSN Programs and Subsidies
The Political Economy of SSN Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa: What Do Citizens Want?
FIGURE 4C.1
Public Awareness of Nonsubsidy SSNs in the Arab Republic of Egypt, 2012
Lebanon Awareness about SSN programs seems to be high in Lebanon across income quintiles. The hospital fee waivers program has the largest awareness among the programs surveyed. It also has a high association with a safety net, since 21–59 percent of Lebanese mentioned it without being prompted. The second-highest association for an SSN is with the Welfare Program. The awareness about this program is also high across quintiles (over 80 percent in the highest quintile). Vocational training programs have the lowest recall, but awareness increases with income.
Tunisia Awareness about SSN programs seems to be high in Tunisia and increases with income for all programs. The National Solidarity Fund has the highest awareness among the programs surveyed. It also has a very high association with being a safety net, since 33–58 percent of Tunisian respon-
Respondents knowing of program, %
60 40 20 0 Q2 Q3 Voluntary
Q4 Prompted
100 80 60 40 20 0
Q5
Q1
Q2 Q3 Q4 Voluntary Prompted
c. Student cash transfer 80 60 40 20 0 Q1
Q2 Q3 Voluntary
Q4 Prompted
100 80 60 40 20 0
Q5
Q1
e. Social Nasser Bank 80 60 40 20 0 Q2 Q3 Voluntary
Q4 Prompted
Q2 Q3 Q4 Voluntary Prompted
Q5
f. Productive families’ projects
100
Q1
Q5
d. Micro-grants
100
Respondents knowing of program, %
Awareness about National Aid Fund Assistance is very high and fairly uniform across income quintiles. This program also has a very high association with being a safety net, since 38–53 percent of Jordanians mentioned it as a safety net program without being prompted. The secondhighest association for an SSN is Zakat Assistance (with 68 percent of the middle quintile and 62 percent of the top quintile mentioning it as an SSN program). The Enhanced Productivity Program has the lowest recognition, especially among the poor.
80
Respondents knowing of program, %
Jordan
b. Child Law Pension
100
Q1
Respondents knowing of program, %
Awareness of the Social Pension (formerly known as the Sadat Pension) is very high and fairly uniform across income quintiles. The program has very high association with a safety net, since 25–32 percent of Egyptians mentioned it as a safety net program without being prompted. The second-highest association for an SSN is the Social Nasser Bank (with 11 percent of the middle and top quintiles mentioning it as an SSN program), but awareness of this program increases with income (from 26 percent in the bottom quintile to 53 percent in the top quintile). The Child Law Pension has the lowest recognition, especially among the poor.
Respondents knowing of program, %
Egypt
Respondents knowing of program, %
a. Social Pension (Sadat Pension)
Awareness of Nonsubsidy SSNs
209
Q5
100 80 60 40 20 0 Q1
Q2 Q3 Q4 Voluntary Prompted
Source: Authors’ calculations based on MENA SPEAKS Survey 2012. Note: SSN = social safety net; Q = income quintile (1 = lowest, 5 = highest).
dents mentioned it without being prompted. The second-highest association for an SSN is with the Health Insurance Card from CNSS (Assurance Santé CNSS). The awareness about this program also increases with income (over 90 percent in the highest quintile). Awareness about in-kind transfers is relatively low relative to other SSN programs in Tunisia.
Q5