1. Social protection Assessment based national dialogue in Myanmar June 18 th -20 th, 2014 Nay Pyi Taw Workshop on social protection policy options

2. Session 4: Designing policy options: what are they? How to choose?

3. Key questions How do we design scenarios? What are low and high scenarios? What assumptions can be made and when do we need to make them?

4. What are the elements that make the design of a scheme? Scope – What is the benefit? – Responding to what need? – Transfer in cash, in kind, or service? – If it is a service, who is the service provider? – Contributory or non-contributory? Extent – Who should be covered? – Universal or targeted? Level – What is the benefit level? – What is the level of the benefit (amount of money, package of services, etc.)?

5. Scope – what is the benefit? Responding to what need? – Life-cycle risks and contingencies – Other vulnerabilities: natural disaster, social vulnerabilities… Life- cycle Work injury Maternity Unemployment Invalidity Families with children Sickness Medical care Old ageDeath of the breadwinner

6. Scope – what is the benefit? Transfer in cash, in kind, or service? – Ex. If one gets sick, he can receive: If it is a service, who is the service provider? Cash compensation for inability to work. Access to medical care, etc. Meals to ensure proper nutrition during sickness.

7. Scope – what is the benefit? Contributory, non-contributory, subsidized? ContributorySubsidizedNon-contributory or largely subsidized BenefitBenefit proportional to the person’s wage. Benefit proportional to income or a fixed amount. Standard benefit. Source of funds Employers and workers contributions, sometimes also government. Mixed source of funds (partly people’s contributions, partly government budget). General tax funded / earmarked tax funded. Target population Usually easy to put in place for formal salaried workers and their families. Usually used to cover independent workers / non- salaried workers and their families. Usually used to cover: -People who don’t have the capacity to contribute; -Contingencies that are more easily covered for all by government budget.

8. Extent – who should be covered? Universal schemes provide benefits to all, under the single condition of residence, if any. – Ex: universal free immunization programme. Categorical schemes provide benefits to some specific groups (categories) of the population. – Ex: social pension for all elderly above 60 years old. Means-tested schemes provide benefits to people whose means (usually their assets and income) fall under a certain threshold. – Ex: persons with disabilities who live below the poverty line are entitled to a monthly pension.

9. Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) provide benefits under the condition that beneficiaries fulfil specific behavioral requirements. – Ex: monthly cash transfers are provided to families with children meeting the following conditions: 1. children regularly attend school; 2. children are immunized and have regular medical checks. Employment guarantee schemes ensure access to a number of workdays a year, they can be universal, categorical, or means-tested. – Ex: all adults living in rural areas are entitled to 30 working days a year. Extent – who should be covered?

10. Mandatory schemes cover all the targeted population on an obligatory basis. – Ex: all people are covered by one of the health insurance schemes in Thailand, when they are not and they come to a health facility, they are registered on the spot. – Ex: all civil servants in Rwanda are obligated to contribute to a pension scheme. Voluntary schemes register beneficiaries on a voluntary basis. – Ex: MNGREGA programme in India registers the people who voluntarily come and ask to be in the public works programme. – Ex: PhilHealth in the Philippines has a programme called Kasapi whereby cooperatives and independent workers can register and contribute to a health insurance scheme if they wish to. Extent – who should be covered?

11. Level – what is the benefit level? What is the level of the benefit (amount of money, package of services, etc.)? How is level of benefit determined? – Benchmarking elements for cash benefits: regular revenue of the household (if known), minimum wage, poverty line… Ex: contributory schemes know the contributing person’s wage and the benefits is a percentage of that wage – i.e. the worker who is in maternity leave received 70% of her salary during her leave. Ex: Old age pension for the poor in Indonesia is a little over the poverty line. Ex: the public works programme MNGREGA in India provides daily wage equal to the minimum wage.

12. Level – what is the benefit level? – Benchmarking elements for in-kind benefits: daily calorie intake,… Ex: food for work programmes provide a food basket equivalent to the necessary calorie intake of the household paying attention to key nutritional characteristics of the provided food. – Benchmarking element for services: necessary package of health services to improve basic health outcomes, necessary education services and other social services… Ex: in India, the RSBY scheme covered only hospitalization and transportation costs in case of sickness when it was created whereas in Thailand the UCS scheme covered inpatient, outpatient and medicine from the beginning.

13. Determining benefit levels You have 15 minutes What are the key constraints to determine benefits level in Myanmar? What can we suggest to overcome those constraints? What elements can be used?

14. RecommendationScenario Recommendation 1: Expand the CCT programme Scenario 1: Extension of the existing CCT programme to all poor households (not only very poor households). Scenario 2: scenario 1 + increased benefit package for children 13-15 years old. Since the target group for the primary and secondary school scholarships is the same, consider having only one programme. Recommendation 3: Introduce a universal child allowance programme Scenario 3: Establishment of a universal child allowance of 400,000 IDR for all children 0-15 years old. Example in Indonesia Scenarios for “children”: Designing scenarios

15. RecommendationScenario Recommendation 1: Public Employment Programme linked with skills development for workers in the informal economy Scenario 1: Establish a public works guarantee linked with vocational training: 30 days of work per person per year + 10 days of training every 5 years Recommendation 2: Provide non-contributory minimum pension to all severely disabled people Scenario 1: Extend the existing non- contributory pension for all people with severe disabilities Scenarios for “working age”: Designing scenarios

16. RecommendationScenario Recommendation 1: Provide non-contributory minimum pension to the elderly Scenario 1: Extend a non-contributory pension for all people with severe disabilities Scenario 2: Extend a non-contributory pension for all vulnerable elderly people, i.e. elderly who have no family support Scenario 3: Establish a non-contributory universal pension for 55+ age group Scenario 4: Establish a non-contributory universal pension for 65+ age group Scenarios for “elderly”: Designing scenarios

17. Scenario Scenario 1: Extend a non-contributory pension for all people with severe disabilities Scenario 2: Extend a non-contributory pension for all vulnerable elderly people, i.e. elderly who have no family support Scenario 3: Establish a non-contributory universal pension for 55+ age group Scenario 4: Establish a non-contributory universal pension for 65+ age group Low and high scenarios Low scenario: combination of scenarios to provide minimum benefits Low = 1 + 2 High scenario: combination of scenarios to provide maximum benefits High = 1 + 3

18. Keep in mind Scenarios need to be practical and feasible Think about the feasibility of what you are proposing, the potential implied costs and the potential impact: – Ex.: conditional cash transfers have higher administrative costs. Think about accessibility issues and identify constraints: – Ex.: if you want to put conditionalities, the related services need to be available. – If you want to do means-test targeting, you need to have a methodology to determine people’s means. – If you want to identify properly beneficiaries you need to think about identification in the local context and mobility of intended beneficiaries. Think about implementation and its progressiveness. For some design features, assumptions need to be made

19. Making assumptions Scenario 2 for “active age” in Indonesia: Extend a non- contributory pension for all people with severe disabilities Benefits: IDR 300,000 per month (current JSPACA benefit level, slightly above average poverty line), indexed on inflation Estimated beneficiaries: based on MoSA data, increasing at the same rate as general population growth Take-up rate: progressively grow from 11.8% (present coverage) to 100% in 2020 Administrative costs: 15%

20. Scenario 4 for “elderly” in Indonesia: Establish a non- contributory universal pension for 65+ age group Benefits: IDR 226,335 per month (average poverty line in 2011), indexed on inflation Estimated beneficiaries: based on population projections Take-up rate: 10% per year Administrative costs: 5% (similar to non-targeted schemes) Making assumptions