Early Stage Researcher: Natalia Zakharchenko

Research Directors: Prof. Dr. Markus Kaltenborn (Institute of Development Research and Development Policy, Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB), Germany); Prof. Dr. Galina Cornelisse (Kooijmans Institute for Law and Governance, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam), Netherlands)

Objectives:
This project aims at comparing different legal mechanisms, which are used to implement the rights-based approach-principles “participation” and “accountability” in the context of social assistance schemes. In Latin America and SSA in particular, numerous cash transfer systems have recently been developed which can make a significant contribution to the implementation of SDG1. A prerequisite for the sustainable and effective implementation of these social programmes, however, is that the people concerned have sufficient opportunities for participation and that they can effectively complain about deficits in programme implementation. The comparison of several social assistance schemes will show which are the advantages and disadvantages of individual design options.

Expected Results:
Advantages and disadvantages of differently designed legal mechanisms to ensure the participation of the poor in social protection programmes and the accountability of the programmes to the poor are identified. Recommendations for improvements of the design of social assistance schemes are made.

Secondments:
The project involves a strong collaboration between the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy at RUB and VU Amsterdam and therefore includes mandatory research stays of the ESR in Amsterdam for six months in total.
Further secondments are planned as field research periods (3 months each), supervised by Bahir Dar University (Ethiopia) and SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (Ghana).