Poverty targeting in social protection: Pro-poor or anti-poor?

Poverty-targeting in social protection is often described as pro-poor. But, is it? 

In this talk, Dr. Stephen Kidd will present evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches to targeting in social protection and explain how poverty-targeting is often driven by a neoliberal ideology that seeks to protect the rich rather than those living in poverty.

This seminar is organized and hosted by the Political Ecology Research Group of ISS and co-sponsored by the AIDSOCPRO research project (Aiding Social Protection: The political economy of externally financing social policy in developing countries). The seminar will be chaired by Dr Andrew Fischer,  Associate Professor in Social Policy and Development Studies.

About the speaker

Dr Stephen Kidd is a Senior Social Protection Specialist at Development Pathways with more than 20 years’ experience of engaging on social protection in over 30 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Previously, as the Director of Policy at HelpAge International, he led DFID’s Social Protection Team and was a Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. He has successfully supported national policy development in many countries and has undertaken research on a wide range of topics including targeting and the political economy of social protection.