Institutionalization of social transfers

Institutionalization of social transfers index for the paper 'Alternative routes to the institutionalization of social transfers in sub-Saharan Africa: Political survival strategies and transnational policy coalitions' to be published in World Development.

We define institutionalization as the process by which national governments progressively take responsibility for the delivery of social transfer programmes. A fully institutionalized programme is one that provides eligible recipients with a right to support that the government is obligated—financially and administratively—to deliver.

Institutionalization comprises five components:
- Statutory: grounding of the programmes in legislation and/or national strategies
- Finance: Government financing of programme
- Implementation: State implementation of programme
- Scope: Whether the programme is national or limited to certain parts of the country
- Coverage: Coverage of the social transfer programme