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Evaluating the impact of Egyptian Social Fund for Development programmes

Author

Listed:
  • Hala Abou-Ali
  • Hesham El-Azony
  • Heba El-Laithy
  • Jonathan Haughton
  • Shahid Khandker

Abstract

Since its inception in 1991, the Egyptian Social Fund for Development (SFD) has spent about US$600 million supporting microcredit, and financing community development and infrastructure. Applying propensity-score matching using household survey data for 2004/05, this paper finds that SFD programmes have had clear and measurable effects, in the expected direction, for the six programmes considered here: education, health, potable water, sanitation, roads, and microcredit. SFD road projects generate benefits that, by some estimates, exceed their costs, as do health and potable water interventions; this is less evident for programmes in education and sanitation. SFD support for microcredit is strongly pro-poor; the other programmes analysed here appear to have a more modest pro-poor orientation.

Suggested Citation

  • Hala Abou-Ali & Hesham El-Azony & Heba El-Laithy & Jonathan Haughton & Shahid Khandker, 2010. "Evaluating the impact of Egyptian Social Fund for Development programmes," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(4), pages 521-555.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jdevef:v:2:y:2010:i:4:p:521-555
    DOI: 10.1080/19439342.2010.529926
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    5. Atul MEHTA & Joysankar BHATTACHARYA, 2018. "Financial sector development and the poor in developing countries: revisiting the access to finance channel," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(3(616), A), pages 153-168, Autumn.
    6. Karshenas, Massoud & Moghadam, Valentine M. & Alami, Randa, 2014. "Social Policy after the Arab Spring: States and Social Rights in the MENA Region," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 726-739.
    7. Erhardt, Eva Christine, 2017. "Microfinance beyond self-employment: Evidence for firms in Bulgaria," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 75-95.
    8. Álvaro Robério de Souza Sá & Danyelle Karine Santos Branco, 2024. "Social fund and infant mortality: Evidence from an anti‐poverty policy in Northeast Brazil," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 674-695, April.
    9. Maren Duvendack & Richard Palmer-Jones, 2011. "Much ado about something: response to Haughton's reply to Duvendack and Palmer-Jones," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 302-303.
    10. Ranjula Bali Swain & Supriya Garikipati, 2019. "Microfinance in the Global South: Examining Evidence on Social Efficacy," Working Papers 201908, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    11. Alberto Minujin, 2011. "Child Poverty in East Asia and the Pacific: Deprivations and Disparities, A Study of Seven Countries," Working papers 1109, UNICEF,Division of Policy and Strategy.
    12. Lobna M. Abdellatif & Mohamed Ramadan & Sarah A. Elbakry, 2017. "How Gender Biased Are Female-Headed Household Transfers in Egypt?," Working Papers 1126, Economic Research Forum, revised 08 Oct 2017.
    13. World Bank, 2012. "Reclaiming their Voice : New Perspectives From Young Women and Men in Upper Egypt," World Bank Publications - Reports 11908, The World Bank Group.
    14. Erhardt, Eva, 2017. "Microfinance beyond self-employment: Evidence for firms in Bulgaria," MPRA Paper 79294, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Parajuli, Dilip & Acharya, Gayatri & Chaudhury, Nazmul & Thapa, Bishnu Bahadur, 2012. "Impact of social fund on the welfare of rural households : evidence from the Nepal poverty alleviation fund," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6042, The World Bank.
    16. Sefa K. Awaworyi, 2014. "The Impact of Microfinance Interventions: A Meta-analysis," Monash Economics Working Papers 03-14, Monash University, Department of Economics.
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    19. Mathilde Maîtrot & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, 2017. "Poverty and wellbeing impacts of microfinance: What do we know?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-190, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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