Which targeting mechanism?

A variety of different targeting mechanisms can be used to reach the very poor. Targeting of Transfers in Developing Countries: Review of Lessons and Experience reviews the lessons learned from 122 antipoverty interventions in 47 transition and developing countries, with different mechanisms including individual / household assessment using means testing and proxy-means testing, community-based targeting, categorical and geographical targeting, and self selection.

Results are mixed. No single preferred method has emerged for all types of programs or all country contexts. Interestingly, of all variations observed in targeting outcomes, only 20 percent was accounted for by the choice of targeting method. It makes the author conclude that successful outcomes are critically dependent on the method of implementation, rather than on the choice of the method.

In practice, targeting the very poorest can be difficult, particularly where limited population-based data exists and the accuracy of data is questionable. Identifying opportunities to back health interventions onto existing poverty reduction programmes that have already identified the very poor holds promise. Targeted development programmes for the extreme poor: experiences from BRAC experiments looks at BRAC's experience of backing a micro-credit programme onto a World Food Programme feeding programme targeted to the extreme poor.