Read How Millions of People Are Getting Life-Changing Social Protections

The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) is helping millions of people in less-developed countries receive the resources they need to empower and transform their lives.

“I started this small business with the cash assistance I received from the project, and it has helped change my life and that of my family,” says single mother from South Sudan with eight children, Eva Ituwa. “I am now able to generate an income by selling tea on a daily basis to cater for my children’s needs, including food, medication, and paying school fees.”

In Zambia, more than 3 million women and children benefit from a Social Cash Transfer Program expanding education and supporting local businesses. Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, the Urban Productive Safety Net Project is helping people to open bank accounts for the first time and even offering financial literacy skills training to help people start small businesses. In South Sudan, social safety nets mitigate gender-based violence and work toward greater gender equality across all sectors. These are just a few of the many IDA-supported programs boosting human capital and working towards ending extreme poverty.

Cash transfers are not new; the first can be dated back to Mexico’s school enrollment and improved nutrition program of the 1990s. However, the COVID-19 pandemic witnessed the largest scale-up of social transfers in history, and countries worldwide are seeing the benefits of empowered humans working toward a better future for themselves, their families, and the generations to come.