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The findings are based on materials developed in the project "Improvement of the Social Service Delivery System in Russia," jointly implemented by the Urban Institute and the Institute for Urban Economics (IUE) of Moscow. The authors wish to thank IUE analysts Ludmila Nikonova and Tatiana Sivaeva for their research assistance and the city administrations of Arzamas and Perm, and Marina Liborakina, director of IU's Social Policy Department, for comments on a draft. This work was supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development under contract EEU-I-00-99-00015-00, Task Order 800.
CONTENTS
About the Authors
Executive Summary
Overview of the Current System of Social Benefits in Russia
Social Assistance
Federal, Subject, and Locally Mandated Assistance
Social Services
Local Administration of Social Assistance
Broad Organization
Work Environment
Local Social Assistance Administration
Successful Program Implementation
Pilot Programs
Assessment Method
Findings
Overall Implementation
Quality of Administration
Outcomes and Implementation Factors
Conclusions
References
About the Authors
L. Jerome Gallagher is a research associate with the Urban Institute’s International Activities Center. His research interests include poverty, income support policy, and program evaluation. His previous publications include studies of the variation in U.S. state welfare policies. Since October 1999, Mr. Gallagher has been working on municipal social assistance reform in Russia under the USAID-sponsored project described in this paper.
Raymond J. Struyk is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. Before joining the Institute in 1972, Mr. Struyk was a staff member at the National Bureau of Economic Research and taught at Rice and Rutgers Universities. He has also served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mr. Struyk’s recent books include Reconstructive Critics: Think Tanks in Post-Soviet Democracies (Urban Institute Press, 1996); Making Aid Work: Lessons from Successful Technical Cooperation in the Former Soviet Bloc (Urban Institute, 1997); and Homeownership and Housing Finance Policy in the Former Soviet Bloc: Costly Populism (Urban Institute, 2001).
Executive Summary
A hallmark of the administration of social assistance under the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and the USSR was the universal nature of eligibility for benefits, either to all citizens or to categories of deserving citizens, e.g., the physically handicapped. During the transition period since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation has taken limited steps to improve the targeting of benefits. The challenge to improvement is acute because the administration of the great majority of programs rests with agencies of local government. The question addressed here is how amenable local program administration is to improved targeting and more progressive program administration in general. Presented is an analysis of the results of assessments of two pilot programs implemented in two Russian cities in 2000–2001. The "school lunch pilot" introduced means testing in the school lunch program on a citywide basis; eligible families receive cash payments and all children pay the same price for their lunches in cash. The "jobs pilot" is a new, local means-tested program that provides cash support to families while unemployed workers search for work; continued receipt of funds is conditional on a minimum job search effort. We find that both programs were successfully implemented and that there was little resistance to the sharper targeting. On the other hand, a variety of problems with program administration were identified—problems that need to be addressed if program integrity and credibility are to be maintained.
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