Transcript POVERTY IMPACT ASSESSMENT

POVERTY IMPACT
ASSESSMENT
Poverty impact assessment arrangements
in the EU : an overview
Hugh Frazer
Coordinator, EU Network of Independent Experts on Social Inclusion
Adjunct Expert, National University of Ireland (Maynooth)
Definition
• Poverty Impact Assessments (PIAs)
– a political commitment to undertake
systematic ex-ante assessment of the likely
poverty impacts of policy measures in any
area
• Overlap with Social Impact Assessments
PIAs in Joint Reports and
NAPs/inclusion
• Highlighted by European Commission
– Since 2002 Joint Report on Social Inclusion
• 2002: Ireland (poverty proofing), UK (Targeting Social Need)
• 2004: Ireland, UK, Germany, Portugal
• 2008-2010 NAPs/inclusion – a few countries developing PIAs
– Belgium: strengthens poverty aspect of sustainability development
impact assessment
– Slovakia: testing an integrated impact assessment system with a social
impact component
– Lithuania: announces ex ante assessment of the impact of all proposed
laws on social exclusion and poverty
– Ireland: adopts revised PIA guidelines
– Estonia: assesses social impacts of some policies
– Austria: social affairs ministry to commission a study about possible
impacts, synergies and interactions of the Lisbon Strategy and the OMC
in Austria
PIAs and “feeding in” and
“feeding out”
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Overall countries very limited use of PIAs in the context of their 2008-2010 NRPs on
growth and jobs
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A few more positive instances (though often ex post)
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Belgium: social dimension to sustainability impact assessments
Romania: PIA at early stage of development but more political concern to improve
procedures. During 2007-2008 - a training of 120 specialists within ministries focused on
impact analysis / evaluation techniques
Slovakia: May 2008, the government approved the unified methodology for the assessment
of the impacts of legislative measures on public finances, employment and the business
environment, social situation of inhabitants (households’ income and expenditure, social
exclusion, equality of opportunities, gender equality), environment and information society
Spain: the assessment of the impact of employment and growth policies on social inclusion
and vice versa is being developed (State Agency for Service Assessment and Quality’s policy
assessment programme)
Ireland: assessment of active inclusion provisions in the National Skills Strategy
Luxembourg: Observatory of Competitiveness includes social cohesion as one of 10
categories of indicators to be measured
Netherlands: study on the long run employment effects of active labour market measures
(Hämäläinen and Tuomola, 2006).
Portugal: external evaluation of users of the National Network of Continued Integrated Care
PIAs and child poverty
• Very limited use of PIAs
• Italy: in 2006 government commitment to apply a coherent family
impact assessment of sectoral policies (education, health, housing,
transport and so on)
• Finnish National Committee on the Rights of the Child: a model for
the assessment of child-related consequences of society’s actions:
– Impact on:
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health
living conditions and movement
Impact on involvement and participation
equality
the family’s finances and on services
the community and the area
PIAs and the financial and
economic crisis
• Very limited use
• But some interesting examples
– Slovakia:uniform methodology for assessment of selected
impacts approved in 2008
– Ireland: Office for Social Inclusion analysis of the likely impact of
the McCarthy Report’s suggested reform of government
expenditure programmes (as part of budgetary process)
– Latvia: some progress in involving stakeholders in decision
making upon the implementation of measures for reducing the
financial and economic crisis
– Romania: recent social impact assessment, the “Rapid
Assessment”, has been prepared by international organisations
(UNICEF and World Bank) with the collaboration of local
institutions and experts
Why impact assessments?
• assist policy-makers to assess the distributional consequences of
policy choices and impact on poverty
• help to ensure the social cost of any policy decision is taken into
account before decisions are made
• contribute to more effective and efficient social policy measures;
• contribute to avoiding unintended consequences (negative social
impacts) of non social policies;
• encourage evidence-based policy-making and the use of
quantitative and qualitative studies;
• promote a comprehensive and multi-dimensional approach and
promote awareness-raising among a wider range of policy-makers
• can increase the transparency of decision making and the greater
involvement of all stakeholders
Lessons for the Future
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Avoid rubber stamping
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Ensure participation of stakeholders and policy analysts
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need to be more than an internal administrative process
Invest in capacity building
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ensure happen early in process (not after decisions taken)
Include requirement to consider remedies to address negative consequences
lack of expertise a major barrier in many Member States
lack of relevant and timely data
put in place training and support mechanisms for those responsible
regular monitoring of how PIAs are being undertaken
More proactive role for the Commission
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methodological support (perhaps a tool box on how to undertake PIAs)
disseminating examples of good practice (including the EC’s own assessment reports)
supporting research
fostering stakeholder involvement
Europe’s 2020 agenda
Lessons for the Future
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Develop integrated impact assessments
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multiplicity or “inflation” of impact assessments can lead to superficial assessments
integrate PIAs into more comprehensive assessment procedure (e.g. covering economic, environmental,
employment, equality and social objectives)
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Take account of different groups
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not just in general at impact on poverty
in-depth impacts on different groups
intergenerational and gender differences
Thus both qualitative and quantitative elements
Ensure effective policy coordination
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e.g. sustainability impact assessments
necessary if PIAs are to have much actual impact.
Political commitment vital
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political commitment to overcoming poverty and inequality and building a fair society a necessary context
political leadership: must insist that PIAs are much more than a bureaucratic “box ticking” or paper exercise
national parliaments can play a key role by insisting on PIAs for all legislative proposals