Can Food-for-Work Programmes Reduce Vulnerability

Food-for-work (FFW) programmes are widely touted for their capacity to target poor populations effectively with a reliable safety net, thereby reducing vulnerability due to downside risk exposure, while simultaneously investing in the production or maintenance of valuable public goods necessary to stimulate productivity and thus growth in aggregate incomes. The empirical evidence is mixed, however, as to the efficacy of FFW in any of these dimensions. Proponents cite cases in which FFW appears to have performed as intended, while opponents present evidence of its failures. The development community needs to guard against uncritical acceptance of either naïve or hostile claims about FFW and to develop a better understanding of how, when and why FFW programmes can indeed reduce vulnerability. This paper aims to advance
such an understanding.