Discussion Question
Ralph Dolgoff and Ronald Feldstein proposed a schema for examining Welfare programs in their text, Understanding Social Welfare: A search for social justice. This schema gives three basic areas under which these programs could be examined. These areas are that of structural components, alternative program characteristics and ways to evaluate the program. All of the aforementioned areas will be examined in this paper, in relation to a local Social Welfare program – The Targeted Conditional Cash Transfer Programme. Structural Components
Dolgoff and Feldstein highlight five (5) key structural characteristics that are needed for examination of a social welfare programme to occur. The key characteristics that will be systematically developed are problems addressed, benefits, eligibility, financing and administration. Social welfare programs are intended to meet certain needs, deal with specific problems, or enhance life. When seeking to identify the first structural characteristic of any social welfare program one must ask the question, “What are the needs or problems being addressed, and what are the goals of the program?” (Dolgoff & Feldstein, 2009).
The Targeted Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (TCCTP) is a food assistance and developmental programme, which enables families in need to buy nutritionally sound basic food items. Its goal is to enhance health and dignity of these households and reduce the incidence of poverty. However by extension, the TCCTP aims to enable participants with skills to become employed and graduate the programme. In addition, according to Dolgoff and Feldstein, when examining a social welfare programme an individual should clearly see what the benefits of it are and what form they take . Basically one tries to answer the question of “what does the program produce”? In response to this question, it is noted that the TCCTP provides under privileged households with financial assistance to buy basic food items. This financial assistance takes the form of electronic money that can be used at any of the registered supermarkets. The electronic money cannot be withdrawn from the account and non-governmental deposits cannot be made, however, the monies if unused will accumulate. Eligibility is the third structural characteristic mentioned by Dolgoff and Feldstein. With regards to this component, the authors make mention that: “not many agencies or programmes provide ‘help’ to anyone who requests it .” Criteria has to be met in order for persons to qualify for specific services. In relating this component to the local example examined, it is noteworthy that firstly, the recipients of the T.T. Card have to be residents of Trinidad and Tobago. They also have to be over the age of 18, and will be served according to district in which they reside. An example of this would be that “Sweetbread Doe”, resides in St. Joseph’s Garden Village. As a result of this, she must be served by the TCCTP office in Tunapuna, on the Eastern Main Road. Another requirement which would contribute to eligibility for the service is that the individual must be able to provide several relevant documents.
These include but are not limited to birth certificates, national identification cards and utility bills. In addition, a means test application is also used to determine eligibility. If an individual’s score is above 30.9 he/she is automatically disqualied from the programme. A home visit is also another requirement which would determine one’s eligibility for the TCCT programme. Financing is the fourth and most important structural characteristic which needs to evaluated when examining a social welfare programme. The availability of resources, where they come from and what proportions they are used in (budget) are all crucial to what is produced. The TCCT programme is funded by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, and comes particular from general revenues. The Ministry of the People and Social Development were allocated funds specifically to operate programs like these. The last characteristic, administration, is concerned with how the programme is administered, by whom and at what level of government (Dolgoff & Feldstein, 2009). The Minister of People and Social Development governs the TCCT programme and he is followed by the director, the deputy director, 13 regional managers (1 for each district), 13 regional co-ordinators, liaison officers, family case-workers, clerks and on the job trainees. Together the ability to identify these 5 characteristics helps students to be knowledgeable and analytical when looking at the framework of social welfare programmes and social policy by extension. Alternative Program Characteristics
The second area in which social welfare programmes may be examined is with respect to alternative program characteristics. According to the authors of the schema, even with the basic structure examined above, “there are different ways in which the program may be organised and different philosophies it may embody” (Dolgoff & Felstein, 2009). This is where the necessity for an evaluation of the alternative program characteristics comes into play. When evaluating the aforementioned, questions as to whether the programme is residual, institutional, developmental, or a socioeconomic asset development have to be asked. In addition, it has to be determined whether the program is selective or universal, public or private, central or local, and lay or professional.
Lastly, the benefits in money, service or utilities has to be evaluated. According to Dolgoff and Feldstein, residual/ minimalist programmes are based on the premise that an individual’s need should be met through market economy and through family and therefore these types of programs are seen as temporary . Residual programmes are basically seen as a type of back up for the occasions when an individual is unable to meet his/ her needs through the intuitions regarded as responsible for these needs. Another characteristic of residual or minimalist programmes is that the programme should be withdrawn as soon as the individual is able to once again utilize the family and market economy to acquire their needs. The Conditional Cash Transfer Programme – CCTP, exemplifies these characteristics and so is a residual or minimalist programme.. This is so because its main purpose is to provide temporary food assistance to vulnerable persons and families with limited or no income. One condition of this service is that the recipient of the service has to undergo skills training which facilitates gainful employment. This condition is stipulated in order to facilitate recipients gradually moving off the programme. Recipients will not be allowed to remain on the programme for more than two years, unless otherwise advised.
Secondly the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme displays the characteristics of a selective program. That is, the eligibility of its potential clients is based upon the determination of the client’s need and his/her individual financial means. Programs that are of the residual concept are highly likely to fall under the selective concept as well, according to the authors of the schema. In order to receive a “TTCard” an individual must prove that they fall under a certain criteria; this is done by using a means test which is administered via a form which is given at the local offices. The means test is an income versus expenditure calculation of each member of the household. This is calculated using personal declarations of income, and investigates facts like whether one is self-employed or a domestic worker, whether one has any recent cheque stubs from social assistance grants (e.g. Disability Assistance Grant, Public Assistance Grant, Old Age Pension) if one is a recipient of public assistance, pay slips and numerous other documents. There is also a follow up home visit which is conducted by local liaison officers to verify the clients living situation. One of the main advantages of having this type of programme instead of its proponent, the universal programme is the cost factor. As Dolgoff and Feldstein so accurately mention, many countries are not equipped with the necessary resources to do everything that is desired for an entire population.
This is quite applicable to Trinidad and Tobago, because although the natural resource of oil yields great dividends, the nation is still considered a developing nation and so has not achieved a mastery of the economic sector. A second very critical advantage of selective programmes is the prevention of “creaming” of the programmes by the rich. This basically means that a selective programme prevents the exploitation of the resources by the rich and able, which would in turn result in those who really need the resources getting them. However, this does not mean that there are no disadvantages of the selective-type programme. There are those who argue that programmes of a selective nature are wasteful and cost inefficient as they tend to spend far more money on administration than the universal- type programme does. This is due to the need to determine the eligibility of clients, and the various checks and balances needed to do so. Additionally, stigma is still attached to recipients of selective programme grants, which is quite visible locally, with respect to the recipients of the TT card. The third alternative characteristic which has to be examined is the type of benefit being given, and whether it comes in the form of money, services or utilities. In the case of the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme monetary benefit is what is being given to the recipient of the grant. It is important to note that this monetary benefit does not come in the form of cash, but comes as a voucher instead. The “TTCard” provides a monthly cash amount to the cardholder.
This cash amount is automatically placed on the card on the first day of every month and cash amounts are based on the size of a beneficiary’s family. More specifically, : (i). Families of one (1) to three (3) members receive a transfer amount of $410.00. (ii). Families consisting of four (4) to five (5) members receive $550.00. (iii). Families with six (6) or more members receive $700.00. With regards to whether the programme is a private or a public one, the TCCT programme falls under the public sector. This is evident as it is a government funded programme, and is operated via the social services department of the Ministry of the People and Social Development. This ties closely into the fifth programme characteristic which addresses whether the programme is central or local. The TCCT Programme is a central one as the policy is made on a national level by the government. Despite this, there are local offices which administer the service. For example there is a “TTcard” office in each district and persons can only be serviced from the office in their specific district. However all the procedures and policies are the same in every office, it is in no way community run or owned.
Finally, whether the programme is lay or professional has to be examined when looking a the alternative characteristics section of Dolgoff and Felstein’s schema. This section looks at who deals with providing the service, and whether workers are strictly professionals whether ordinary community persons also deliver these service. In the local example of TCCTP the services are delivered by professional workers and not by volunteers or community based groups. Although the employees of the agency are not all qualified and certified social workers they are expected to follow the guidelines and polices of the agency which are based on general social welfare principles, such as keeping their clients’ information confidential. Evaluating the Program
The first area in which Dolgoff and Feldstein stated that social service programmes should be evaluated is with respect to adequacy. This generally addresses whether the programme adequately meets the needs for which it was created, and whether it is reaching the intended target population. There are different types of adequacy, which include horizontal and vertical adequacy. They will be explored subsequently. To know whether a programme is addressing the problems out of which is was birthed, the purpose of the programme should be known. Therefore, the three main purposes of TCCTP as stated by the “Operational Guidelines for becoming a recipient of the TTCard” are:
1. to target and provide social protection and food security to indigent, poor and vulnerable households, thereby reducing the incidence of poverty
2. to promote proper nutrition and empowerment via a short to medium term cash transfer while engaging recipients in rehabilitative and developmental activities as a condition for receiving the cash transfer.
3. to incorporate life skills training as a requisite to personal development and self-sustenance. Having imported about 22,000 clients from the SHARE and gone through the STEP-UP and RISE-UP phases the program has grown to over 32, 000 participants (in 2011). Clients access the program through one of two main channels. They either come to one of the thirteen regional offices or they are contacted in an outreach program. The World Bank stated that in 2011 the population stood at 1,341,465 persons. Of those persons the United Nations Development Program stated that o.3% of these people were living in severe poverty which would amount to 402,439 persons.
One can clearly see that there a gross deficit in the target population and the members who are actually accessing the service. The lack of horizontal adequacy of the TCCTP is evident as the program does not sufficiently cover its intended population. Between the thirteen offices in 2011 there are 67 staff members, 44 of whom were L.Os. Challenges were presented since the limited amount of L.Os was expected to adequately service all of the program’s participants, doing assessments, home visits, care plans and re-evaluations. The large case load had caused the developmental and review aspects to be sidelined as the officers were preoccupied with processing the new clients. It must be mentioned that the year of 2012 has marked a serious turning point for the RISE-UP phase of the program since the overarching ministry has put in place procedures to fulfil the purpose that was originally stipulated.
This includes additional staffing and structured procedures and forms for the development and review features. Until these issues are fully addressed the horizontal inadequacy of the TCCTP will be amplified. The ability to satisfactorily cover the recipients and provide meaningful service determines the vertical adequacy of the program (Dolgoff and Feldstein 2009). RISE-UP seeks to facilitate the holistic development if its clients by firstly tackling the basic need for proper nutrition through the short to medium cash transfer through the food card. The developmental aspect (now a conditionality) runs concurrently as persons are educated in areas such as literacy, career guidance, budgetary and family planning; while training is done in areas such as computer literacy and cosmetology, and are geared toward employability. The Ministry has formed a Family Intervention Network (FIN) which comprises of agencies from the private and public sectors, civil society and non-profit organizations in order to provide these above mentioned services as well as employment opportunities. The Family Case Worker develops a working relationship with the family in order to develop a care plan, which is geared to capitalize on the family’s strengths and resources in order to achieve and maintain acceptable standards in the eight pillars of family life: personal identification, health, education, family dynamics, housing conditions, employment, income and safety and security. Family Case Workers are expected to provide psychosocial support to these families as they work toward the agreed goals with the overarching aim of graduating within a two year period.
This is designed to be a life changing intervention which impacts the entire household. Two contingency factors that have the potential to hinder the program from achieving full vertical adequacy is the allotted vote in the budget for grants and other expenditure the Ministry of the People and Social Development and the capacity of the developmental programs. The referrals for grants such as the Micro Enterprise Grant (which was created to finance training and small business venture) and Emergency household Repair Grant and the Household Items Grant (both created for persons in dire need or victims of disaster) would increase. The funding allotted under Social Welfare remains constant with no extra provisions for the new influx of potential clients which would be expected. A similar situation is revealed when examining the programs listed under education training with specific mention to Adult Education (programs for adults or out-of-school youth who have not received academic qualification) and the Multi-Sector skills Training Program (which provides training in construction and hospitality and tourism to citizens of working age). There are a number of questions about financing that need to be addressed in the evaluation of every program. The question of whether or not the program is equitably financed must be addressed, as well as its priority use of funds, its cost- or benefit- efficiency and finally, a cost- benefit analysis must be conducted. The equitable financing of a program is determined by observing not only its financial output but also the funding and financial input of and to the program. As mentioned earlier, the TCCT programme is funded by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago from particular revenues via the Ministry of the People and Social Development.
Secondly, the use of funds by the program must be examined to determine if it has a high priority in terms of the needs of the community or nation. If resources were infinite, this question would be unnecessary. Each dollar spent on a program has an opportunity cost, which is the lost opportunity to spend that dollar on another program. The program proposes that it is a short-term food assistance and development programme aimed at providing social protection, by promoting nutritional and food security to vulnerable households. “The TCCTP will enable families in need to purchase nutritionally sound basic food items, thereby enhancing the health and dignity of those households and reducing the incidents of poverty.” Furthermore, it fosters personal development by ensuring all employable beneficiaries are registered with an employment agency to actively seek employment, life-skills training programmes such as family and budgetary planning and engagement in employment training programmes. The program therefore attends to the need for personal and social development of vulnerable persons within communities and the nation at large by empowering them to become socially and economically independent, thus enhancing the income earning capacity of vulnerable households. It is therefore safe to state that the program has successfully displayed a priority use of funds. Coherence, latency and Testing for social justice
Goldoff and Feldstein’s (2003) schema for analysing social programmes finally includes coherence, latency and testing for social justice. Coherence refers to a programme’s compatibility with other social policies and programmes. Social programmes do not exist in isolation. They often work in tandem with other initiatives, or affect them. The Targeted Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (TCCTP) is no exception. An interview with Intake Officer Denique Jackson, at the San Fernando regional branch of TCCTP, revealed the programme’s compatibility with others, such as the Social Welfare, Poverty Reduction, Adoption, and Family Services programmes. Currently, these all operate under the Ministry of Social Development and all use similar systems. The coherency of the TCCTP is the result of the needs and characteristics of applicants being indicators and/or qualifiers for them to participate in other programmes. Intake officers have the duty of disseminating information to applicants in the first interview. While they gather the relevant information from applicants, they may identify other needs which other programmes can help fulfil and thus may refer them to other services. However, such services are separate entities and as such, require different documents. The coherency of the TCCTP can be practically illustrated. Ms. Jackson uses the example of a woman who visits the TCCTP office to apply for a “TTCard.”
The Intake Officer notices that she is pregnant and the woman states that her financial need is due to her partner’s abandonment. The Officer, in addition to taking the woman’s application for a “TTCard” will also inform her of the options for applying to Family Services which can offer counselling and guidance. Further, it is possible that Family Services may also advise her to visit the Adoption programme if it is suitable to her needs. In this way the TCCTP works positively in tandem with other services, and conveniently so, since in the San Fernando branch at least, the other main services are all in the same location. The TCCTP programme has both positive and negative effects beyond its goals. These are latent effects which can potentially enhance social conditions or create problems. Latent positive effects identified by Ms. Jackson include empowerment of participants and their referral to additional help. Card-holders receive the “TTCard” on the condition that they receive skills training from a Government programme. This form of assistance is meant to last two years, so the skill gained during this time would contribute to the participant achieving some level of work competency and economic independence. All members of the household who are 15 years and over would be given the opportunity to apply for training in areas such as aesthetics, desktop publishing, welding and financial literacy, among others. Also positive is that participants gain knowledge of other services available to fulfill their other needs. This leads those qualified for the card to secure additional help, while those who are unqualified may be told of other institutions which can offer some assistance. Negative latent effects include dependency and malpractice by card-holders. The card is meant to be used for a maximum of two years to support families who are experiencing a period of hardship. However, people have been found to become comfortable with relying on the card to obtain food items and have not made the required improvements in their situation after the stipulated time, in order to become independent of this form of help.
Resultantly, many card-holders remain in the programme for 5 and even 7 years, instead of the 2 years intended by planners. Corrective actions to the dependency dilemma comprise re-investigation of families using the card before the end of the 2 year period, and the implementation of the RiseUp programme which is meant to help find jobs for employable participants. These are meant to transition participants off the card. Holders of the “TTCard” may also engage in malpractice. The conditions for use of the card are that it must only be used for the purchase of approved food items and that no cash value can be withdrawn. The Ministry makes an agreement with participating groceries which are provided with “TTCard” machines to uphold these criteria. However, it has been found that some groceries do not monitor the items bought with the card and this makes it possible for unapproved items to be purchased. Additionally, in community groceries where there is customer rapport with salespersons, card-holders have been able to get cash from their “TTCard” accounts through fabricating sales transactions. In order to curb these problems, the TCCTP Secretariat receives monthly reports of all transactions to assess if unapproved items are bought. Those found breaching the approved list will then have their card terminated. Random undercover checks are also done at groceries to assess if criteria are being upheld. In this way such problems are being curbed. The final criterion for assessment is that of social justice. That is the assessment of the extent to which the TCCTP programme provides all citizens with the opportunity to achieve the relevant aspects of the social minimum. Ms. Jackson is of the opinion that “much has been achieved.” She says that there is a “misconception” that all should be entitled to the service and that those excluded may feel a sense of “injustice.” However, she maintains that only those who fulfil the requirements of the programme will be able to benefit from it. There are also those who may be in need of such help but may not have the required documents or may be found guilty of dishonesty in the application process. Unfortunately such persons will be disqualified and unable to access the programme. Further, she explains that although the aim is to help families gain food, proper nutrition is not always achieved. There are also general assistance grants available to participants to help them secure basic appliances such as a stove or refrigerator if they have such need. In these ways the TCCTP programme contributes to social justice.
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Bibliography
Dolgoff, Ralph and Donald Feldstein. (2009). Understanding Social Welfare: A Search For Social Justice. Pearson Education Inc Targeted Conditional Cash Transfer Programme (TCCTP). (2008). Operational Guidelines for Becoming a recipient for the TTCard.TCCTP. http://www.cso.gov.tt/statistics/key-indicators
http://hdrstats.undp.org/images/explanations/TTO.pdf
