Dr Rachel Slater was commissioned to prepare a paper on social protection, specifically cash transfers, in the context of rural livelihoods and rural economic growth. Drawing on the experiences of existing basic social protection methods, the paper focuses in particular on the implications for the role of the state: including policy design; financing, and administrative capacity.

This paper was presented at the ILO/DfID seminar 'Challenging the development paradign: Rethinking the role of social security in state building' held in Geneva on the 4th and 5th of September 2006.

The paper was also published in a book titled: 'The role of social security int he development of nations: Implications for international development practice'