Social Assistance System Modernization Project

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The objective of the Social Assistance System Modernization Project is to improve the overall performance of Romania's social assistance system by strengthening performance management, improving equity, improving administrative efficiency and reducing error and fraud. It is organized around four key results areas, each contributing to the project development objective (PDO): a) strengthened performance management: Romania's social assistance reform is implemented following a results-oriented strategy and action plan and is supported by a performance management monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system; b) improved equity: the share of social assistance funds going to the first poorest quintile of the population increases to 45 percent from 37.7 percent at baseline (in 2009); c) improved administrative efficiency: reduction in administrative and client costs for means-tested programs by 15 percent from baseline value; and d) reduced error and fraud: programs for low-income households, disability benefits and family policy programs have strengthened information systems, and oversight and control procedures including detection of error and fraud using risk-based investigation, data matching, data quality audits, and consolidated beneficiary registries.