ABSTRACT
This chapter intends to contribute to the development of a framework for a critical assessment of the poverty alleviation strategies initiated by the international bodies. The recent Turkish experience in World Bank initiated poverty reduction schemes as well as the debates among the rather limited number of experts provides the motivation for attempting to develop such a critical stance. The social risk mitigation project (SRMP) initiated in Turkey by the World Bank in the aftermath of the 2001 economic crisis was reflecting this new orientation. The conditional cash transfers (CCTs) became an integral part of the Turkish government's social assistance strategy, as it started fully financing the programme with domestic resources after the expiry of SRMP. In the light of several Latin American countries experiences, which date back to the 1990s, it has been recognized that conditional cash transfers may have had some limited impact in terms of human capital formation, but they are not a panacea against social exclusion.
