Individuals/beneficiaries

Individuals in a group can have different roles.

In the case of households, we usually have the role of household head, that is unique. Definition of household head might change across countries, but it is meant to be the person who is responsible for taking decisions in a household. It is independent of the beneficiary and recipient concepts.

Social programs might target household or individuals or a combination of both. In the former case, a comprehensive assessment is done to evaluate the eligibility of the household (e.g., PMT assessment); all members of enrolled households would be “beneficiaries”. In the case of individual programs, applicants would be assessed and (if selected and enrolled into a program) they would be referred to as “beneficiary”. In case of single headed household, the beneficiary is the head of the household.

Who collects the benefit can be defined “recipient” or “representative” and should be tagged by a different variable. The recipient can be the beneficiary, a person from the group/household, or even a third party (person or institution). Usually must satisfy some conditions, e.g., minimum age and other requirements.

Examples:

• single headed household, individual or group benefit, the person is household head, beneficiary, and recipient.

• household, group benefit, there will be a household head, everyone will be beneficiaries, and there could be one or more recipients (appointed by the household). Sometime recipients are referred to as primary and secondary representatives.

• Household, individual benefit (tuition fees), there will be a household head, a child who’s the beneficiary, and a recipient who could be the school or in other cases another person (another household member or a guardian)