The database aims to: 

• provide a summary of the evidence available on the effectiveness of social assistance interventions in developing countries; 

• focus on programmes seeking to combine the reduction and mitigation of poverty, with strengthening and facilitating household investments capable of preventing poverty and securing development in the longer term 

• select programmes for inclusion in the database on the basis of the availability of information on design features, evaluation, size, scope, or significance; 

• provide summary information on each programme in a way that can be easily referenced by DFID staff and others with only a basic level of technical expertise.