Non-State Actors’ Engagement and State-Led Poverty Management: The Case of the Public Assistance Grant in Trinidad and Tobago

The Public Assistance Grant (PAG) is an unconditional cash transfer existing for over 70 years in Trinidad and Tobago. Non-State Actors (NSAs) provided insights about their engagements with the poor, some of whom are beneficiaries of the PAG. The aim of this paper is to elevate efficiency standards in the delivery of the PAG through understanding the differences between the practices administered through the PAG and those that reflect everyday experiences of the poor in need of welfare services. Elite interviewees representing five categories of NSAs were purposefully selected and subjected to in-depth interviews. Institutional Ethnography (IE) provided a methodological platform that yielded the disaggregation of five sub-populations of the poor, including Special Needs Recipients, Lifelong Recipients, Progressive Recipients, Abstention by Choice and Untapped Poor. These sub-populations are valuable in establishing customised intervention with likely gains in efficacy and efficiency. Our results reinforce the positive impact of insights shared by NSAs who are among progressive stakeholders with capacities to guide policy processes to redress the ills associated with poverty in Trinidad and Tobago. This is important especially since there has been virtually no emphasis on the role of NSAs in the 70-years existence of the PAG.