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1 results

  • Informal third-party actors in street-level welfare decisions: a case study of Pakistan social assistance

  • Aniqa Farwa, Paul Henman
  • Journal:
    Journal of Social Policy , First View
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    26 September 2023, pp. 1-18
    • Article
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  • Research on street-level bureaucracy has tended to focus on individual and organisational factors that influence street-level practice. To date, empirical research has insufficiently explored the contribution of wider socio-cultural factors in street-level decision making. Drawing on data from a qualitative study of social assistance in Pakistan, this article examines how cultural patronage practices of sifarish intersect with street-level social welfare operations. Results highlight the importance of sifarish in informing decision-making processes and in enabling access to social assistance. In this manner, people providing sifarish (called sifarishie) operate as informal third-party actors. The findings challenge the dominant view of street-level operation that the decision making at street level is solely guided by individual and organisational factors.