on the demographic eligibility criteria. Given the rigorous verification systems tied to the ISAS framework, any attempts at getting undue assistance via false declarations of the households, or subjective decisions by the SASF staff can be thwarted. All households that fit the demographic criteria – according to their digital information in the ISAS system – are deemed eligible for the program, notified of their eligibility status via SMS messages, and assigned a debit card (Kızılay Card), through which they can access their assistance.

All applicant households are then checked against meeting the eligibility criteria on a recurring monthly basis. If ISAS identifies that the household no longer meets the eligibility criteria (for instance, because of a dependent turning the age of 18, or the expiration of a disability report), the case is removed from the ESSN program. Conversely, households that were deemed ineligible at the time of their first application to the program, can become eligible at a later date through monthly digital eligibility checks (for instance if they register a new dependent such as a newborn baby on official MERNIS records, or obtain a disability report from the designated public hospitals, which get updated on their ISAS records). SASF social workers are required to make household visits to eligible applicants within a year of application to verify application information and assess living conditions. During the household visits, if a household is found to be not eligible for transfer, e.g. due to undeclared asset ownership, they are removed from the program.

After an initial pilot of the ESSN in two districts of Ankara and Sivas provinces in October 2016, the ESSN was launched nationwide in November 2016. Following the launch, sensitization activities took place through the use of printed materials at SASFs, PDMM offices, TRC Offices, and national and international NGOs; billboards; the ESSN website and Facebook page; and national television and local radio. To act as a feedback mechanism, a call center was set up to serve as a helpline free of charge – providing information on the application process, receiving feedback and complaints, and ensuring that flagged issues were being tracked and resolved. Applications are made on a recurring basis with no closing date for the submission of applications. If households are assessed eligible for ESSN, they start receiving a monthly transfer of 120 Turkish liras (TRY) ($62.7 in 2017 US$ using 2011 purchasing power parity, or PPP) per person, regardless of the person’s age. Most households started to receive payments in June 2017. In addition, quarterly top ups are provided to eligible households depending on household size – households with less than four members receive 250 TRY, those with five to eight members receive 150 TRY, and those with nine members or more receive 50 TRY.<sup>16</sup> By March 2020, a total of 570,000 applications were made to the program, covering nearly 2.9 million individuals. The eligibility rate at the household level was 53% and the number of people benefiting from the program had reached over 1.7 million.

> 16 The quarterly top-up values were revised upward later in August 2019, to 600 TRY for families with 1-4 members, 300 TRY for families with 5-8 members, and 100 TRY for families with 9 members or more. The increase in the top-up values was implemented after the end of data collection for this study.

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