Social Protection
In 2016, the coordination within the social protection sector has been increased through the establishment of inter-ministerial platforms.
The UN in Lesotho, in partnership with European Union advocates for and provides support to social-protection mechanisms by improving and expanding social-protection services through improved targeting and delivery mechanisms, as well as increasing the coverage of social-protection programmes, particularly the Child Grants Programme (CGP), food assistance program and school-feeding intervention.
In 2016, the coordination within the social protection sector has been increased through the establishment of inter-ministerial platforms, whcih also include relevent development partners. The integration of different social protection schemes has continued to increase efficiency and effectiveness of delivery. Pilot exercises of the integrated delivery of social assistance have been completed and will be scaled up in the future. Further, social protection has been an integral part of the El-nino endused drought response. Political commitment to use the National Information System for Social Assistance (NISSA) as a single registry for social assistance has been secured, with the Ministry of Social Development (MOSD) formally informing other stakeholders to use NISSA as a single registry. Three Government safety net programmes – Child Grant Programme (CGP), Public Assistance (PA), and OVC Bursary – in three community councils used NISSA for targeting beneficiaries. In addition to the three Government programmes, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) also used the NISSA during 2015-2016 El Nino response. In 2016, a total of 20,000 households were registered on the NISSA. All preparatory activities to register 115,000 households in 2017 have been completed. The MoSD expanded the number of child grant recipient households from 23,000 with 69,000 children in 2015 to 26,681 households with 80,043 children in 2016. UNICEF provided MoSD with human resources and administrative support for timely disbursement of cash among the eligible households.
Budget (2013-2018): US$ 31,442,046
Mobilized (2013-2016): US$ 14,634,186
Funding Gap (2017-2018): US$ 16,807,860
UN entities involved in this initiative
Goals we are supporting through this initiative
