Providing social protection for ultra-poor people in Malawi
Project description
Title: Support for the implementation of social protection for the ultra-poor people in Malawi
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Malawi
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs
Overall term: 2022 to 2025
Content
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 169 out of 191 in the 2021/2022 Human Development Report. The Malawi Poverty Index Report 2021 designates 61.7 per cent of Malawi’s population as multidimensionally poor, with the highest poverty incidence in rural areas at 70 per cent.
In 2018, the Malawi Government adopted the Malawi National Social Support Programme (MNSSP) II which currently includes three core pillars:
- supporting the consumption needs of poor households through timely, adequate and predictable cash transfers.
- building resilient livelihoods to set households on graduation pathways through inter-programme linkages.
- developing a shock-sensitive system of social protection that responds to seasonal needs.
As the practical implementation of social protection programmes in Malawi remains fragmented, MNSSP II sees a need for better coordination and collaboration in the social protection sector.
Objective
The social protection system in Malawi is improving its services to the poor population in terms of performance, identification and access.
Approach
The programme Support for the Implementation of Social Protection for the Ultra-Poor People in Malawi supports Malawi’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA) in improving the social protection system. The programme works with the Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Division (PRSP). This ministry division is responsible for the coordination and steering of social protection in Malawi.
The third phase of SPP (2022 – 2025), focuses on the following priorities:
- Improving the ability of the government to steer the implementation and strategy processes.
- Further consolidating the functionality and institutionalisation of the Unified Beneficiary Registry (UBR), an integrated social database with information of beneficiaries of social support programmes.
- Supporting the beneficiaries of social support programmes in accessing complementary measures.
Last update: December 2022
