Social Protection in Rwanda
• unconditional cash transfers to 18 879 households
• 104 425 people participated in 302 public works projects
• 13 559 loans to 53 228 borrowers
Over the last 5 years...
– poverty down from from 57% to 45%
– extrem poverty down from 36% to 24%
Social Protection Sector
• Genocide Survivors Fund
• Demobilisation and re-integration program
• And more…
• Vision 2020 Umurenge Program (VUP)
VUP
• Direct Support
• Public Works
• Financial Services
• Training and Sensitisation
VUP: Direct Support
• Unconditional
• Entitlement
• For poorest families with no members that can work
• Avarage payment of USD 22/month – adjusted to family size
• Two thirds of DS households are female headed
VUP: Public Works
• For poorest families with members able to work
• One person from each household
• 1½ - 2 $ /per day • mean days worked per HH 68
• About 50% women
Inclusion and exclusion errors
…
• Public Works projects – Anti-erosive ditches
– Radical terraces
– Roads and bridges
– Agriculture
– Schools
– Water supply
– Markets
– Electrification
– Health Centers
– Sports facilities
VUP: Financial Services
• For the poorest… and some others
• Other criteria – Project related (profitability) – Borrower’s credibility
• To: Loans Borrowers – Individuals 9 140 9 140 – Groups 4 290 41 485 – Cooperatives 129 2 603
• 42% women
…
• Amount 100 – 170 $ / borrower
• Repayment in one year
• 2% “interest”
…
• Household Impacts
– Increased food consumption 68%
– HH income increase 66%
– Increased ability to pay med. insurance 55%
– HH savings increased 51%
…
• Impact for the individual
– Increased hope for the future and self confidence
Targeting
Ubudehe Categorisation
• A Participatory Poverty Assessment (updated yearly)
• 6 poverty categories
• Category 1 and 2 eligible for DS and PW
• Category 1, 2 and 3 eligible for FS
VUP, Development Partners and Funding
• Sida, DFID, WB, EU, UNICEF
• Coordinated around a Social Protection Sector Strategy – Sector Leadership team and
– technical sub-committees on finance, policy, M&E…
• Specific VUP-DP meetings
• Joint Sector Reviews twice a year
…
• Use national systems and coordinate
• DPs provide more than 50% of VUP funds
• Results evidence and communication important for domestic and external support for SP
…
• Conflict and political conditionality currently biggest risk for funding
• GoR will need a strategy for prioritising (core social protection)
• Explore other funding possibilities (e.g. climate change funds)
Challenges and opportunities
• A leadership serious about poverty reduction
• Results are followed up and rewarded
– But, push to deliver community development (many and fast) → SP objectives becomes secondary
…
• Continuously improved PFM and a successful fight against corruption
– But, still weak local government PFM
• And, thin administrative capacity in general (dependent on International TA)
… • Costly cash transfer (bank charges) for
beneficiaries
• Keeping up/improving the quality of the targeting process (including dealing with strategic behaviour)
• Getting a robust impact evaluation approach in place
• Creating confidence for the complaints mechanism
