Additional Financing for the Social Safety Net System Project II

active

The Parent Project is supporting the strengthening and extension of the social safety net system in Mauritania in order to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. It builds on the outcomes of the previous Mauritania Social Safety Net System Project (P150430) which began implementation in September 2015 and which has put in place: (i) the Social Registry, which provides any government program with an effective and transparent mechanism to target poor and vulnerable households, (ii) the National Social Transfer Program, Tekavoul, which is currently supporting 59,000 households in extreme poverty through cash transfers conditioned on beneficiaries’ participation in social promotion activities designed to promote knowledge on hygiene, nutrition and investment in early childhood development; and (iii) the Shock Responsive Social Safety Net Program, Elmaouna, which is supporting several thousand food-insecure households annually during the lean season. The Parent Project is framed around four components. Component 1 aims to improve the efficiency of the Government’s social programs (including, but not limited to Tekavoul and Elmouana) by updating the social registry and promoting its usage. This component is implemented by the Taazour General Delegation, which currently oversees the Social Registry. Component 2 is focusing on enhancing the socio-economic inclusion of poor households by strengthening and extending the Social Transfer Program, Tekavoul, supporting an adequate re-certification and exit strategy for former Tekavoul beneficiaries and facilitating their inclusion in the Civil Registry. This component is implemented by the Taazour General Delegation. Component 3 is strengthening the shock-responsive system by further developing the early warning system, the Elmaouna program and the shock-responsive financing strategy. This component will be implemented by the Food Security office (CSA). Component 4 is support the coordination and management of the project. Furthermore, the Parent Project will allow for the inclusion within the SSN of poor and vulnerable households in the refugee and host communities of the Hodh Chargui region. The priority will be to enroll the poorest households within the regular governmental safety net system, including the Social Registry, Tekavoul, and Elmaouna programs. The proposed SSN Parent Project is part of an overall program financed by the IDA 18 Refugee Sub-Window (RSW) for Mauritania. The core objective of the RSW program in Mauritania is to strengthen the capacity of the Government to provide access to basic services and infrastructure to the refugee population and host communities in the targeted areas. Apart from supporting the proposed project, the RSW funds will also support (i) the expansion of the on-going Health Support System Project (P156165, INAYA) in the Hodh Chargui (US$ 15 million from RSW); and (ii) the provision of water supply, sanitation and urban services for host community and refugees populations through the Water and Sanitation Project (P167328, US$ 10 million from RSW) and the Decentralization and Urban Development project (P169332, US$ 20 million from RSW). The additional financing (AF) will scale up the Parent Project activities and contribute to a “building-back-better” approach . The activities supported by this AF are part of a larger Adaptive Social Protection (ASP) agenda supported by the Parent Project which aims to build a comprehensive shock-responsive system to support households to build resilience and cope with shocks. The Parent Project is financing the development and the strengthening of the main mechanisms related to the shock-response system (early warning system, institutional arrangements, shock-financing strategy). The first additional Financing will exclusively support the scale-up of existing activities included in the Parent Project (P171125). More specifically, it will finance the scale-up of the shock-responsive programs which are described in the component 3.2 of the Parent Project with an additional 36.000 beneficiary households :(i) the first activity supported by the grant is the scale-up of the shock-responsive safety net program Elmaouna to support an additional 27,000 vulnerable households (US$ 9.6 million) and (ii) the second activity supported by the AF is the pilot of a vertical/horizontal expansion of the regular safety net program Tekavoul in order to support an additional 9,000 vulnerable households (US$ 3.3 million).