Bolivia Social Transformation and Economic Protection

pipeline

The project will finance cash transfers to support vulnerable population in coping with macroeconomic reform and other economic and natural shocks. The project will leverage existing social programs and their registries to build a more consolidated and integrated delivery system platform for a shock-responsive social protection system. Ministry of Economy and Public Finance (MEFP) will implement the project through a Project Coordination Unit (PCU) in coordination with sector agencies and payment platforms. The beneficiaries include those affected by the reforms and shocks, with special attention to already vulnerable people, such as children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Component 1. Cash Transfers will provide income support to selected populations affected by economic or climate-related shocks. It will fund cash transfers for a defined period to help recipients cope with income losses due to direct impacts, change, climate inflation, or macroeconomic reforms such as subsidy changes. Beneficiaries will be identified through data-driven analysis and existing social programs, applying exclusion criteria for higher-income groups. It will fund cash transfers for a defined period to help recipients cope with income losses due to direct impacts, change, climate inflation, or macroeconomic reforms such as subsidy changes. Beneficiaries will be identified through data-driven analysis and existing social programs (such as Bono Juana Azurduy de Padilla (for maternal and child health); Bono Juancito Pinto (for education); Renta Dignidad, Bono Discapacidad (BD), and Subsidio Universal Prenatal por la Vida), applying exclusion criteria to minimize leakage to higher-income groups. Specific program parameters will be determined and described in the Project Operations Manual (POM). Component 2: Project Management and strengthening SP delivery systems will ensure effective cash transfers implementation, and finance development of a social protection delivery system for shock response. It will fund project management, capacity building, audits, monitoring and evaluation, and incremental operating costs for the implementing agency through the PCU. The component will combine registries from various programs into a unified platform with payment mechanisms, using administrative data. The project is exploring using the same payment system as the earlier COVID-19 Emergency Social Safety Net Project (P173984), which is already used by most of the current social programs. Additionally, the component will strengthen the grievance and redress systems and communications, building on existing program mechanisms by providing free nationwide communication channels and websites for inquiries, complaints, and claims related to cash transfers and ensuring that citizen feedback and complaints are addressed promptly by the PCU.