Social Safety Net Project

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This project will assist Albania in its efforts to reform its social protection systems and to make them compatible with a market oriented economy. The objectives of the project are to: develop policy to consolidate basic social insurance and social assistance programs reform; strengthen institutions responsible for planning and management of cash benefits; and strengthen training, research and statistical institutions to support social policy formation and implementation. Albania's transition from a command economy towards a market economy started with a less developed social safety net than other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Currently, the most pressing social problems involve price increases after liberalization, fall in real wages, and unemployment growth after employment guarantees were withdrawn. The government is attempting to restructure the social safety net and bring social policies in line with a decentralized democratic society and a transitional economy. The proposed project is poverty related and comprises two components: social insurance reform and social assistance development. The social assistance component will concentrate on organizing a system of income support. The social insurance component will contribute to poverty reduction by safeguarding the minimum benefits of those in the social insurance scheme.