Stakeholders validate guide to improve social protection services

Stakeholders in the social protection sector converged in Lilongwe on Monday to discuss and validate a Social Protection Advocacy Guide in an effort to improve service delivery in the social protection interventions in Malawi.

The validation workshop was organized by the Civil Society Social Protection Network (CSSPN), a network of organizations committed to advancing enhanced social protections programmes in Malawi, with financial support from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

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In his remarks at the event, Lawrent Kansinjiro, Deputy Director for Social Welfare (Social Cash Transfer Program) in the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, highlighted a number of gaps hindering effective delivery of services to targeted beneficiaries of social protection programmes.

Kansinjiro cited lack of coordination among players in the sector as one of the gaps the sector is facing.

He therefore commended CSSPN for developing a guide, which will help standardize the approaches.

“Having a guide that standardizes the approaches in social protection interventions is very important. As government, we welcome the guide,” he said.

Kansinjiro said the government is particularly happy that the guide is coming at a time it is working towards increase coverage in the social protection interventions.

He disclosed that only 10 percent of the deserving beneficiaries are currently accessing the support, leaving out around five percent.

“We are working hard and collaborating with all the partners, including the ministries, departments and agencies that support us to explore mechanisms for making sure that we increase that coverage because what we have observed is that at the 10 percent, we still leave out a certain proportion that is deserving of cash transfers,” said Kansinjiro.

CSSPN vice chairperson Caroline Mvalo said the Social Protection Advocacy Guide will help Malawians and the civil society institutions to adequately monitor and check the programs on social protection programmes and their gaps.

Mvalo disclosed that previously, the government was implementing social protection programmes without monitoring mechanisms.

“There was no one to check what was happening. You will also appreciate that if we put them like for example, to whatever is taking place There are quite a lot of complaints that come out. You will see that beneficiaries are complaining to say my name was missing. So as the network we noted such gaps and we thought it is important that we come up with a guiding tool that will help us to check these gaps,” she said.