Social Protection Sector Strategic Plan (SP-SSP) 2018/19 – 2023/24

1.1 Context to the development of the SP-SSP ................................................................10

1.2 Purpose of the SP-SSP................................................................................................10

1.3 Methodology for developing the SP-SSP ...................................................................11 Chapter 2: Overview of the Social Protection sector ...........................................................12

2.1 Conceptual approach to social protection...................................................................12

2.2 Policy commitments on social protection...................................................................13 2.3 Programmatic scope of social protection sector in Rwanda .......................................16

2.4 Relationship between social protection and key complementary programmes and services ..................................................................................................................................18

2.5 Institutional overview of the sector ............................................................................18

2.6 Sector Achievements, Challenges and Lessons Learnt ..............................................19

2.7 Key evidence emerging from national datasets on poverty and vulnerability ...........23 Chapter 3: The strategic framework .....................................................................................27

3.1 Mission and Objectives ..............................................................................................27

3.2 New Priorities and Innovations Proposed: .................................................................28

3.3 Contribution to NST1 .................................................................................................36

3.4 SP-SSP Results Chain ................................................................................................41 Chapter 4: Implementation arrangements ............................................................................58

4.1 Institutional Framework .............................................................................................58

4.2 Mechanisms for co-ordination between stakeholders and partners in the sector .......61 Chapter 5: Monitoring and evaluation ..................................................................................63

5.1 Sector monitoring arrangements.................................................................................63

5.2 Sector evaluation framework ......................................................................................63 Chapter 6: Cost and Financing of the Sector Strategic Plan ................................................64

6.1 Overall estimated cost of the SP-SSP.........................................................................64

6.2 Detailed breakdown of component costs ....................................................................65

6.3 SP-SSP Financing .......................................................................................................68 1 List of tables Table 1: Key national targets to which the social protection sector contributes .......................10 Table 2: Progress against targets for EDPRS2 and NSPS (2013-2018) outcome indicators ....19 Table 3: Projected beneficiary numbers or the FARG shelter support scheme ........................30 Table 4: Projected beneficiary numbers for FARG education support scheme ........................32 Table 5: Social Protection sector contributions to NST1 Thematic Areas/Priorities ................36 Table 6: Social Protection Sector results matrix .......................................................................43 Table 7: Priority actions matrix.................................................................................................48 Table 8: Annual cost of the SP-SSP by component (2017 prices) ............................................64 List of figures Figure 1: Life-cycle vulnerabilities and social protection responses ........................................12 Figure 2: Operational scope of the social protection sector in Rwanda ....................................17 Figure 3: Proportion of children stunted by wealth quintile .....................................................24 Figure 4: District variations in extreme poverty incidence .......................................................25 Figure 5: Poverty rate variations at sector level ........................................................................25 Figure 6: Annual cost of the SP-SSP by component (2017 prices) ..........................................65 Figure 7: Annual costs of component 1 disaggregated by programme .....................................65 Figure 8: Annual cost of component 3 broken down by programme .......................................66 Figure 9: Annual cost of Component 4 broken down by activity .............................................66 Figure 10: Annual cost of Component 5 broken down by activity ...........................................67 Figure 11: Annual SP sector capacity building and administration costs .................................68 Figure 12: Annual cost of component 7 by activity ..................................................................67 2 Abbreviations AU African Union CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women CFSVA Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Assessment cPW Classic Public Works CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child CSO Civil Society Organisation DIS Direct Income Support DP Development Partner EAC East African Community ECD Early Childhood Development EDPRS Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy EICV Household Living Conditions Survey ePW Expanded Public Works FARG Genocide Survivors’ Fund GBV Gender-based Violence GMO Gender Monitoring Office GoR Government of Rwanda HH Household ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ILO International Labour Organisation LODA Local Administrative Entities Development Agency M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MIFOTRA Ministry of Public Service and Labour MIGEPROF Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion MINAGRI Ministry of Agriculture MINALOC Ministry of Local Government MINECOFIN Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning MINEDUC Ministry of Education MoH Ministry of Health MTEF Medium-Term Expenditure Framework NCC National Council for Children NCPD National Council for People with Disabilities NGO Non-Government Organisation NISR National Institute of Statstics, Rwanda NST National Strategy for Transformation NWC National Women’s Council PW Public Works PwD Person with Disabilities RDHS Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey RDRC Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission RSSB Rwanda Social Security Board RWF Rwandan Francs SDG Sustainable Development Goal SP Social Protection SPSWG Social Protiection Sector Working Group SSP Sector Strategic Plan TMM Tubarerere Mu Muryango UN United Nations 3 UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund USD United States Dollar VUP Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme WB World Bank 7YGP Seven Year Government Programme Definition of terms Direct Income Non-contributory / tax-financed schemes providing regular, predictable Support income support to eligible individuals or households. Includes public works, unconditional cash transfer schemes, social pensions, disability benefits, child benefits, among others. Social Security Overarching term for contributory / insurance-based and non- contributory / tax-financed benefit schemes such as pensions, disability benefits, maternity benefits Social Incidental or temporary cash or in-kind assistance for households in crisis Assistance or have suffered a short-term shock. May include cash payments to cover essential needs, costs associated with accessing health care, support for vulnerable children to access education services as well as shelter construction/rehabilitation. Poor A level of consumption below the official poverty line (RWF 159,375 per year in 2014 prices). Vulnerable An individual or household who, for whatever reason, is less able to withstand socio-economic shocks and is therefore at an elevated risk of experiencing declines in welfare and or other forms of social deprivation. In the context of this strategy key vulnerable groups in Rwanda include low income and/or labour-constrained individuals or households such as older people, people with disabilities and female-headed households etc. Graduation A situation whereby a previously extremely poor household increase their household productivity and resilience to the extent that their consumption permanently remains over and above the official extreme poverty line. Minimum A programme of the Government of Rwanda that provides a defined set Package for of benefits to extremely poor households that have the capacity to develop Graduation a sustainable livelihood. These benefits include: a minimum number of days’ work on public works; a productive asset; a caseworker; and health insurance. Complementary Any programme or service that directly supports the achievement of thee services social protection sector’s intended impacts on poverty and malnutrition. Although complementary are not formally part of the social protection sector, the social protection sector will undertake special efforts to strengthen coordination with, and promote access to, complementary services by beneficiaries of social protection programmes. Delinquency Any conducts that are against the laws or moral standards of Rwandan society. 4 Rehabilitation The combined and co-ordinated use of medical, social, educational and vocational measures for training or retraining an individual to achieve an optimal state of health, psychological functioning, and social well-being Gender A social construct that refers to the responsibilities, rights, opportunities, respect and value a person receives from society in accordance with his/her sex, and which is likely to change in relation to time, culture and other criteria. Extreme A level of consumption below the official extreme poverty line poverty (RWF105,064 per year in 2014 prices). Vulnerability The extent to which an individual or household is able to withstand socio- economic shocks and subsequent likelihood of experiencing declines in welfare and/or social deprivation. Youth All individuals aged 16 to 30 years. Social Care Services that provide institutional and community-based care, protection, Services rehabilitation, psycho-social support, advice, referrals and case management support to the most vulnerable. 5 Foreword From 1994 to 2005, social protection was mainly delivered in the form of humanitarian assistance. In 2011, the first National Social protection sector strategic plan was adopted and later revised in 2013, that saw it evolving from humanitarian assistance to social assistance. During the same period, Social protection has contributed strongly to Rwanda’s performance in delivering on the national development targets (e.g. reducing extreme poverty and inequality) while implementing EDPRS 1 and 2 and the Millennium Development Goals. Eradication of extreme poverty is now within our grasp and the social protection sector remains critical to achieving this noble objective. In addition, social protection sector has evolved over time with new emerging challenges including malnutrition, livelihood shocks, existence of extreme poverty that necessitated revision of Social Protection sector strategic plan to accommodate the new emerging sector related priorities. This strategy has been developed to address these challenges. Importantly, it will contribute to the efforts of the Government to reduce poverty and the vulnerability of the population from economic, social, and natural shocks. The Social protection strategic plan 2017-2024 is the driving tool to achieving Rwandan, Regional and International commitment in social protection sector, to ensure that key social protection developments such as the eradication of extreme poverty and poverty and malnutrition and achieving prosperity and wellbeing for everyone. The new social protection strategy is built on four pillars of social security, social care services, short term social assistance and livelihood and employment support. These four pillars are grounded in the 4 guiding principles of Protection, Promotion, Prevention and Transformation. This is critical for the achievement of national and international human welfare thresholds such as the guarantees provided by the Constitution, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and international agreements including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which identify social protection as a fundamental human right for all citizens. This is also in line with the East African Community and African Union commitments to social policy interventions. The Sustainable Development Goals as well as our own Constitution call for a more ambitious approach to social protection that is more inclusive and preventative in nature and provides protection from a range of social risks - being transformative for all citizens. Therefore, looking forward, we shall no longer “limit our ambition to the eradication of extreme poverty” but rather aim for “prosperity and wellbeing for everyone” (Extract from a speech by H.E the President of Rwanda at the Human Development Summit on 13th September 2017). Furthermore, social protection shall be conceptualized, going forward, not only in terms of its immediate contribution to poverty reduction, but also in terms of its contribution to societal resilience, human capital development, economic development, social cohesion that altogether contribute to social transformation and development of a modern nation state that recognizes 6 the Constitutional rights of its citizens. The strategic plan development has taken into context the existing social protection programs and activities with a view to promoting synergy, minimizing duplication and bridging the gaps observed. Social protection interventions are provided by many different stakeholders including Government Ministries and Agencies, Faith Based organizations, National and International Civil Society Organizations, Development Partners as well as the Community. The process of developing this strategy involved widespread consultations and the participation of different stakeholders; namely sector Ministries, Agencies, Local Government Authorities, Civil Society Organizations, Faith Based Organizations through Social Protection Sector Working Group and Social cluster forum. To this end, I wish to thank all those who gave their inputs either individually or through their organizations and institutions. I believe that all stakeholders will work in partnership to help mobilize required resources and fully participate in implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of this sector strategic plan to find our dream realized. Prof. SHYAKA Anastase Minister of Local Government 7 Executive Summary Background to the development of this SP-SSP The right to social protection is clearly established within the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda (2015) as well as a range of international conventions. Following Rwanda’s emergence from the trauma of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, deliberate steps have been taken to achieve the realization of these rights. Most recently, the first National Strategy for Transformation (2018-2024) has reaffirmed social protection’s central role within Rwanda’s strategy for eradicating extreme poverty by 2024 and delivering high standards of living by 2050. The updated National Social Protection Policy (2018) has also reconfirmed Rwanda’s commitment to the progressive development of an inclusive and comprehensive social protection system grounded in positive values of inclusive development, self- reliance, citizen participation, service delivery excellence and national solidarity. The Policy proposes a more comprehensive vision for social protection that encapsulates social security, short-term social assistance, social care services and targeted livelihood and employment support. Importantly, the new Policy also reflects Rwanda’s intention no longer to “limit our ambition to the eradication of extreme poverty” but rather to aim for “prosperity and wellbeing for everyone” (Extract from a speech by H.E the President of Rwanda at the Human Development Summit on 13th September 2017). This Social Protection Sector Strategic Plan was therefore developed to support implementation of the revised National Social Protection Policy (2018) over the NST-1 implementation period (2018-2024). It identifies a range of important policy innovations and provides a detailed guidance on sequencing of interventions, resource requirements and intra-sector allocations, clarifies institutional arrangements for policy implementation and provides a clear framework for monitoring and evaluating strategy execution. This Strategic Plan was developed by MINALOC in line with detailed guidance issued by MINECOFIN and in consultation with the full range of institutions and stakeholders in the Social Protection sector. Structure of this SP-SSP Chapter 1 provides the detailed background to this Social Protection Sector Strategic Plan (SP-SSP), the purpose of SP-SSP and a description of the participatory and evidence-based process by which it was developed. Chapter 2 provides an in-depth, evidence-based foundation for policy proposals made later in the Strategic Plan. This starts with an overview of the key national policy commitments on social protection contained within: the Seven Year Government Programme (2017-2024) and the National Social Protection Policy (2018), the National Early Childhood Development Policy (2016), amongst others. The Strategy also identifies the implications of Rwanda’s commitments under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the AU Agenda 2063 first ten-year plan, the EAC Vision 2050 and at the Global Disability Summit in July 2018. The chapter then goes on to identify the key strategic challenges to be addressed by the SP-SSP. These include: inadequate coverage of social security and Direct Income Support schemes, particularly among the poorest; inadequacy of existing social care services to address complex social risks and vulnerabilities; limited availability of relevant and high-quality livelihood and employment support services for the poorest households; institutional capacity deficits and the need for strengthened coordination and harmonization. The chapter concludes with detailed analysis of evidence on poverty and vulnerability that has emerged from Rwanda’s statistical system over the EDPRS2 period. Attention is drawn to the relationship between labour capacity, poverty and vulnerability; the low levels of household resilience to life-cycle, environmental and economic shocks; the relationship between poverty, food security and malnutrition; the existence of substantial geographic variations in key welfare indicators; and, finally, the emergence of new forms of social deprivation and vulnerability partly associated with Rwanda’s rapid socio- economic development. 8 Chapter 3 sets out a new strategic framework and detailed programme development agenda for the social protection sector. A refreshed mission is proposed as follows: “to ensure that all Rwandan citizens, particularly the poor and vulnerable, are protected from life-cycle risks and socio-economic shocks and supported to achieve sustainable livelihoods and self-reliance.” The overall objective of the SP-SSP is defined as “to strengthen the national social protection system with a view to ensuring that all Rwandan citizens have a dignified standard of living” and seven specific objectives are identified for the 2018- 2024 period. The chapter goes on to present, in some detail, a comprehensive set of policy innovations and programme development proposals that are expected to deliver on the above objectives. The chapter specifically notes that, implementation of the various policy commitments will result in coverage of the core social protection system almost doubling by 2024. In doing so social protection sector will deliver a decisive contribution to the eradication of poverty and the reduction of poverty and malnutrition by the end of the NST1 period. The Chapter concludes by setting out how the SP-SSP contributes directly to the NST- 1 Thematic Areas/Priorities and Cross-Cutting Areas and provides an annualized Sector Results Matrix and Sector Policy Actions Matrix which will enable the sector to effectively monitor strategy execution over the coming years. Chapter 4 sets out the implementation framework for the Sector Strategic Plan. It identifies key governmental and non-governmental stakeholders and their respective roles and responsibilities and explains the mechanisms for coordination in the sector at different levels. In order to ensure effective coordination of this more comprehensive and inclusive sector strategy, restructuring of the Social Protection Sector Working Group is proposed to a) strengthen the link between the SPSWG and instititonal decision-making; and b) create space for more detailed technical dialogue on each of the strategic pillars identified in the National Social Protection Policy (2018). Chapter 5 sets out a how monitoring and evaluation in the sector will be conducted within the framework of the Social Protection Sector Working Group and associated Joint Sector Review (JSR) mechanism. The chapter highlights the importance of aligning the Sector-wide M&E Framework (that was developed by the SPSWG in 2016) as well as institution-level M&E systems with this SP-SSP and concludes by setting out a high level M&E plan for the sector. Chapter 6 sets out the anticipated cost and proposed approach to financing implementation of the Sector Strategic Plan. The chapter commences by noting that continued public and private investment in social protection is not only a critical pre-requisite for the eradication of extreme poverty by 2024 but will remain important in the context of changing expectations for minimum living standards and as the country raises its ambitions towards the attainment of prosperity and wellbeing for everyone. The chapter goes on to provides detailed analysis of overall costs, costs for each of the strategic pillars and costs disaggregated by programme. The analysis confirms the affordability of the SP-SSP, although notes the need for re-allocation of funds within the sector as certain programmes wind down and others grow. The chapter concludes by setting out the statutory financing framework for Rwanda’s key social protection programmes and articulating the role of discretionary borrowing and international grant funding. 9 Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Context to the development of the SP-SSP The right to social protection is clearly established within the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda (2015) as well as a range of international conventions. Following Rwanda’s emergence from the trauma of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, deliberate steps have been taken to achieve the realization of these rights. In 2005 the first National Social Protection Policy called for the establishment of a social protection system that delivered “universal protection for all citizens” (GoR, 2005) and the first EDPRS (2007-2012) established social protection as a formal Sector and the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP) as a flagship programme. The second EDPRS (2013-2018) re-confirmed the importance of social protection to Rwanda’s socio-economic development and the associated National Social Protection Strategy (2013-2018) delivered a significant expansion of coverage and improved effectiveness. The first National Strategy for Transformation (2018-2024) has also reaffirmed social protection’s central role within Rwanda’s strategy for eradicating extreme poverty by 2024 and delivering high standards of living by 2050. Most recently, the Government of Rwanda adopted an updated National Social Protection Policy (2018) which articulates the Government of Rwanda’s short-, medium- and long-term social protection policy agenda and reconfirms its commitment to the progressive development of an inclusive and comprehensive social protection system grounded in positive values of inclusive development, self- reliance, citizen participation, service delivery excellence and national solidarity. The new policy reflects developments within Rwanda’s wider social policy framework, a number of key regional and international policy commitments on social protection and lessons learnt from over ten years of social protection programming in Rwanda. As a result, the Policy proposes a more comprehensive vision for social protection that encapsulates social security, short-term social assistance, social care services and targeted livelihood and employment support. Importantly, the new Policy also reflects Rwanda’s intention no longer to “limit our ambition to the eradication of extreme poverty” but rather to aim for “prosperity and wellbeing for everyone” (Extract from a speech by H.E the President of Rwanda at the Human Development Summit on 13th September 2017).

1.2 Purpose of the SP-SSP This Social Protection Sector Strategic Plan was developed to support implementation of the revised National Social Protection Policy (2018) over the NST-1 implementation period (2018-2024). The strategy provides a detailed guidance on sequencing of interventions, resource requirements and intra- sector allocations, clarifies institutional arrangements for policy implementation and provides a clear framework for monitoring and evaluating strategy execution. The Strategy proposes a number of policy innovations to address long-standing challenges associated with key issues such as coverage, effectiveness, responsiveness to vulnerability and shocks, institutional capacity, harmonization within the sector, and coordination with policies and programmes outside of the sector. Finally, this SP-SSP also aims to guide the social protection sector as it takes its important first steps towards the realization of medium and long-term targets related to the Sustainable Development Goals (by 2035), Vision 2050 and AU Agenda 2063. Table 1: Key national targets to which the social protection sector contributes Indicator 2013/14 2020 target Extreme poverty headcount 16.3% 0% Poverty headcount 39.1% 20% Gini coefficient 0.448 0.35 Chronic malnutrition 37.9% 15% Citizen satisfaction with service delivery 61.2% 90% 10

1.3 Methodology for developing the SP-SSP This strategic plan was developed by MINALOC in consultation with the full range of institutions and stakeholders in the Social Protection sector. The drafting process commenced with a week-long stakeholder workshop held in June 2017 to review implementation of the previous sector strategy, scan the national, regional and international policy landscape and identify priorities for the 2018-2024 period. In-depth consultations on specific issues were then held with a range of stakeholders and drafts were presented to the Social Protection Sector Working Group, MINALOC Management Team and MINECOFIN on a number of occasions for inputs and comments. The final draft was validated by the Social Protection Sector Working Group on 16th November 2017. 11 Chapter 2: Overview of the Social Protection sector

2.1 Conceptual approach to social protection There is no global, universally accepted definition of social protection and individual countries and there is considerable variation in the practical definitions of social protection used by individual countries and international institutions and organizations. Nonetheless, ‘income security’ and the principle of a ‘minimum standard of living’ remain central to all definitions and conceptualizations of social protection. In Rwanda, social protection has been defined in the updated National Social Protection Policy (2018) as: “All public and private income transfers schemes, Social Care Services, livelihood support and insurance schemes that, together, ensure that all extremely poor and vulnerable people have income security, a dignified standard of living and are protected against life-cycle and livelihood risks with a view to achieving sustainable graduation and self-reliance.”. Social protection has a critical role to play in reducing poverty, extreme poverty and inequality in all societies and is a key reflection of a societal and political commitment to the promotion of inclusive development and social justice. Social protection helps stabilise assets, incomes and capabilities in the face of a wide range of life-cycle, economic and environmental shocks, thereby enabling households to take economic risks, make investments and accumulate wealth over time, including across generations. A strong social protection system is therefore a key to improving resilience and self-reliance in society as a whole, and among lower income households in particular. Social protection also enables investment in the nutrition and education of children at a critical stage in their development, ensuring that they grow up to be productive and self-sufficient adults. Social protection also reduces social exclusion and isolation and helps ensure equitable access to critical social services which underpin human development. Finally, social protection promotes political stability and social peace, reduces inequalities, social tensions and conflict and helps ensure greater social cohesion and participation. Over time, therefore, Rwanda aims to develop a comprehensive, sustainable, life-cycle-based social protection system that delivers a minimum level of income security to all Rwandans at critical points in their lives and protects them against a wide range of socio-economic risks. However, achievement of the goal of universal access to social protection is an incremental process that needs to be deliberately pursued. Social protection systems develop over time and reflect, and contribute to, wider social, economic and political development processes. Figure 1: Life-cycle vulnerabilities and social protection responses 12

2.2 Policy commitments on social protection Rwanda’s Constitution (2015) and ratification of several international conventions establishes the right to social protection. However, realization of the right to social protection is an incremental, but urgent, endeavor. The process of building a comprehensive social protection system is therefore guided by a number of policy frameworks that provide guidance on the appropriate level of ambition and sequencing of interventions over the short- medium and longer-term. This chapter provides a summary of these policy frameworks and commitments which have been instrumental to the development of this Strategic Plan.

2.2.1 National legislative and policy commitments on social protection The Rwanda Constitution (2015) specifies the State’s obligations with regards to social protection as follows:  Article 10, sub-article 5 commits the government to “building a State committed to promoting social welfare and establishing appropriate mechanisms for equal opportunity to social justice (Article 10);  Article 50: Welfare of needy survivors of the genocide against Tutsi: The State, within the limits of its means and in accordance with the law, has the duty to undertake special actions aimed at the welfare of the needy survivors of the genocide against Tutsi (Article 50)  Article 51: Welfare of persons with disabilities and other needy persons: The State has also the duty, within the limits of its means, to undertake special actions aimed at the welfare of the indigent, the elderly and other vulnerable groups. The National Social Protection Policy (2018) sets out a long-term vision for Social Protection in Rwanda and aims to guide the continued process of transition from ‘assistance-type interventions’ to the establishment of a comprehensive, life-cycle-based social protection system that ensures a minimum level of income security to all Rwandans at critical points in their lives and protects them against a wide range of socio-economic risks. In doing so we will secure the eradication of extreme poverty, promote human capital development as the foundation for long-term prosperity and deliver equitable and inclusive development. This Policy also reflects our commitment to the incremental implementation of a ‘Social Protection Floor’ in Rwanda and the associated four basic social protection guarantees for the elderly, people with disabilities, children and the unemployed. The National Social Security Policy (2009) also proposes a vision of Social security coverage for all and makes a firm commitment to “develop all necessary programs and mechanisms aimed at universal social security coverage. This means that all Rwandans will be covered with maximum benefits possible for retirement and key pre- retirement benefits such as housing and education, for professional risks benefits, sickness benefits, maternity benefits, health care, and eventually unemployment benefits when social and economic conditions will allow this last branch to be implemented. The policy also set specific coverage objectives for different branches of social security, namely pension, occupational hazards, medical care and sickness leave, as well as maternity leave. The Social Security Policy acknowledges that although contributory social security coverage will expand as with formal sector employment, since “.the vast majority of the working population works in the informal sector (including agriculture), the Government, however, must take additional steps to cover this population”. The Policy goes on to acknowledge the international trend for countries to “non- contributory pension schemes aimed at providing a basic level of universal coverage to the elderly” (page 9). The Integrated Child Rights Policy (2011) is aligned to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and is a comprehensive national document detailing Rwanda’s vision and commitment to all children. It was developed to strengthen the thinking and analysis around policies related to children and the coordination and implementation of Government activities for realization of children’s rights. The policy notes the 13 responsibility of the government for supporting families to provide good care for their children and the responsibility to put in place a national child protection system, a monitoring system including mechanisms for data management, formal reporting, referral and response. The National Early Childhood Development Policy (2016) clearly articulates the role of social protection in supporting Early Childhood Development (ECD) and specifically calls for the government to: i. Ensure ECD interventions are mainstreamed into social protection programmes to support poor and vulnerable families and children. This includes ECD related cash incentives to vulnerable families” ii. Identify families struggling to maintain their children and provide support for their care. Specific attention will be given to single parents (adoptive or biological)/ guardians. Various social protection measures in cash/kind are to be explored. iii. Prioritise children in the design and implementation of programmes for poverty reduction, such that child poverty is eliminated within a stipulated period of time. iv. Explore provision of direct support to families in difficult circumstances, child headed households, orphans and other vulnerable children.” The National Delinquency Policy (2016) aims to reduce the prevalence of delinquency among the children, youth and adults through sustainable and home-grown restorative approaches through a) the establishment of a conducive environment and opportunities to pre-occupy and prevent children, youth and adults from indulging into delinquent behaviors; b) the rehabilitation of delinquents; and c) strengthening existing and new reintegration and follow-up mechanisms, that prevents potential recidivism. The Seven Year Government Programme for 2017-2024 includes a range of commitments related to social protection including: i. Putting in place sustainable mechanisms for the protection of vulnerable groups, promote social welfare toward eradicating extreme poverty and build the culture of self-reliance ii. Enhancing programmes designed to support vulnerable groups iii. Putting in place mechanisms to support elderly and vulnerable PwDs iv. Scaling-up efforts to improve nutrition among children and women v. Enhancing partnerships between government, civil society and the private sector vi. Improving management of Girinka and support poor HHs with small livestock vii. Putting strategies in place to fight gender-based violence (GBV) and child abuse viii. Preventing drug abuse and trafficking and promote Rwandan cultural values ix. Continuing to ensure that orphans are raised in families x. Ensuring access to quality health care for all xi. Promoting sustainable urbanization, rural development, and housing for the improved wellbeing of Rwandans.

2.2.2 International policy commitments Rwanda has ratified several international conventions that establish the right to social security and protection. These include: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); and, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. At the heart of all of these conventions are the entitlements set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (specifically under Articles 22, 23.3 and 25). 14 In addition, Convention 102 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) – of which Rwanda is a member – provides a widely accepted framework for social protection systems. As a member of ILO, Rwanda has committed to the goal of “universal access” to social protection in order that all older people, children and people with disabilities enjoy income security. Furthermore, Rwanda has made a range of more specific commitments that seek to support the progressive realization of these rights, including: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development commits the Government of Rwanda to:  “Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable”  “Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate” Following on from the SDG commitments, the ILO has proposed a minimum vision for social protection in the context of the SDGs as follows: i. Universal access to pensions for older persons ii. Benefits for all persons with severe disabilities iii. Maternity and child support for all women so children can eat, study and play; iv. Support for those who are poor or without jobs. Global disability summit commitments on social protection: In July 2018 the Government of Rwanda made the following commitments on disability which are to be implemented by the social protection sector: i. By 2021, we will expand our existing programme of Direct Support (income support) to reach all people categorized with severe disabilities (categories 1 and 2 in the current classification) in ubudehe categories 1 and 2 (the two lower categories in the Rwandan socio-economic classification system) and gather evidence towards a more universal approach thereafter. ii. By end 2021 we will provide training on roles, rights, and advocacy to all 13,000 cell and sector level NCPD Executive Committee members, including how to fulfil the responsibility to mainstream disability within local home-grown solutions such as Umuganda, Ubudehe, Itorero, Kuremera and Parents’ Forums; iii. By end 2020 we will develop and roll-out Minimum Standards of Care and Inclusion for children with disabilities to be applied in all education and care centers, including Early Childhood Development centers and residential care homes. iv. By 2020, we will ensure the Isange one-stop centers are accessible to people with disabilities, including the sight and hearing-impaired, and collect and report disability and gender- disaggregated data on the experience of gender-based violence. v. By 2020 we will strengthen national disaster response protocols and procedures to ensure that people with disabilities are prioritized and receive appropriate support. vi. By 2020 we will review the refugee registration system to ensure that the disability assessment framework is aligned with the definition of disability provided in the UNCRPD and WHO ICF. 15

2.2.3 Regional commitments AU Agenda 2063: The first 10 year plan for the AU’s Agenda 2063 includes the following targets for the development of national social protection systems by 2023:  At least 30% of vulnerable populations including persons with disabilities, older persons and children provided with social protection;  All persons working in the formal sector are provided with social security and at least 20% of the informal sector and rural labor to have access to social security.  A minimum social protection package for vulnerable groups to be developed by 2016 and resources ring-fenced in national budget by 2017. The AU Social Policy Framework for Africa (2008) also encourages member states to adopt minimum social protection policies covering the following: essential health care, social insurance, social welfare, employment guarantee and non-contributory cash transfer schemes for children, informal workers, the unemployed, elder persons and persons with disabilities. EAC Vision 2050 commits member states to review and harmonise their national social security policies, laws and systems to provide for social security for self-employed persons who are citizens in line with Article 12 (2) of the EAC Treaty. Article 5(2) (c) and Article 10 (3) (f) also provide a strong basis for social protection within the framework of the EAC.

2.3 Programmatic scope of social protection sector in Rwanda Following on from the definition provided by the updated National Social Protection Policy (2018), Rwanda’s social protection sector can be considered to include:  Pillar 1: Social Security schemes that are designed to achieve consumption smoothing and ensure a minimum standard of living throughout the life-cycle. In Rwanda, social protection benefits are currently delivered through the following schemes: i. Non-contributory Direct Income Support (DIS) schemes targeting vulnerable individuals and households1; ii. Mandatory contributory social insurance schemes for those in formal employment; iii. Voluntary social insurance and savings schemes that are regulated by government. iv. Targeted health insurance subsidies for key vulnerable groups; Although contributory social security schemes are covered by the National Social Security Policy (2009) and associated legislation, Direct Income Support (DIS) and contributory social security share a defining characteristic – the provision of regular and reliable income support at key points in the life-cycle. DIS and contributory social security should therefore be considered in a holistic and integrated manner with a view to ensuring, as soon as possible, universal access to social protection and a minimum standard of living for all Rwandans at critical points in the life- cycle.  Pillar 2: Short-term Social Assistance – temporary or incidental (one-off) cash or in-kind assistance that addresses short-term or temporary risks or deprivations. Key interventions currently include: i. Incidental (one-off) support provided to households in difficulty by local governments; ii. Construction and rehabilitation of shelter for vulnerable households. iii. Support to the most vulnerable to cover critical health care costs. 1 Direct Income Support schemes in Rwanda currently include Direct Support, VUP public works, non- contributory old age pension, and disability pensions, nutrition-sensitive direct support etc. 16 iv. Distribution of essential items to households affected by disasters (drought, floods, landslides etc); v. Food assistance/emergency relief for households affected by disasters;  Pillar 3: Social Care Services that provide protection, psycho-social support, referrals and promote social inclusion for the most vulnerable. These services include: i. Rehabilitation and reintegration services for PwDs and vulnerable children and youth. ii. Services that prevent and respond to violence, abuse and exploitation, particularly against women, children, people with disabilities and older people; iii. Outreach services for key vulnerable groups providing protection, psycho-social support and referrals to complementary services; iv. Services that ensure that children remain in families. v. Public communication and advocacy campaigns on the rights of vulnerable groups. This includes gender and disability mainstreaming.  Pillar 4: Livelihood and employment support. In addition to the delivery of social protection programmes and services, institutions in the social protection sector also deliver certain livelihood development services to support sustainable graduation from extreme poverty. Unlike livelihoods support provided in other sectors, livelihoods support in the social protection sector is specifically targeted at the lowest income households as well as specific vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities. Key interventions include: i. Caseworker services for poor and vulnerable households; ii. Distribution of productive assets to poor and vulnerable households; iii. Targeted skills training and employment support iv. Sensitisation and financial literacy for poor and vulnerable individuals; v. Community-based livelihood support schemes (e.g. Ubudehe projects, Hanga Umurimo); vi. Advocacy and provision of technical support to the design of policies and programmes implemented by other sectors to ensure the adoption of equitable and inclusive approaches. Figure 2: Operational scope of the social protection sector in Rwanda 17

2.4 Relationship between social protection and key complementary programmes and services Although social protection has been shown to make a major contribution to reducing poverty and malnutrition, it is usually insufficient on its own and a range of other programmes and services are critical to the achievement of intended results. These programmes are often provided by other Sectors (e.g. the health sector) and do not, therefore, appear in this strategy as specific interventions. Nonetheless, the social protection sector is responsible for supporting poor and vulnerable individuals/households to access these programmes and works with other sectors to maximize coordination at both strategic and operational levels. For instance, although Direct Income Support schemes can help overcome financial barriers to accessing nutrition diets, in-kind nutritional supplementation is often also critical. To this end, Rwanda’s health sector has established a number of key nutrition support programmes including: Fortified Blended Food distribution; the one-cup-of milk per child programme; and milk distribution to acute and severely malnourished children. The social protection sector, through its outreach structures and needs assessment mechanisms, is responsible for ensuring that eligible households at risk of malnutrition are aware of these programmes and are able to access them. Similarly, although large scale livestock distribution is a key intervention within the Agriculture Sector, the social protection sector is responsible for conducting needs assessment of poor and vulnerable households and working with the Agriculture sector (especially MINAGRI/RAB, agriculture-focused CSOs and private sector organisations) to ensure that social protection beneficiaries are prioritized within the agriculture sector’s programmes.

2.5 Institutional overview of the sector Social protection policy objectives and programmes are delivered by a wide range of institutions, both Governmental and non-governmental. The Office of the Prime Minister shall be responsible for exercising oversight of the social protection sector, monitoring the delivery outputs and the achievement of intended outcomes and, finally, ensuring that all stakeholders fulfil their designated roles and responsibilities. MINALOC has the overall policy lead on social protection and heads the Social Protection Sector Working Group (SPSWG), the responsibilities of which are to co-ordinate social protection actors and to oversee policy and strategy development and implementation. MINALOC also has oversight of a number of semi-autonomous agencies that are directly responsible for delivering social protection programmes. These include:  The Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA), which manages the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP), Ubudehe programme (including the Ubudehe household classification mechanism and community projects) and Minimum Package for Graduation initiative. Starting in 2008, the VUP remains Rwanda’s flagship social protection programme providing Direct Support to extremely poor labour constrained households, and Public Works (both short- and long-term) for extremely poor households with labour capacity; financial services; and community sensitisation. Certain benefits provided under the VUP are also components of the Minimum Package for Graduation which provides a defined set of social protection benefits and and livelihood development support services with a view to supporting extremely poor households to sustainably exist extreme poverty.  The Genocide Survivors Support and Assistance Fund (FARG), a para-statal organisation that supports needy genocide survivors. Support services provided include Direct Income Support, education bursaries, payments for health care, construction/rehabilitation of housing and support to income generating projects. 18  The Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission (RDRC) which manages the demobilisation and reintegration of ex-combatants and provides Direct Income Support to eligible disabled ex-combatants (known as Monthly Subsistence Allowance), along with other benefits such as shelter/housing, income generating activities, counselling, and payments for health care.  The National Council for People with Disabilities (NCPD) which conducts advocacy on the rights of people with disabilities and coordinates a nationwide committee structure that works to ensure participation and inclusion of PwDs.  The National Rehabilitation Service supports the rehabilitation and reintegration of delinquent persons affected by alcoholism, drug addiction and other forms of social deprivation. The Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) coordinates all support to the most vulnerable children under the Integrated Child Rights Policy and Strategic Plan of Action (currently being revised) and Early Childhood Development Policy. A national child care system has been established since 2012 that has strong linkages to the national social protection system. MIGEPROF also oversees the National Commission for Children (NCC) which implements child protection programmes as part of Rwanda’s Social Care Services framework. MINECOFIN leads on contributory social security policy but delegates management of contributory social security schemes to the Rwanda Social Security Board which in turn provides old age, disability and survivors’ pensions and medical insurance to members. RSSB also manages the community- based health insurance (CBHI) scheme, Mutuelle de Santé, including a system of insurance premium subsidies for the extremely poor households and people with severe disabilities. The Ministry of Disaster Management & Refugee Affairs: coordinates all interventions in disaster risk reduction and management and refugee affairs. These interventions are very relevant to the social protection as most of them are composed of transfers that improve the wellbeing of disaster victims. MIDIMAR interventions, mainly the provision iron sheets, non-food items and food items to disaster victims, constitute a remarkable contribution to the poverty reduction and the protection of the most vulnerable persons. A focus will be made on improving post disaster interventions but also in pre disaster actions that includes public awareness, early warning, prevention and mitigation embedded in the District Disaster Management Plans (DDMP), disaster management policies and the Law relating to the disaster management in Rwanda. District and Sector authorities have the key roles to play within the delivery of social protection programmes. Districts’ responsibilities include ensuring that budgets are accessed from central government – and from organisations such as FARG – to provide Sectors with the resources they require. District and Sector Joint Action Development Forums (JADFs) also have a key role in co-ordinating the activities of all partners. Of course a wide range of other Ministries play complementary roles to social protection (particularly MINAGRI/RAB, MoH and MINEDUC). These Ministries and agencies, along with their associated roles and responsibilities, are identified in Chapter 5 of this document.

2.6 Sector Achievements, Challenges and Lessons Learnt

2.6.1 Achievement of EDPRS2 and NSPS (2013-2018) Outcome Indicator Targets Table 12 provides a summary of progress against targets for key EDPRS2 outcome indicators as well as a selection of high priority NSPS (2013-2018) outcome indicators. Table 2: Progress against targets for EDPRS2 and NSPS (2013-2018) outcome indicators 19 EDPRS2 Indicator 2017/18 Actual Achievement Outcome target achievement rate Reduced poverty Population below the poverty Projection for 39.1% line <20% 2017/18: (2013/14) 26.4% Reduced extreme Population below the poverty Projection for 16.3% poverty line living in extreme poverty 9% 2017/18: (2013/14) 7.8% Increased Category 1 or 2 beneficiary No data available graduation Households who move to 50% on beneficiary N/A from extreme Category 3 to 6 households poverty SECTOR SECTOR OUTCOME 2017/18 Achievement2 Achievement OUTCOME INDICATOR target (2016/17) level Increased Number of eligible people coverage of the benefiting from a core SP 1,096,000 782,786 people 71% extreme poor and programme vulnerable % of eligible hholds employed 70% 67% 96% on VUP PW Average number of days work gained by eligible households 75 66 88% employed on VUP PW More effective, Timeliness of i) direct support efficient and and ii) public works payments harmonised social - average number of days after 80% 35% 44% protection sector due date that payments arrive in beneficiary bank accounts Better Robust impact evaluation data Analysis of Impact evaluation of measurement and available and disseminated EICV5 to VUP integrated into visibility of SP provide EICV4; Mixed results and impact evidence on methods evaluation N/A key of the VUP evaluation published by the questions World Bank in 2015. Key: Completion rate (≥ 100%) (75%- 99%), (50% - 74%) (< 50%). Colour code Achieved On-Track On Watch Lagging behind

2.6.2 Other successes and challenges in the Social Protection Sector In addition to the successes and challenges reported in the table above, the following issues also need to be highlighted. Key issue 1: Coverage and effectiveness of social security schemes Contributory social security  Around 20% of people aged 18-64 are enrolled in a contributory social security scheme. However, the vast majority of these are in the richest quintile (NISR, 2015) and very little progress has been made in extending social security to the informal sector. Furthermore, among those that are formally enrolled less than 40% are active contributors, meaning that less than 8% of 18-64 year olds are practically covered by social security.3  Around 70% of the Rwandan population has access to health insurance, with around 96% of these enrolled in the Mutuelle de Sante Community-based Health Insurance scheme. However, despite the presence of premium subsidies for households in the first Ubudehe Category, coverage falls to 2 Data on achievements taken from FY2016/17 Backward Looking Joint Sector Review report 3 Data provided by RSSB. Coverage rates calculated using NISR population projections for 2017. 20 only 58% among the poorest quintile (NISR, 2016).4 Given that health shocks are among the most frequently reported shocks among poor households, this is likely to be a major impediment to the graduation agenda.  Although all people with severe disabilities are entitled to fully subsidized health insurance (as per Ministerial Order N°20/19 of 27/7/2009 Determining the Modalities of Facilitating Persons with Disabilities Access Medical Care), awareness and implementation of this provision is extremely limited. Given the high proportion of proportion of poor households containing a person with disabilities, this is also likely to be an impediment to the graduation agenda. Direct Income Support schemes  Despite the significant scale-up of the VUP, coverage remains low compared to needs. By end of 2016/17, only around 50% of households in Ubudehe 1 are covered by Direct Income Support schemes.5 Furthermore, only 31 percent of households with unacceptable food consumption and 32 percent and 34 percent of moderately and severely food insecure households respectively, receive any form of social assistance (WFP, 2015). Finally, only around a quarter of older people and People with Disabilities have access to any form of old age or disability pension or other form of Direct Income Support.6  Existing social protection programmes do not always reach the poorest and most vulnerable: Exclusion of extremely poor labour-constrained households (particularly female-headed households caring for young children or people with disabilities) from VUP Public Works has been a long- standing challenge in the social protection sector.7 Data from EICV4 also suggests that targeting of the poorest by VUP Classic Public Works has been rather poor with only 35% of VUP PW beneficiaries being from poorest two quantiles (World Bank, 2017). Key issue 2: Targeting of social protection benefits and other subsidies Ubudehe is a home-grown socio-economic categorization mechanism for determining eligibility for Rwanda’s key social protection interventions including public works, direct support, community-based health insurance (CBHI) and education grants. Key issues raised by stakeholders during the policy consultation process include dependency mindset among households classified in the lowest category due to multiple benefits using Ubudehe classification. On the other hand, Ubudehe remains most valued as a tool for participatory planning and targeting of certain complementary services which, by their nature, are less likely to generate perverse incentives. Key issue 3: Adequacy of social care services Over the EDPRS2 period an embryonic Social Care system has begun to emerge. Key areas of progress include:  A professional social workforce for children has been established made up of 68 social workers and psychologists across the country (NCC/MIGEPROF) and 29,700 Inshuti z’Umuryango (Friends of the Family) community volunteers. These structures are primarily responsible for preventing and responding to violence and abuse against children and women but also work to support children with disabilities, deliver sensitisation to parents and refer families to other services.  2,559 children from 34 institutions have been placed in family or community based care through the NCC Tubarerere Mu Muryango (Let’s raise children in families) program; 4 It is however important to note that the number of people enrolled in EICV tends to increase across the year so EICV survey data and administrative data may differ depending on the timing of data collection. 5 The VUP reached 227,477 households out of 467,099 in Ubudehe category 1. This may slightly under-estimate coverage as FARG and RDRC do not record the Ubudehe classification of their Direct Support beneficiaries. However, given the limited scale of FARG and RDRC Direct Support schemes, this under-estimation is expected to be very minor. 6 At end FY2016/17, pensions and Direct Support schemes provided by RSSB, VUP, FARG and RDRC covered approximately 156,000 older people and PwDs. 7 Only 5% of VUP PW participant HHs are headed by a PwD compared with 9.2% nationally. 21  Isange one-stop centers have been established in 44 District Hospitals to provide support to victims of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV);  The establishment of four rehabilitation centers for people with disabilities;  The establishment of rehabilitation centers for delinquent youth and an associated family placement/reintegration system;  Committee structures for the National Council for People with Disabilities have been established at all levels to provide local level advocacy and support services.  Annual family promotion campaigns have been conducted nationwide since 2011;  Umugoroba w’Ababyeyi/Parents’Evening Forum nave been established in every village nationwide.  Counselling services provided to ex-combatants and demobilised soldiers by the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission (RDRC). Nonetheless, the capacity of Rwanda’s Social Care system to prevent and respond to an increasingly complex range of social vulnerabilities remains limited. Key capacity building priorities include: further training of the Inshuti z’Umuryango and other community-level structures (NWC, NYC and NCPD etc); strengthening of rehabilitation and support services for people with disabilities; strengthening the capacity of local governments at Sector and Cell level to coordinate community outreach services; recruitment of additional professional social workers and psychologists; strengthening foster care systems to ensure that children with disabilities that are currently in care institutions can be placed in families; and, finally, increased focus on prevention of delinquency. Key Issue 4: Availability of complementary services to support graduation from extreme poverty A wide range of complementary services exist to strengthen household livelihoods. These programmes are critical to supporting the eradication of extreme poverty and reducing poverty as they provide support which enables households that have recently exited extreme poverty to continue a positive development trajectory with a view to becoming more resilient to shocks and more self-reliant. Key successes in this area include:  Girinka asset transfers had reached around 6% of all households by 2014 (EICV4).  Social protection sector institutions provide skills training to approximately 19,000 poor and vulnerable households per year  Establishment of a partnership with Umurenge SACCPOs to implement the VUP financial services scheme Furthermore, a caseworker and household profiling mechanism was piloted in 30 sectors as part of the Minimum Package for Graduation initiative. VUP caseworkers are mandated to support extremely poor households to access relevant services, coach households and monitor household welfare. The household profiling mechanism, meanwhile, facilitates household level needs analysis to support targeting of complementary services. Nonetheless, significant challenges remain in creating an enabling environment for sustainable graduation from extreme poverty. In the first instance poor and vulnerable households are not always adequately reached by the existing livelihood development programmes. For example, only 42% of Girinka asset transfer beneficiaries were either poor or extremely poor (NISR, 2015) and co-payment requirements tend to exclude the poorest from agricultural subsidy schemes. Meanwhile only 20% of VUP Financial Services beneficiaries had consumption levels between the extreme poverty line and basic needs poverty line, despite this income segment being the primary target group for the scheme. Indeed 52.3% of VUP Financial Services beneficiaries were already above the poverty line before they even accessed the scheme (NISR, Nov 2015). Key Issue 5: Institutional capacity and harmonization The public sector restructuring of 2015 resulted in a significant improvement in local government capacity for social protection which has since been further enhanced through the introduction of 22 computerized Management Information Systems (MIS) for VUP, FARG and RDRC and the establishment of strategic partnerships with CSOs and FBOs in 8 districts. At national level, MINALOC has also been restructured to create a dedicated unit for Social Affairs. Similarly, LODA has been restructured to make space for a broader livelihood development agenda and additional staff has been recruited to enable the institution to provide more effective supervision and capacity building support to local governments. However, just as institutional capacity has increased, so have the scale, complexity and demands for performance and accountability within social protection programmes. Capacity gaps ae particularly apparent at Sector and Cell level. Furthermore, social protection programmes are increasingly fragmented (thereby further increasing the burden on local governments) and there has been limited progress in the harmonization of programmes and institutions that was envisaged in the previous National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS, 2013-2018).

2.7 Key evidence emerging from national datasets on poverty and vulnerability Over the period of the last National Social Protection Strategy (2013-2018) considerable effort has been invested in generating a robust evidence base on poverty, vulnerability, resilience and nutrition that can now be leveraged to support the design of more effective social protection interventions. Key evidence emerging from the Household Living Conditions Survey (EICV), Rwanda Demographic & Health Survey (RDHS), the Comprehensive Food Security & Vulnerability Assessment (CFSVA) and analysis of programme administrative data is presented below. Lesson 1: Labour capacity is a key driver of poverty and vulnerability in Rwandan society. There is significant evidence that individual and household-level labour capacity are key drivers of vulnerability in Rwanda. For instance:  Over 50% of households in Ubudehe Category 1 have no workers or only one worker with heavy caring responsibilities (either for an infant, person with disabilities or elderly person);  Very young children and older people tend to be in households with fewer working-age adults to support them: children under 5 years and older people over 60 years live in households where on average 52% of household members are dependents (NISR, 2015);  Members of the lowest quintile are more likely to be living in households with many dependents than those in wealthier quintiles. Dependents make up 52% of the household members for the average person in the lowest quintile but only 36% of those in the highest quintile.  Older people are 35% more likely to be in the two lowest Ubudehe categories than the rest of the population8 and remain, on average, further from the major social services and are less likely to use core amenities than any other age group (NISR, 2015).  Households headed by a person with a disability have a greater than average propensity to be in lower consumption quintiles: 23% are in the lowest consumption quintile while only 17% are in the highest. Households headed by people with disabilities are also over-represented among food insecure households: about 25 percent of household heads in severely food insecure households are disabled, while only 9 percent of household heads in food secure households are disabled. Lesson 2: Household resilience to shocks is low Exposure to environmental shocks, coupled with life-cycle related vulnerabilities and high household dependency ratios has resulted in highly dynamic consumption among Rwandan households as a whole and among households at the lower end of the consumption distribution in particular. Two-fifths of those who were poor in 2010/11 were not poor in 2013/14; and conversely, nearly a fifth of who were not poor in 2010/11 found themselves in poverty three years later (NISR, 2016). According to the 2015 CFSVA, the two most common shocks experienced by household are drought/irregular rains and serious illness or accident of household member. These shocks were reported 8 68% of older people aged 65+ are in the two lowest Ubudehe categories compared with only 50.3% of the national population. 23 by about 9 percent of all households, but with significant differences across provinces and districts. In almost all cases, the shock caused a reduction in income (96 percent of cases) and in the majority of cases a reduction in assets (77%). At the provincial level, the Southern and Eastern Provinces have the highest percentage of households that had experienced drought or irregular rains, 15 and 14 percent, respectively. At the district level, in Nyanza, almost half of all households (49%) mentioned that they had experienced rainfall conditions that affected their ability to provide for themselves, and this was also the case for 34 percent of households in Gisagara and 23 percent of households in Kirehe (WFP, 2015). Lesson 3: Relationship between poverty, food security and malnutrition Poverty and food insecurity are intrinsically linked, with poverty being one of the main predictors of food insecurity. Food security is, in turn, broadly correlated with malnutrition (WFP, 2015). Market purchases are the main source of food for most households9 and poor households face considerable financial barriers to food access, which results in persistent food security challenges. Figure 3: Proportion of children stunted by wealth quintile At the time of the CFSVA (2015) survey, 80 percent of all households were found to be food secure and 20 percent food insecure. Of the 80 percent of households that are considered food secure, half can be considered only, “marginally food secure” - households with low coping capacity who are are at greater risk of becoming food insecure in event of a shock. Of the 20 percent households that are considered food insecure, 17 percent are moderately food insecure and 3 percent are severely food insecure. There is also a clear seasonal pattern with a higher percentage of households that had experienced these food access issues during lean season, two times a year, the first period starting in September and continuing through November and the second period starting in March and continuing until June. Lesson 4: Poverty and vulnerability are not evenly distributed in Rwanda There is considerable variation between districts with regards to poverty and extreme poverty rates with the greatest concentrations found in the South and West of the country (see figure 2). However, recent analysis conducted by NSIR also suggests that there are also considerable variations in poverty rates within Districts (see figure 3). This improved access to data on poverty variations at local level have significant potential for strengthening targeting of social protection interventions. Meanwhile, 60% of urban households are in highest consumption quintile compared with just 13% of those in rural areas (EICV4). The share of individuals in urban areas who are in the lowest consumption quintile is correspondingly very small, at 5% vs. 23% in rural areas. Nonetheless, Rwanda is urbanizing at a steady pace and this process involves many risks for household including unemployment and loss of social networks that provide support in times of hardship. Indeed, the EICV4 Poverty Trends Report 9 On average 70 percent of food is bought at the market, while only a quarter comes from the own production. Other sources of food make up a small amount of the food being consumed within the households (CFSVA, 2015). 24 (2016) shows that poverty rates have declined much slower in urban areas than in rural areas since 2010/11, suggesting a growing need to ensure that social protection interventions respond effectively to urban poverty. Figure 4: District variations in extreme poverty incidence Source: WFP, 2015 Figure 5: Poverty rate variations at sector level Source: WFP, 2015 Although there is some geographical correlation between poverty rates and food security rates, this correlation is not absolute. The highest percentage of food secure households are found in Kigali city, while the lowest percentage is found in the Western Province. More than a third of all food insecure 25 households reside in districts in the Western Province. This is also the province with the highest percentage of severely food insecure households (CFSVA, 2015). Lesson 5: New forms of vulnerability and deprivation are emerging Rwanda, like all societies, faces a wide range of complex social deprivations and vulnerabilities that, if left unattended, may be exacerbated by rapid socio-economic change. Sexual and gender-based violence and child abuse are perhaps the single greatest concern: the 2015 RDHS found that 24.4% of girls and 28.2% of boys aged 15 to 19 have experienced physical violence and 14.4% of girls and 2.8% of boys aged 15 to 19 have experienced sexual violence. Teenage pregnancy is another widely reported concern, with 7.3% of all females aged 15-19 and 11.1% of the same age group in the poorest quintile having begun child bearing (MoH). Delinquency, drug abuse, alcoholism among the youth are also perceived to be growing challenges that need to be urgently addressed. Finally, according to EICV 4, 14% of children are engaged in some form of labour. Slightly more boys were found to be involved in child labour than girls, although girls are more frequently working in domestic services. The data also show that 2.1% of children were found to be involved in hazardous labour. Hazardous labour was found to be more common in Kigali and the Western Province where 2.6% of working children were found to be involved in hazardous labour. In addition to missed school attendance and educational achievement, child labour – particularly hazardous child labour – can be a risk to children’s health. 26 Chapter 3: The strategic framework

3.1 Mission and Objectives Mission of the sector: The mission of the social protection sector is to ensure that all Rwandan citizens, particularly the poor and vulnerable, are protected from life-cycle risks and socio-economic shocks and supported to achieve sustainable livelihoods and self-reliance. Long-term vision for social protection in Rwanda Rwanda’s social protection system is expected to develop in line with, and support, Rwanda’s broader socio-economic transformation. By the time Rwanda achieves higher income status (by 2050): i. All workers in the formal sector will be enrolled in a social security scheme which provides a comprehensive range of retirement and pre-retirement benefits; ii. All older people in Rwanda will have a pension income that provides a minimum standard of living in old age, be it from a basic state pension or a private pension scheme; iii. All people with disabilities will have a disability pension that provides a minimum standard of living. Support will be provided to care-givers so that people with disabilities can remain in a family/community setting; iv. A child benefit will ensure that all families are able to meet their children’s basic needs and that all children have a good start in life; v. A comprehensive Social Care Service will ensure the protection and inclusion of vulnerable children, women, older people and people with disabilities; vi. Mechanisms will be established to support the unemployed and linked to a comprehensive set of services to support unemployed people to find suitable employment; vii. All children, older people, pregnant/breastfeeding women and people with disabilities will have guaranteed access to good quality essential health care. Many of the above-mentioned programmes can be introduced well before 2050, although targeting approaches and/or benefit generosity may need to be adjusted over time. Objectives of the sector: Overall objective: to strengthen the national social protection system with a view to ensuring that all Rwandan citizens have a dignified standard of living. Specific objectives for 2018-2024 1. To increase access to social security and income support programmes, particularly among vulnerable older people, people with disabilities, households with low labour capacity and other poor families 2. To enhance social protection sector’s contribution to reducing malnutrition 3. To strengthen support for households and communities affected by disasters and shocks 4. To strengthen the provision of social care services for the protection and inclusion of the most vulnerable; 5. To strengthen linkages between social protection and complementary programmes that support sustainable graduation from extreme poverty; 6. To promote values of self-reliance, respect for rights and community-based support for the vulnerable 7. To strengthen institutional capacity for evidence-based policy development and social protection service delivery. 27

3.2 New Priorities and Innovations Proposed: The key interventions and innovations to be implemented in the 2018-2024 period are described below. Priority 1: To increase access to social security, particularly among vulnerable older people, people with disabilities, households with low labour capacity and other poor families Despite the significant progress that has been made in recent years, limited coverage of the social protection system is the primary constraining factor to enhancing social protection’s contribution to the eradication of extreme poverty, and reducing poverty and malnutrition. This challenge affects both Direct Income Support schemes and contributory social insurance. The gradual development of a comprehensive, effective, life-cycle-based social protection system that delivers a minimum level of income security to all Rwandans at critical points in their lives is therefore the first priority of this strategy. Therefore, the government of Rwanda will undertake a range of reforms to expand social security coverage and, in doing so, deliver on a range of international, regional and national commitments. This SPS-SP will therefore take significant steps forward in implementing the transition “from assistance-type interventions to the prevention of risks likely to descend upon vulnerable groups or increase proportions within this group” as originally envisaged in the 2005 National Social Protection Policy. Key innovations are summarized below:  We will strengthen implementation of the Mutuelle de Sante health insurance scheme to ensure compliance with Ministerial orders relating to subsidized health insurance for people with disabilities.  Establishment of a long-term voluntary savings and social security scheme (LTSS) for informal sector workers as part of the Rwanda Universal Pension and Social Security Program. This initiative, to be implemented by the financial sector with support from the SP Sector, will include appropriate incentives for saving for workers from poor and low income households and will be supported by a nationwide awareness-raising campaign targeting employees of small and medium- sized enterprises and cooperatives in particular. Over the course of the SP-SSP implementation period the sector will support monitoring and evaluation of the LTSS and conduct analysis of options for expediting universal access to income security in old age within the framework of an integrated and comprehensive social security system. • Expansion of VUP Direct Support to cover all PwDs in the first and second categories of disability who are also in the first and second Ubudehe categories. Implementation of this commitment will be undertaken in a phased manner. In 2018/19 VUP Direct Support will be expanded to cover all extremely poor households with single workers caring for people with severe disabilities. This interim solution will represent the first steps towards ensuring recognition of the importance and value of unpaid care work and ensuring that social protection systems support families to undertake this critical role. Then, no later than 2021, VUP Direct Support will be expanded to cover all people with severe disabilities (on an individual basis) living in households in the first a second Ubudehe categories. The sector will undertake the detailed design of this initiative from 2018- 2020 in order to implementation to commence in July 2021. The feasibility of expanding coverage of poor and vulnerable older people within the same framework will also be explored. This intervention is critical to securing the eradication of extreme poverty, delivering on constitutional provisions relating to the protection and empowerment of people with disabilities and older people, as well as achieving specific SDG and AU Agenda 2063 targets. Furthermore, this initiative is expected to promote family cohesion and support the maintenance of Rwandan cultural values of care of older people and PwDs by their families. Finally, the social protection sector will conduct analysis of options for achieving universal access to social protection for all older people and people with severe disabilities over the medium-to-longer term within the framework of an integrated and comprehensive social security system. 28 • Roll-out of the VUP Expanded Public works programme nationwide. In order to enhance the VUP’s gender and child-sensitivity, an Expanded Public Works scheme will be rolled-out to all sectors by 2024 to provide year-round, flexible employment to poor, moderately labour-constrained households. Single worker households containing infants at risk of malnutrition will be prioritized under this scheme. In order to further advance national ECD objectives, the Expanded Public Works scheme will be used to establish community-based child care services which will be linked with relevant proximity advisory services to improve parents’ awareness and understanding of ECD- related issues. • Continuing to improve the effectiveness of Classic Public Works as a social protection instrument. This to include: i. Strengthening climate-sensitivity of VUP Classic Public Works scheme. In order to make the most efficient use of short-term public works as a social protection instrument, VUP Classic Public Works will review geographic targeting to ensure special attention is paid to areas most at risk of seasonal and climate-related shocks. In doing so we will leverage newly available data on variations in poverty rates at sector- and cell-level ii. Increases use of VUP Public Works to develop community assets that strengthen community resilience to environmental risks. Planning and implementation of Public Works will also continue to be improved to ensure that implementation avoids periods of peak agricultural activity. iii. Continuing to increase the average number of days work provided by VUP Classic Public Works and maintaining a focus on maximising labour-intensity; iv. Strengthening social and environmental standards within VUP Classic Public Works implementation. Through a combination of these initiatives, the Social Protection sector aims to almost double coverage of core social protection by 2024, and in doing so make a key strategic contribution to eradication of poverty and reduction of poverty and malnutrition. These reforms will however be designed to be affordable within the existing funding formulas for core social protection programmes. Furthermore, the social protection sector will continue to explore options for strengthening targeting systems to reduce inclusion/exclusion errors, avoid perverse incentives, reduce scope for stigmatization and promote social cohesion. Priority 2: Increasing the contribution of social protection to reducing malnutrition Although significant progress has been made in reducing stunting, it remain a major challenge with current prevalence of 38%, and only a 1.2 percentage point drop yearly in the last 10 years. There is also a clear correlation between consumption and nutrition, with malnutrition rates in the poorest quintile standing at 58% compared to only 21% in the richest quintile (WFP, 2015). Social protection therefore clearly has a major role to play in addressing malnutrition. On the other hand, stunting persists even in the highest wealth quintiles, suggesting that behavioral factors also play a major role. To achieve Vision 2020 targets, there is need to accelerate the pace of reduction to at least 6% annually and to achieve this, the social protection sector will undertake a range of special measures to enhance its contribution to reducing malnutrition including: • Introduction of Nutrition-Sensitive Direct Support scheme targeting extremely poor pregnant women and infants under the age of five years, nationwide, with priority coverage of this scheme targeting the ‘1,000 day window’ period, from pregnancy to 24 months (i.e. infants under 2 years of age) to maximize developmental outcomes for children. To enhance developmental impacts of the NSDS scheme, eligible beneficiaries will be required to comply with a number of conditionalities targeting pregnant women and infants (0-59 months). • The design of the scheme will be done in 2017/18 including development of guidelines include identification, selection and targeting criteria, adequacy of transfers, relevant nutrition-related 29 conditionalities such as ante-natal and post-natal health check-ups, vaccination, birth registration and parenting education sessions. • Training and sensitisation of parents and communities on nutrition and other parenting issues will be integrated into community-based child care services implemented under the VUP’s Expanded Public Works scheme. • Behavioural communication campaigns on health, hygiene and nutrition will be integrated into the sensitisation activities of the key social protection programs such as the VUP • The social protection sector will engage other sectors (especially Agriculture, Health, Water and Sanitation) to strengthen coordination with relevant nutrition initiatives. The above package of interventions will start as a pilot for a period of 3 years, after which, evaluation will be conducted and results inform decision making on its continuity and strengthening. Priority 3: Strengthening support for households and communities affected by disasters and shocks Rwanda’s social protection system first emerged as a response to extreme vulnerability resulting from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Health and shelter support programmes will continue to be implemented under the auspices of FARG and RDRC, although a significant decline in FARG shelter construction is forecast to take place over the SP-SSP period due to the naturally declining requirement for this service. Table 3: Projected beneficiary numbers or the FARG shelter support scheme 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/2 2023/24 3 No. houses constructed for homeless families 579 112 96 89 67 53 Number of new houses to be reconstructed 582 180 167 132 113 98 Number of house to be rehabilitated 604 224 237 304 410 500 In order to further strengthen the effectiveness of social protection responses to short-term shocks and crisis, we will: • Review guidelines for all social protection ear-marked funds and train local governments to strengthen and better coordinate emergency assistance to families in crisis. This to include social assistance funds and schemes managed by FARG, RDRC and MINALOC. • Ensure that District Disaster Management Plans are reviewed on an annual basis and strengthen monitoring of implementation by MIDIMAR. • By 2020 we will strengthen national disaster response protocols and procedures to ensure that people with disabilities are prioritized and receive appropriate support. Priority 4: Strengthening the provision of Social Care Services for the most vulnerable This strategy also prioritises the strengthening of Rwanda’s Social Care services to address new forms of social vulnerability, some of which are increasing as an unintended consequence of Rwanda’s rapid socio-economic transformation. Key issues to be addressed include: gender-based violence (GBV); child neglect and abuse; delinquency; substance abuse; neglect and exclusion of people with disabilities; family planning; and isolation and neglect of older people. These issues have an enormous detrimental human and economic impact, while also often negatively impacting on the achievement of targets relating to the eradication of extreme poverty and reduced malnutrition. It is also important to note that the process of socio-economic transition (especially urbanization) is likely to generate new social risks unless mitigating policies and interventions are put in place. In order to address these challenges, the Social Protection sector will continue to invest in interventions 30 that: address Sexual and Gender-based Violence (through MIGEPROF); promote child rights and protection (through the NCC); and place children in institutional care into families (through the TMM programme). In addition a number of new steps will be taken to develop a more coherent, comprehensive, responsive and effective Social Care Service, including: • Strengthening proximity advisory/outreach services. A wide range of proximity advisory and outreach services are operational across the country, including Inshuti z’Umuryango, VUP caseworkers, NCPD and NCC council representatives amongst others. However, these are often fragmented and systems have not yet been established to ensure these services are managed in a coherent and integrated manner. An integrated case management system for community-based Social Care Services will therefore be developed and systems put in place to monitor service delivery. This will also be linked to the household profiling mechanism discussed under priority 3. The social protection sector will also strengthen training of the Social Care workforce on key issues including: gender, child protection; family planning; child care; and nutrition etc. • Establishment of a Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) service for people with disabilities. This initiative will commence with a detailed design in 2018/19, a pilot in 2019/20 and – subject to successful evaluation of the pilot – gradual roll-out nationwide from 2021.22 to 2023/24. • In order to improve Social Care service delivery for the most vulnerable, we will strengthen coordination with civil society-based Social Care service providers working in the field of child protection, gender-based violence and disability rights among others. • Strengthening rehabilitation and reintegration of former delinquents and expanding interventions that prevent delinquency. The National Rehabilitation Service will develop a clearly defined package of support for former delinquents to support their reintegration into their families and communities. In addition, we will strengthen sensitisation campaigns and household-level psycho-social support for children and youth at risk of delinquency. Priority 5: Increasing access to livelihood support services for economic empowerment Although social protection provides a critical foundation for sustained graduation from extreme poverty and reduced malnutrition, it is rarely sufficient when delivered in isolation. Therefore, in order to fast- track the eradication of extreme poverty and attainment of national targets on reducing chronic malnutrition (particularly stunting), the social protection sector will work with a wide range of sectors, government institutions and CSOs to expand access to livelihood development services. Where necessary, social protection sector institutions (e.g. FARG, RDRC and LODA) will also directly finance livelihoods support schemes including skills training, asset transfers and community-level income generating activities. In particular, we will: • Roll-out of the Minimum Package for Graduation: Following the piloting of the Minimum Package for Graduation in 30 sectors from 2015, this initiative will be scaled-up to other sectors. This multi-sectoral programme will enhance coordination between the social protection sector, agriculture (small livestock transfers) and health sectors in particular, with the social protection sector leading household targeting and the agricultural sector providing livestock and associated support services. Productive asset transfers provided under the Minimum Package will also be gradually diversified to support agricultural value-addition and off-farm self-employment. • Roll-out the household profiling mechanism: Following a pilot in 2017/18, a household profiling mechanism will be rolled-out to cover all households in the first Ubudehe category in all sectors. This profiling mechanism will be used to identify the key constraints affecting individual households which can then be used to plan and target key complementary services. Key complementary services are expected to include asset transfers provided by MINAGRI, and skills training provided by MINEDUC and MIFOTRA among others. 31 Table 4: Projected beneficiary numbers for FARG education support scheme 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/2 2023/24 3 Education Number of primary drop outs students to VTC 601 181 40 - - - Secondary education and TVET 2,845 2,450 1,605 1,108 864 436 No. of students in higher learning institutions 11,835 10,116 9,609 7,608 5,409 3,506 • Strengthen the design and management of agricultural support schemes for poor and vulnerable households, particularly female-headed households: Key reforms to include; reviewing Girinka programme design to expand access to small livestock, particularly among households with children and women at risk of malnutrition (this initiative to be integrated as part of the Minimum Package for Graduation); developing a Management Information System (MIS) for the Girinka programme to increase accountability for resources and results; revising targeting and subsidy guidelines for seed and fertilizer subsidy schemes to increase access by the poorest households at risk of malnutrition; and revise guidelines for the Kitchen Garden scheme to promote targeting of children and women at risk of malnutrition; integrating support for extremely poor households at risk of malnutrition into the roles, responsibilities and performance management frameworks of farmer promoters. • Increase access to affordable financial services, financial literacy and business development advisory services: the Social Protection sector will continue to work with a range of private sector and civil society partners to promote access to savings, affordable micro-credit and insurance with a view to increasing resilience to shocks and enabling investment in productive activities. A key focus over the next 6 years will be to work with partners to strengthen community-based savings and credit mechanisms as a stepping stone to formal financial services. The social protection sector will also work with government and private sector partners to explore the possibility of expanding access to crop, livestock and/or weather-indexed insurance products for small-holder farmers. • Consolidate and strengthen Ubudehe projects. In line with the revised Ubudehe program document developed in 2017, the social protection sector will work with local governments to consolidate Ubudehe community development projects under Village or Cell level projects that support livelihood development. Resources for the implementation of Ubudehe household projects shall be funded through community resource mobilization approaches. • Support the mainstreaming of graduation agenda into the full range of Sector strategies and plans. It is important to note that a wide range of institutions and stakeholders have critical roles to play in supporting the achievement of national targets relating to extreme poverty and malnutrition. The Social Protection sector will support mainstreaming of sustainable graduation and nutrition into a wide range of sectoral plans with a particular focus on Local Economic Development (LED), infrastructure, agriculture, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) health and education. Opportunities are numerous but potential interventions might include: i. Building the capacity of districts to make greater use of labour intensive approaches to infrastructure development to provide employment opportunities to poor and vulnerable households; ii. Incorporating poverty and nutrition mapping data into infrastructure and WASH sector planning and budgeting processes; iii. Training Sector Agronomists and Farmer Promoters to deliver advice on growing nutritious crops as part of their outreach activities. iv. Providing skills training and apprenticeships for poor and vulnerable youth within Local Economic Development (LED) projects. 32 In order to deliver on this commitment for strengthened coordination with complementary livelihood development services, the social protection sector will proactively strengthen institutional frameworks for inter-sectoral coordination at national, district and sector levels with a view to strengthening planning, targeting and M&E mechanisms. These arrangements are discussed further in the National Graduation Strategy as well as Chapter 4 of this strategy. Priority 6: Strengthening values of self-reliance, respect for rights and community-based support for the vulnerable The social protection sector will seek to contribute to wider efforts to promote positive social values including: self-reliance, dignity, community cohesion, respect for rights and community support for the most vulnerable. We will do this through adopting an overtly rights-based approach to programming, promoting accountability to citizens throughout the sector. In particular, the social protection sector will: • Promote attitudinal and behavioural change related to health, hygiene, nutrition, work, gender, parenting etc. through the strengthening of community sensitisation and public communications campaigns. Partnerships will also be established with civil society organisations, faith-based organisations and the private sector to deliver sensitisation campaigns and public communications campaigns at community level. The sector will also leverage key home-grown solutions such as Umuganda and Parents’ Evenings for this purpose. • Strengthen public communications on social protection rights and responsibilities: Accountability of duty bearers to citizens is critical for securing sustained improvements in service delivery quality but is also dependent on citizens having a reasonable awareness and understanding of key issues such as eligibility for social protection programmes, payment delivery standards and grievance procedures. The Social Protection sector will, therefore, reprioritize the delivery of high quality public information on social protection rights and responsibilities through a series of national and local campaigns. • Strengthen formal grievance mechanisms within the social protection sector: we will continue to develop innovate strategies for promoting accountability to citizens such as the Community Monitoring System (CMS) and integrate social protection into the Citizen Score Card mechanism. • Strengthen use of Home Grown Solutions (Parenting, Umuganda, Kuremera etc) to provide support to vulnerable households. Given limited resources and the importance of promoting social cohesion and values of solidarity and community self-help, we will further strengthen the use of key home-grown solutions to provide support to the most vulnerable, for example through the construction/rehabilitation of houses and latrines for the elderly and People with Disabilities. Similarly, we will also step-up efforts to engage the private sector to support poverty eradication and nutrition through corporate social responsibility initiatives. • The Social Protection sector will strengthen the use of household performance contracts to strengthen household-level planning and accountability for pursuing self-reliance. Priority 7: Strengthening institutional capacity for evidence-based policy development and delivery in the social protection sector The Social Protection sector will continue to focus on the generation of high quality evidence on poverty, vulnerability and programme impact with a view to enabling informed policy dialogue. Key interventions shall include: • Promoting high quality dialogue among policy-makers, civil society, the media and the general public on social protection. The social protection sector will publish an annual report showcasing achievements, challenges and lessons learnt from technical evaluations and studies and convene an annual national conference to enable broad participation. An annual Social Protection month will also be held involving nationwide activities to raise awareness and promote citizen engagement and 33 feedback on the design and implementation of social protection programmes. • Strengthening institutional capacity for strategic planning, oversight and coordination of the social protection sector. This to include strengthening MINALOC as well as restructuring the Social Protection Sector Working Group (SPSWG) with a view to increasing participation from a wide range of stakeholders. We will also conduct a review of institutional arrangements for social protection and assess the feasibility of establishing a unified Social Protection Agency to coordinate key social protection programmes. • Strengthening sector-wide planning and budgeting through SPSWG to optimize strategic resource allocation in the sector. The SPSWG planning and finance committee will, in particular, oversee the process of gradual intra-sectoral resource reallocation that is required for successful implementation of this strategy. • Strengthening sector-wide monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems. This to include aligning institution-specific M&E systems with the sector-wide M&E framework which was developed in 2016 (which shall itself be kept regularly under review); strengthening management information systems throughout the sector; expanding the scope of the integrated Social Protection Management Information System (iSP-MIS) to cover a wide range of social protection programmes; rolling out the household profiling mechanism nationwide to collect high quality data on household needs and access to services; and developing a mobile phone-based household welfare monitoring system for use by proximity advisory structures. Furthermore, we will continue to strengthen institutional capacity for programme management and coordination to increase efficiency, effectiveness and impact. Key interventions in this regard shall include: • Strengthen institutional capacity within social protection delivery agencies to ensure they possess sufficient numbers of high caliber staff to manage its continued scale-up and increased programming complexity. • Ensuring access to social protection MIS at sector level: over the period of EDPRS2, computerized MIS have been developed for all core Social Protection programmes. Over the period of this Strategic Plan, all sectors will be provided with the equipment and training necessary to enable direct use of these MIS at Sector level, thereby reducing administrative delays and empowering sectors to assume full responsibility for the critical business processes associated with social protection programme implementation. Furthermore, District Data Management Officers will be recruited for each district to support MIS implementation and reporting processes. • Introducing direct electronic payment of beneficiaries within the VUP and FARG: The VUP and FARG have experienced persistent delays to payment delivery over a number of years. Such delays to the delivery of social protection payments critically undermine income security and, therefore, the achievement of anticipated outcomes. Therefore, in line with international best practice, payments will be processed electronically and centrally, with local governments being responsible for initiating payment requests through the programmes’ computerized Management Information Systems (MIS). • Strengthening institutional capacity at local government level for social protection delivery and coordination: In order to empower the Cell as a key point of social protection service delivery, dedicated Cell Social Development Officers (SDOs) will be recruited nationwide. Health and Hygiene Officers will also be recruited in all sectors which is expected to increase staff availability for social protection programming and as well as strengthen capacity for forging linkages between social protection and nutrition-related interventions. • Scale-up capacity building of local governments: In the EDPRS2 period, local governments were restructured and social protection programming responsibilities were integrated into the roles and responsibilities of a range of local government departments. However, significant effort will need to continue to be invested in training of local governments. Delivery of high quality training of local governments will be prioritized with a view to empowering Districts to deliver formal training and coaching of sector and cell staff in the medium-term. In order to enhance capacity building of local 34 governments, social protection delivery agencies will significantly increase their own human resource capacity for delivering training, monitoring and coaching. 35

3.3 Contribution to NST1

3.3.1 Contribution to NST1 Thematic Areas/Priorities: Table 1 sets out how the key interventions and outcomes in this SP-SSP contribute to NST outcomes, and priority areas within the Social Transformation and Transformational Governance pillars Table 5: Social Protection sector contributions to NST1 Thematic Areas/Priorities Social protection NST-1 NST-1 NST-1 Social Protection SSP Strategic SSP Outcome Priority Pillar Interventions Outcome Area SP ST: Nationwide roll-out of VUP Outcome 1: 2.1.1 2.1 2.0 Social Expanded Public Works scheme Increased access to Increased Enhancing Transformation SP ST: Expand Direct Support to reach all social security and graduation graduation people categorized with severe disabilities income support from from (categories 1 and 2 in the current programmes, extreme extreme classification) in Ubudehe categories 1 and particularly among poverty poverty and vulnerable older and promoting 2 and gather evidence towards a more people, people with universal approach thereafter. enhanced resilience disabilities, SP ST: Improve the efficiency of social resilience households with low protection programmes by streamlining the labour capacity and to shocks delivery of electronic payments direct to other poor families beneficiaries SP ST: Strengthen administration of CBHI to ensure extremely poor households and people with severe disabilities have access to health insurance SP ST: Strengthen climate-sensitivity and Outcome 3: More shock responsiveness of VUP Classic effective social Public Works protection responses SP ST: Strengthen the implementation of to shocks and crises District Disaster Management Plans SP ST: Strengthen short-term social assistance to families in crisis SP ST: Strengthen proximity Outcome 4: advisory/outreach services for vulnerable Strengthened Social children, youth, women, people with Care Service disabilities and older people delivery for the most SP ST: Design, pilot and roll-out a vulnerable community-based rehabilitation (CBR) service for people with disabilities SP ST: Strengthen reintegration and rehabilitation services for orphans and delinquent children and youth SP ST: Strengthen community-based support services for vulnerable older people SP ST: Scale-up the Minimum Package Outcome 5: for Graduation Extremely poor SP ST: Scale-up household profiling to all households have households in Ubudehe category 1 to increased access to 36 Social protection NST-1 NST-1 NST-1 Social Protection SSP Strategic SSP Outcome Priority Pillar Interventions Outcome Area strengthen planning and targeting of livelihood support complementary services services for SP ST: Strengthen the design and economic management of agriculture and livestock empowerment support schemes SP ST: Increase access to affordable financial services and financial literacy training SP ST: Consolidate Ubudehe projects at cell level SP ST: Strengthen partnerships CSOs to deliver livelihoods support services SP ST: Implement a conditional Nutrition Outcome 2: 2.3.1 2.2 Sensitive Direct Support (NSDS) scheme Enhanced Reduced Eradicating for extremely poor mothers and infants in contribution of malnutriti Malnutrition the first 1,000 day window. social protection to on among SP ST: Implement parenting education reducing children and behavioural change communications malnutrition on nutrition for VUP beneficiaries with young children SP ST: Roll-out household Imihigo Outcome 6: 3.1.2: 3.1 3.0: contracts Strengthened values Increased Reinforce Transformational SP ST: Engage CSOs in strategic of self-reliance, innovation Rwandan Governance partnerships to strengthen public respect for rights s and culture and communications and sensitisation and community- sustainabil values as a activities based support for ity across foundation SP ST: Review targeting mechanisms in the vulnerable Home for peace the social protection sector to minimise Grown and unity perverse incentives, behaviour and Solutions attitudes. SP ST: Strengthen accountability mechanisms in the social protection sector SP ST: Strengthen HGS (Ubudehe, Umuganda, Kuremera, Itorero, Parents Evening Forum, Household Imihigo etc) as a tool for participatory planning and mobilization of community resources for social development SP ST: Significantly strengthen human Outcome 7: 3.5.2 3.5 resource capacity at MINALOC and in Strengthened Develope Strengthen social protection institutions for policy and capacity for d capacity Capacity, programme coordination evidence-based for public Service SP ST: Strengthen inter-sectoral policy and social institution delivery and coordination mechanisms at all levels protection service s Accountabili SP ST: Conduct an institutional review of delivery ty of public the social protection sector to increase institutions coordination and reduce institutional and programmatic fragmentation SP ST: Roll-out social protection sector 37 Social protection NST-1 NST-1 NST-1 Social Protection SSP Strategic SSP Outcome Priority Pillar Interventions Outcome Area management information systems (MIS) to the Sector level SP ST: Strengthen human resource capacity for social protection service delivery at Sector and Cell level. SP ST: Strengthen HGS (Ubudehe, Outcome 6: 3.6.3 3.6 Umuganda, Kuremera, Itorero, Parents Strengthened values Improved Increased Evening Forum, Household Imihigo etc) as of self-reliance, scores for Citizens a tool for participatory planning and respect for rights citizen Participation mobilization of community resources for and community- participati and social development based support for on Engagement the vulnerable in Developmen t

3.3.2 Contribution to NST1 Cross-Cutting Areas This SP-SSP will contribute to Disability Inclusion by: i. Expanding social protection coverage of poor and vulnerable People with Disabilities by expanding VUP Direct Support to reach all people categorized with severe disabilities (categories 1 and 2 in the current classification) in ubudehe categories 1 and 2 and gathering evidence towards a more universal approach over the longer term. ii. Strengthening administration of the Community-based Health Insurance (CBHI) scheme to ensure that all eligible individuals with disabilities receive subsidised access to health insurance as per relevant Ministerial Orders. iii. Strengthening targeting of complementary services, including skills training and employment support, to households affected by disability iv. Strengthening child protection services for all children at risk of neglect and abuse, particularly children with disabilities v. Strengthening the national disability classification mechanism and, eventually, linking this to the integrated Social Protection MIS to enable closer monitoring of access by PwDs to social protection sector programmes and services. vi. Exploring options for establishing community-based rehabilitation services for people with disabilities vii. Ensuring that all children currently in institutional care, including those with disabilities, are placed in suitable families and continue to receive the necessary support and monitoring to ensure their safe and successful reintegration. viii. Strengthening community sensitisation on the rights of people with disabilities to create a more enabling environment for inclusion of people with disabilities. This SP-SSP will contribute to Gender and Family by: i. Significantly strengthening support for family-based care and support mechanisms within core social protection programmes. This to include: 1) rolling-out of the Expanded Public Works scheme targeting single worker households with caring responsibilities; 2) establishing of a Nutrition-Sensitive Direct Support (NSDS) scheme for extremely poor pregnant women and infants at risk of malnutrition; and 3) Expanding coverage of people with disabilities by the VUP 38 Direct Support scheme. The sector will also review targeting policies to better promote household cohesion and family-based care for orphans, older people and people with disabilities. ii. Strengthening coordination between core social protection programmes and sensitisation on parenting and child welfare. iii. Strengthening community-level services addressing Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) and child neglect and abuse. iv. Operationalizing strengthening Umugoroba w’Ababyeyi; v. Leveraging Expanded Public Works to support scale-up of Early Childhood Development (ECD) services at cell level vi. Ensuring reintegration of all children from orphanages and street children centers vii. Strengthening awareness campaigns on GBV and child abuse, human trafficking viii. Strengthening institutional capacity for coordinated and holistic social protection service delivery for the most vulnerable families. This SP-SSP will contribute to addressing HIV/AIDS and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) by: i. Expanding income support schemes for poor and vulnerable individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS and a range of non-communicable diseases. In doing so the social protection system will support affected individuals and households to access health care help ensure that reduced productivity associated with HIV/AIDS and NCDs does not result in poverty or disadvantage future generations. ii. Strengthening linkages between social protection and health sector structures at community level, including through the development of an integrated case management system for community outreach structures iii. Strengthening the delivery of sensitisation and behavioural change communications on dietary issues. This SP-SSP will contribute to Disaster Risk Reduction & Disaster Management by: i. Providing income support to a significant proportion of the poor and vulnerable population, many of whom are highly likely to experience a range of environmental shocks. In doing so, the social protection sector will enhance the capacity of these households to cope with these shocks and re-establish productive activities after a shock has occurred. ii. Re-focusing the VUP Classic Public Works scheme on geographic areas most at risk as well as on activities that directly contribute to building community-level resilience to climate and weather-related shocks and/or support agricultural sustainability. iii. Linking poor and vulnerable households to livelihood development services that strengthen agricultural livelihoods and support livelihood diversification into lower risk/higher productivity activities. iv. Integrating disaster risk reduction into social protection sector’s community sensitisation activities v. Ensuring the timely provision of emergency assistance to households affected by disasters to mitigate impacts. 39 This SP-SSP will contribute to Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change by: i. Re-focusing the VUP Classic Public Works scheme on geographic areas most at risk as well as on activities that directly contribute to building community-level resilience to climate and weather-related shocks and/or support agricultural sustainability. ii. Increasing access by poor and vulnerable households to agricultural support programmes and services that strengthen agricultural productivity This SP-SSP will contribute to Regional Integration by ensuring the achievement of the AU Agenda 2063 and EAC Treaty and EAC Vision 2050 targets commitments relating to the development of national social protection systems. 40

3.4 SP-SSP Results Chain Inputs Activities Outputs Outcomes Government  Planning of social protection  Expanded provision of regular and reliable Direct Outcome 1: Increased access to social funds: programmes and sub-projects Income Support to eligible poor and vulnerable security and income support programmes,  Identification and enrolment of eligible individuals and households particularly among vulnerable older individuals and households into social  Increased Public Works employment opportunities people, people with disabilities, Development security schemes provided to eligible poor and vulnerable households households with low labour capacity and partner  Training of central and local government  Improved targeting of poor and vulnerable households other poor families funds: staff  Increased regularity and reliability of payment delivery  Development and regular review of  Increased number of days work on classic Public Works implementation guidelines for social  Increased access to savings facilities and fiscal security schemes incentives for eligible informal sector workers Human  Procurement of cPW and ePW technical  Provision of health insurance premium subsidies for resources: supervision service providers extremely poor households and PwDs  Identification and enrolment of eligible  Direct Income Support extended to extremely poor Outcome 2: Enhanced contribution of individuals and households into social mothers and infants social protection to reducing malnutrition Technical security schemes  Sensitisation and training on nutrition delivered to assistance  Training of central and local government parents participating in VUP ePW community child care staff scheme  Establishment of coordination mechanisms with nutrition-focused supply-side interventions  Review of guidelines  More timely and consistent delivery of short-term and Outcome 3: More effective social  Training of local governments incidental cash and in-kind assistance provided to protection responses to shocks and crises  Distribution of social assistance to households in crisis households affected by crises and  VUP public works deliver community assets that disasters improve community resilience to climate and weather- related shocks  Procurement of housing  Integrated caseworker mechanism in place delivering Outcome 4: Strengthened Social Care construction/rehabilitation holistic support to extremely poor and vulnerable Service delivery for the most vulnerable  Construction, maintenance and operation households of rehabilitation centers for PwDs  Family placement services provided to children in  Identification of children, women, PwDs orphanages and older people at risk and  Rehabilitation and placement services provided for implementation of appropriate delinquent children and youth 41 interventions  Increased access to rehabilitation services provided for people with disabilities  Houses constructed/rehabilitated for the most vulnerable  Recruitment of caseworkers  Increased access to savings and credit among extremely Outcome 5: Extremely poor households  Data collection for household profiling poor and vulnerable households have increased access to livelihood  Procurement of skills training services  Increased provision of relevant and appropriate support services for economic  Procurement and distribution of productive assets to extremely poor households empowerment productive assets  Documentation, investigation and  High quality sensitisation and public communications Outcome 6: Strengthened values of self- resolution of complaints targeting a range of stakeholders reliance, respect for rights and  Selection, training, financing and community-based support for the monitoring of civil society-based vulnerable organisations providing capacity building and sensitisation services  Conducting public communications activities and commissioning of public communications outputs   Development of management  Strengthened policy framework for social protection Outcome 7: Strengthened capacity for information systems and training of  Reduced programmatic fragmentation and administrative evidence-based policy and social system users burdens on local governments protection service delivery  Review of various policies, strategies  Improved coordination of social protection with and implementation guidelines complementary programmes and services  Policy dialogue events  High quality evidence on poverty, vulnerability and the  Procurement of analytical studies and impact and effectiveness of social protection evaluations interventions  Improved skills and understanding of roles, responsibilities among staff responsible for social protection service delivery  Increased access to critical ICT tools for social protection programme management 42 Table 6: Social Protection Sector results matrix GOAL/IMPACT: Eradication of extreme poverty, reduced poverty and malnutrition BASELIN INDICATOR E TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET MEANS OF ASSUMPTIONS 2016/17 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 VERIFICATION OUTCOME: Reduced Poverty Extreme poverty headcount EICV 16.0 5.7 4.6 3.5 2.4 1.4 <1% (%) NST 1 KPI Poverty headcount (%) NST 1 EICV 38.2 29.0 23.2 20.0 19.0 18.0 17.0 KPI 0.488 0.350 EICV Annual rate of Gini co-efficient (%) decline in poverty between 2010/11 and % of social protection 2013/14 continues beneficiary households Baseline to Household profiling demonstrating an - 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% be collected sample study improvement in socio- economic status OUTCOME 1: Increased access to social security and income support programmes, particularly among vulnerable older people, people with disabilities, households with low labour capacity and other poor families % of the population accessing social security and income 8.7% 13.0% 12.9% 12.8% 17.1% 17.4% 17.7% JSR reports/EICV support programmes % of older people covered by Old age defined as 25% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% JSR reports/EICV social protection >65 No. of extremely poor child- Approx Approx Approx Approx Approx Approx Approx headed HHs accessing social JSR reports/EICV 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 protection % of PwDs covered by social 3.9% 4.8% 4.5% 30% 30% 30% 30% JSR reports/EICV protection No. workers enrolled in Not yet 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 550,000 700,000 RSSB annual reports 43 BASELIN INDICATOR E TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET MEANS OF ASSUMPTIONS 2016/17 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 VERIFICATION voluntary long-term savings operational scheme % of PwDs with health 80% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% RSSB annual reports insurance OUTCOME 2: Enhanced contribution of social protection to reducing malnutrition No. of extremely poor mothers and infants in first the 1,000 days benefitting from 0 50,000 55,000 60,000 90,000 90,000 90,000 LODA annual report Nutrition-Sensitive Direct Support OUTCOME 3: More effective social protection responses to shocks and crises No. of households in crisis Shelter: Shelter: Shelter: provided with other short-term Shelter: 745 Shelter: 775 Shelter: 855 Shelter: 921 1,712 1,765 756 social assistance (temporary MINALOC, LODA, Financial Financial Financial Financial RDRC, FARG and financial assistance, shelter, Financial Financial Financial assistance: assistance: assistance: assistance: MIDIMAR reports health fees, NFI distribution assistance: assistance: assistance: 3,850 3,900 3,950 4,000 etc) 3,749 3,784 3,800 % of VUP cPW expenditure contributing to Disaster Risk 22%10 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% LODA annual reports Reduction OUTCOME 4: Strengthened Social Care Services delivery for the most vulnerable % of HHs in Ubudehe Cat 1 benefitting from integrated 7% 20 150 270 300 360 416 LODA annual reports caseworker management system 10 Baseline calculated as % of VUP cPW budget invested in terracing, greening, marshland development and tree planting plus 5% of the road construction/rehabilitation/ maintenance project budgets is spent on drainage management. Baseline and targets to be reviewed following completion of VUP Climate Sensitivity Study in 2018. 44 BASELIN INDICATOR E TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET MEANS OF ASSUMPTIONS 2016/17 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 VERIFICATION No. of PwDs with access to Report from Annual 4,349 4,849 5,849 7,349 9,349 11,849 14,849 Orthopedic and rehabilitation support services Rehabilitation Centers No. of vulnerable children/youth benefitting from 16,184 5,623 7,500 8,500 10,500 9,000 8,000 NRS annual reports NRS rehabilitation and reintegration services 75% of children in % of children in orphanages orphanages 77% 82% 85% 90% 95% 100% NCC annual reports integrated into families reintegrated 700 children in into families orphanages at present OUTCOME 5: Extremely poor households have increased access to livelihood support services for economic empowerment No. and %. of extremely poor iSP-MIS Household Profiling LODA, MINAGRI, households receiving asset 10% 30% 40% 60% 70% 80% 100% MINAGRI/RAB CSOs, private sector transfers reports No. of community-based LODA, Local projects implemented under No data 2,150 2,150 2,150 2,150 2,150 2,150 LODA MEIS/reports governments Ubudehe programme % of extremely poor households who are members SP sector household 11% 20% 40% 60% 70% 80% 90% of a community savings profiling system group/VSLA No of extremely poor and vulnerable individuals LODA, FARG, 18,566 38,403 55,325 70,834 84,495 95,898 105,155 receiving formal skills training RDRC, NCPD reports and apprenticeships OUTCOME 6: Strengthened values of self-reliance, respect for rights and community-based support for the vulnerable % of social protection RGB Rwanda 61.2% 63% 66% 70% 73% 76% 80% beneficiaries satisfied with Citizens Report Card 45 BASELIN INDICATOR E TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET MEANS OF ASSUMPTIONS 2016/17 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 VERIFICATION quality of services % of households in Ubudehe category 1 with a performance 7% 7% 36% 65% 72% 87% 100% contract % of core social protection programme (VUP, FARG, 35% 50% 60% 80% 85% 90% 90% JSR Resports RDRC) payments delivered on- time No of formal partnerships between districts and CSOs on 28 50 60 90 90 90 90 District annual reports social protection % of formal complaints (in MEIS and CMS) resolved No data 20 40 60 70 75 80 LODA MEIS within the approved time period No. of poor and vulnerable households supported through No data 60,000 120,000 180,000 240,000 300,000 360,000 District annual reports HGS (e.g. Umuganda and Kuremera, Urugerero) OUTCOME 7: Strengthened capacity for evidence-based policy and social protection service delivery % of PwDs classified 154,236 164,000 184,000 204,000 224,000 244,000 254,000 (disaggregated by sex) No. of programme systems 0 3 5 6 7 7 7 JSR reports linked to iSP MIS No. of studies/evaluations conducted through SPSWG 1 4 4 4 4 4 4 JSR reports and disseminated % of Sectors and Cells with Cells: 0% Cells: 0% Cells: 50% Cells: 75% Cells: Cells: 100% Cells: 100% JSR reports 46 BASELIN INDICATOR E TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET MEANS OF ASSUMPTIONS 2016/17 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 VERIFICATION dedicated Social Protection Sectors: 9% Sectors: 36% Sectors: Sectors: 100% Sectors: Sectors: staff (CSDOs and SPOs)11 50% 100% Sectors: 100% 100% 100% 11 Staff shall be considered ‘dedicated’ to social protection when they are not required to cover health and hygiene responsibilities 47 Table 7: Priority actions matrix SSP Priority TARGET Outcome Priority Action Description 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 Responsible 2023/24 indicator OUTCOME 1: Increased access to social security and income support programmes, particularly among vulnerable older people, people with disabilities, households with low labour capacity and other poor families VUP DS: 107,000 FARG DS: 27,650 VUP DS: RDRC DS: VUP DS: 107,000 3,500 107,000 % of extremely Direct Support provided to extremely poor VUP DS: 107,000 VUP DS: 107,000 VUP DS: 107,000 LODA, FARG, FARG DS: FARG DS: FARG DS: 29,003 FARG DS: 29,003 FARG DS: 29,003 RDRC, Local poor and households with no labour 26,334 + Incike Develop 29,003 RDRC DS: 3,500 RDRC DS: 3,500 RDRC DS: 3,500 governments vulnerable RDRC DS: implementation RDRC DS: population 3,500 guidelines for 3,500 expansion of DS benefitting from to PwDs and regular Direct incorporate into Income Support 20/21 budget Direct Support provided to people with Approx. 73,000 Approx 73,000 Approx. 73,000 Approx. 73,000 Approx. 73,000 severe disabilities in Ubudehe Cat 1and 212 PW provided to extremely poor households ePW: 30,000 ePW: 56,250 ePW: 75,000 ePW: 82,500 ePW: 90,000 ePW: 97,500 LODA, Local with labour cPW: 142,000 cPW: 135,000 cPW: 128,000 cPW: 60,000 cPW: 60,000 cPW: 60,000 governments Design and launch Long- Term Savings No. workers Enroll workers into the informal sector long- Scheme 200,000 300,000 400,000 550,000 700,000 MINECOFIN/ enrolled in term savings scheme and provide associated (U1: 6,800; (U1: 10,200; (U1: 13,600; (U1: 18,700; (U1: 23,800; districts voluntary long- financial incentives for saving 100,000 U2: 68,000) U2: 102,000) U2: 136,000) U2: 187,000) U2: 238,000) (U1:3,400; term savings U2: 34,000) scheme 12 Estimates provided for the number of PwDs expected to be eligible for this new sub-component of Direct Support assume that 25% of eligible PwDs are already targeted by existing DS schemes. 48 Confirm budget requirements Enroll all people with severe disabilities into for health % of PwDs with insurance for RSSB, Local Mutuelle de Sante at the start of each RDRC: 3,500 RDRC: 3,500 RDRC: 3,500 RDRC: 3,500 RDRC: 3,500 health insurance extremely poor governments financial year HHs and PwDs RDRC: 3,500 OUTCOME 2: Strengthened contribution of social protection to reducing malnutrition No. of extremely 50,000 poor mothers and Develop infants in first the guidelines 1,000 days delivery of benefitting from sensitisation on nutrition-sensitive nutrition to social protection Nutrition-Sensitive Direct Income Support ePW HBCC beneficiaries LODA, RBC, provided to extremely poor mothers and 55,000 60,000 90,000 90,000 90,000 NECDP infants Design behavioural change communication strategy to accompany VUP implementation OUTCOME 3: More effective social protection responses to shocks and crises % of VUP cPW Revise VUP cPW LODA VUP public work projects construct Revise VUP projects planning and community infrastructure that contributes to cPW planning implementation contributing to and Disaster Risk Reduction in areas at high risk guidelines Disaster Risk implementation of climate- and weather-related shocks guidelines Reduction No. of Review M MINALOC, households in Households in crisis provided with short- guidelines for local MINALOC governments crisis provided term / on-off cash- or in-kind support ear-marked with short-term funds 49 social assistance MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m INALOC e/m MINALOC e/m funds social funds social funds social funds social funds social funds social support: 3,800 support: 3,850 support: 3,900 support: 3,950 support: 4,000 support: 3784 HHs HHs HHs HHs HHs HHs MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m funds shelter: funds shelter: 145 funds shelter: 150 funds shelter: 165 funds shelter: funds shelter: 140 HHs HHs HHs HHs 170 HHs 137 HHs RDRC shelter: RDRC shelter: RDRC shelter: RDRC shelter: RDRC shelter: RDRC shelter: 100 HHs 100 HHs 100 HHs 100 HHs 100 HHs 200 HHs FARG shelter: FARG shelter: FARG shelter: FARG shelter: FARG shelter: FARG shelter: 516 HHs 500 HHs 525 HHs 590 HHs 651 HHs 1,765 HHs RDRC health: RDRC health: RDRC health: RDRC health: RDRC health: RDRC health: 3500 bnfs 3500 bnfs 3500 bnfs 3500 bnfs 3500 bnfs 3500 bnfs No of districts All districts supported to review and update All districts All districts All districts All districts All districts All districts MIDIMAR, effectively and their District Disaster Management plans review and review and review and review and review and review and local update their update their update their update their update their update their governments efficiently DDMPs DDMPs DDMPs DDMPs DDMPs DDMPs implement Districts implement effectively their DDMP DDMPs DDMP DDMP DDMP DDMP DDMP Disaster Management Plans implementation implementation implementation implementation implementation implementation review review review conducted review conducted review conducted review conducted in 5 conducted in 5 in 5 districts per in 5 districts per in 5 districts per conducted in 5 districts per districts per year year year year districts per year year OUTCOME 4: Strengthened Social Care Services delivery for the most vulnerable Train staff in Train staff in Train staff in 270 Train staff in 320 Train staff in 370 Train staff in MINALOC/ Integrated caseworker management 150 sectors on 210 sectors on sectors on sectors on sectors on 416 sectors on LODA guidelines developed and implemented by caseworker caseworker caseworker caseworker caseworker caseworker local governments management management management management management management No. of sectors guidelines guidelines guidelines guidelines guidelines guidelines implementing Update SGBV MIGEPROF integrated training caseworker curriculum for 52,879 52,879 Community outreach volunteers trained on 52,879 52,879 52,879 management community community community SGBV and child protection community community community system volunteers outreach outreach outreach outreach outreach volunteers volunteers trained volunteers trained volunteers trained volunteers 52,879 trained on SGBV on SGBV on SGBV on SGBV trained on SGBV community outreach 50 volunteers trained on SGBV Establish a community-based rehabilitation Commission MINALOC, No. of PwDs with CBR scheme CBR scheme CBR scheme design of CBR Pilot CBR Evaluation of NCPD system for people with disabilities and their rolled-out to 150 rolled-out to 300 rolled-out to 416 access to scheme and scheme CBR pilot families sectors sectors sectors rehabilitation pilot services 500 PwDs 500 PwDs 500 PwDs 500 PwDs 500 PwDs 500 PwDs Provide rehabilitation services to PwDs rehabilitated rehabilitated rehabilitated rehabilitated rehabilitated rehabilitated No. of vulnerable National children/youth Rehabilitation Deliver rehabilitation and reintegration NRS: 5,623 NRS: 7,500 NRS: 8,500 NRS: 10,500 NRS: 9,000 NRS: 8,000 Service, NCC benefitting from services to 49,123 vulnerable children and rehabilitation and youth NCC: 167 NCC:167 NCC:167 NCC:167 NCC:167 NCC:167 reintegration services OUTCOME 5: Extremely poor households have increased access to livelihood support services for economic empowerment Profiling LODA repeated in 416 Profiling repeated sectors in 416 sectors No. of sectors implementing Each sector to Each sector to household Update develop multi- develop multi- profiling profiling of any year plan for year plan for Update household profiling for all households targeting targeting services mechanism to households in Ubudehe Category 1 newly services to to extremely poor support targeting classified in extremely poor households of Ubudehe Cat 1 households complementary Household services Household profiling profiling monitoring report monitoring developed report developed 19,700 LODA, %. of eligible 20,832 21,636 13,250 14,000 14,750 households MINALOC social protection households households households households households supported beneficiary 155,000 extremely poor households supported under supported under supported under supported under supported under under VUP households provided with productive assets or IGA VUP asset VUP asset VUP asset VUP asset VUP asset asset transfer transfer scheme transfer scheme transfer scheme transfer scheme transfer scheme receiving asset support scheme transfers under MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m MINALOC e/m MPG framework MINALOC e/m funds: 700 funds: 735 funds: 770 funds: 800 funds: 840 funds: 674 51 Issue guidance LODA on regulation and capacity building of % of extremely community poor and savings groups Support Support Support Support Support vulnerable establishment of establishment of establishment of establishment of establishment of Promote and strengthen community savings households who Support 2,150 new 2,150 new 2,150 new 2,150 new 2,150 new groups are members of a establishment community community community community community community of 2,150 new savings groups savings groups savings groups savings groups savings groups savings group community savings groups and delivery financial literacy training VUP: 3,016 LODA, RDRC, RDRC skills: FARG, NCPD, 350 VUP: 3,125 VUP: 4,425 local VUP: 3,975 VUP: 4,200 VUP: 3,245 governments RDRC IGA: RDRC skills: RDRC skills: RDRC skills: 260 RDRC skills: 240 200 300 RDRC skills: 280 220 RDRC IGA: 150 RDRC IGA: 150 RDRC RDRC IGA: 150 RDRC IGA: 150 RDRC IGA: 150 No. and % of SP Extremely poor and vulnerable households employment beneficiaries to receive technical and vocational training RDRC RDRC support: 350 RDRC RDRC RDRC employment employment receiving formal employment employment employment support: 260 support: 240 skills training NCPD: 300 support: 300 support: 280 support: 220 NCPD: 300 NCPD: 300 MINALOC e/m NCPD: 300 NCPD: 300 NCPD: 300 funds FARG: 8,716 FARG: 6,273 employment FARG: 12,747 FARG: 11,254 FARG: 3,942 support: 340 Total: 13,661 Total: 11,403 Total: 16,922 Total: 15,509 Total: 9,257 FARG: 15,281 Total: 19,837 OUTCOME 6: Strengthened values of self-reliance, respect for rights and community-based support for the vulnerable % of SP All villages in Rwanda to be reached by Partnerships Partnerships Partnerships Partnerships Partnerships Partnerships MINALOC, high quality public communications on established established with established with at established with at established with at established with LODA, Local beneficiaries with with 28 CSOs at least 60 CSOs least 90 CSOs least 120 CSOs least 150 CSOs at least 180 governments good awareness social protection rights and responsibilities CSOs 52 of their rights and Develop Social 4,500 4,500 community 4,500 community 4,500 community responsibilities Protection community meetings to be meetings to be meetings to be 4,500 Client Service meetings to be held held held community Charter held meetings to be 4 radio talk shows 4 radio talk shows 4 radio talk shows held Develop public 4 radio talk to be conducted to be conducted to be conducted communication shows to be 4 radio talk s plan on social conducted 2,000 posters to 2,000 posters to 2,000 posters to shows to be protection be distributed be distributed be distributed conducted rights and 2,000 posters to responsibilities be distributed 2,000 posters to be distributed 4,500 community meetings to be held Community LODA, local sensitisation governments guidelines Community Community Community Community Community Deliver community sensitisation on the developed sensitisation sensitisation sensitisation sensitisation sensitisation rights of children in all villages nationwide meetings held in meetings held in meetings held in meetings held in meetings held in Community TBC villages TBC villages TBC villages TBC villages TBC villages sensitisation meetings held in TBC villages Implement Implement Implement Implement Implement Implement NCPD, NCC, National public awareness raising events national national national national national national MIGEPROF conducted on the rights of children, women, campaigns on campaigns on campaigns on campaigns on campaigns on campaigns on PwDs and older people annual priority annual priority annual priority annual priority annual priority annual priority theme theme theme theme theme theme Workflow LODA, FARG % of core social Workflow management protection Ensure all beneficiaries of core social management and and electronic electronic programme protection programmes are paid directly and payments pilot payments payments electronically to be modality to be delivered on-time implemented in rolled-out LODA Complaints SP programme SP programme SP programme SP programme SP programme LODA, FARG, No. and % of modules in all design and design and design and design and design and RDRC complaints core SP MIS to implementation implementation implementation implementation implementation Complaints tracking system strengthened resolved within be fully guidelines to be guidelines to be guidelines to be guidelines to be guidelines to be and reviewed annually the approved time operational and reviewed to reviewed to reviewed to reviewed to reviewed to period LG staff trained address source of address source of address source of address source of address source of in their use complaints complaints complaints complaints complaints 53 SP institutions quarterly reporting frameworks to be revised to include analysis of complaints No. of poor and MINALOC vulnerable households 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 Extremely poor and vulnerable households supported households households households households households households supported through Umuganda, Kuremera through HGS supported supported supported through supported through supported through supported and Urugerero (e.g. Umuganda through HGS through HGS HGS HGS HGS through HGS and Kuremera, Urugerero) OUTCOME 7: Strengthened institutional capacity for evidence-based policy development and social protection service delivery National SP MINALOC Policy updated No of policies/strategies Develop high quality, evidence-based policy Conduct MTR of National Develop SP-SSP SP-SSP reviewed/ and strategy documents Disability & 2025-2032 implementation developed Inclusion Policy approved Implement Implement Implement Social Implement Social Implement Social Implement MINALOC, Social Social Protection Protection Month Protection Month Protection Month Social Protection LODA, FARG, Protection Month advocacy advocacy advocacy advocacy Month advocacy RDRC, NCPD Month activities activities activities activities activities advocacy nationwide nationwide nationwide nationwide nationwide No. of policy activities dialogue and Conduct national and local level policy nationwide public dialogue and advocacy activities on the communication performance and future development of the Convene Convene MINALOC Convene activities social protection system international SP international SP National SP conducted conference conference conference SPSWG structure and ToR re-aligned with SP-SSP 54 Social Social Protection Social Protection Social Protection Social Protection Social Protection MINALOC Protection Sector Sector Sector Sector Sector Sector Performance and Performance and Performance and Performance and Performance and Performance Learning Report Learning Report Learning Report Learning Report Learning Report and Learning published published published published published Report published EICV5 SP Review EICV EICV6 SP MINALOC thematic report questionnaire Thematic Report published and VUP published oversample strategy and collect EICV6 data No. of Conduct Conduct final LODA studies/evaluation impact evaluation of Social protection sector M&E systems conducted evaluation of World Bank IPF strengthened through SPSWG VUP using for social and disseminated EICV4 and 5 protection data Conduct Conduct review MINALOC evaluation of of institutional Ubudehe capacity and classification arrangements for using EICV5 SP and develop data roadmap for institutional harmonization Conduct annual Conduct annual Conduct annual Conduct annual Conduct annual Conduct annual LODA household household household household household household profiling profiling sample profiling sample profiling sample profiling sample profiling sample sample assessment assessment assessment assessment assessment assessment Increased access Conduct review MINALOC of Social to high quality Protection data on household Sector M&E welfare, needs systems 55 and access to Conduct review NCPD, MoH services of disability classification mechanism 10,000 PwDs 20,000 PwDs 20,000 PwDs 20,000 PwDs 20,000 PwDs 10,000 PwDs MoH, NCPD classified classified classified classified classified classified Disability On-demand classification disability database assessment integrated with mechanism in iSP-MIS place nationwide Update Household Household Revised LODA household profiling profiling household profiling for conducted for all conducted for all profiling new entrants to households in households in mechanism Ubudehe Ubudehe Ubudehe implemented category 1 Category 1 Category 1 Develop Review of mobile-phone household based profiling household mechanism to be monitoring conducted system Develop multi- dimensional welfare assessment tool VUP, FARG, MINALOC, RDRC, FARG, RDRC, Mutuelle and LODA, RAB Girinka integrated with iSP-MIS Conduct Conduct Ubudehe LODA Ubudehe re- re-classification classification No. of Annual refresher Annual refresher Annual refresher Annual refresher Annual refresher VUP caseworkers recruited, trained and Annual training provided training provided training provided training provided training provided LODA households in refresher facilitated to 2,500 to 3,700 to 4,800 to 5,100 to 6,100 Ubudehe training caseworkers caseworkers caseworkers caseworkers caseworkers 56 category 1 with a provided to 417 dedicated caseworkers Induction Induction training Induction training Induction training Induction caseworker training provided provided to 1,100 provided to 259 provided to 1,900 training provided Induction to 1,200 new new VUP new VUP new VUP to 400 new VUP training VUP caseworkers caseworkers caseworkers caseworkers provided to caseworkers 2,000 new VUP caseworkers Train all District and Sector Councils on District (15) District (30) District (15) District (30) District (15) District (30) MINALOC social protection Sector (70) Sector (140) Sector (210) Sector (280) Sector (350) Sector (416) % of social MINALOC, Annual refresher training provided to LG protection LODA staff on social protection programme 1,552 1,552 1,552 1,692 1,772 1,844 beneficiaries implementation satisfied with quality of Essential IT Refresher Refresher training Refresher MINALOC, Provide essential equipment and training to equipment and training to be to be provided to training to be LODA services enable sector-level access to social training to be provided to all all District and provided to all protection MISs provided to all District and Sector SP staff District and 416 sectors Sector SP staff Sector SP staff 57 Chapter 4: Implementation arrangements This chapter sets out how the sector strategic plan will be implemented. It describes key stakeholders and their roles and responsibilities and explains the mechanisms for co-ordination in the sector. Finally, the chapter considers the main risks to achieving the sector objectives and presents mitigation strategies against these risks.

4.1 Institutional Framework

4.1.1 Roles of Central and Local Governments The Office of the Prime Minister shall be responsible for exercising oversight of the social protection sector, monitoring the delivery outputs and the achievement of intended outcomes and, finally, ensuring that all stakeholders fulfil their designated roles and responsibilities. MINALOC leads the Social Protection sector and the Ministry’s seven core functions with respect to social protection are as follows: • Develop and disseminate sector policies, strategies and programmes • Develop legal frameworks • Develop institutional and human resource capacities, including assessing and building the capacities of decentralised entities • Monitor and evaluate the implementation of sector policies, strategies and programmes • Oversee the functioning of institutions supervised by the Ministry • Promote effective intergovernmental relationships, • Mobilise resources for sector activities, including promoting partnerships for joint development efforts by stakeholders at local level. MINALOC will co-ordinate implementation of this strategy and will continue to lead the multi- stakeholder Social Protection Sector Working Group. In collaboration with partners, MINALOC will draw up an annual implementation plan for the sector and monitor progress against it. The Ministry will oversee the operational programmes implemented by FARG, LODA, RDRC and NCPD and will ensure that national and decentralised levels have the capacities required to deliver social protection strategy objectives. The agencies of LODA, FARG and RDRC will be responsible for translating sector policies and strategies into detailed operational guidelines for programme delivery and for ensuring quality delivery of their respective programmes by decentralised government. Their responsibilities cover core direct support and public works social protection programmes, as well as complementary financial services, community projects and skills development. The agencies will be responsible for ensuring that effective M&E frameworks and mechanisms are in place and that the findings of routine monitoring and impact assessments inform practical improvements in targeting and other aspects of programme design. They will also oversee programme financial management and ensure that frontline staff in Districts and Sectors are properly inducted and trained and have the skills required to deliver programmes. In planning programme-specific training they will liaise with MINALOC (which has overall responsibility for capacity building on social protection) to maximise synergies and efficiencies across the sector. MIGEPROF will play a key role in the development of Social Care Services and will oversee programmes implemented by NCC as well as Social Care Services delivered by local governments. MIGEPROF will also host the National Early Childhood Development Programme which will play a key role in ensuring, through technical support and strengthening coordination, that the social protection sector maximizes its contribution to addressing malnutrition. The Ministry of Agriculture – often working through the Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB) offers a number of programmes that provide – or subsidize – assets to rural households. These include: Girinka (the One Cow per Poor Family Scheme) in which poor and vulnerable families are provided with a cow; 58 a programme providing small animals (goats and rabbits) to poor households with little land; and fertilizer subsidies and seeds. MINAGRI/RAB will be responsible for proactively coordinating these programmes with the core social protection programmes under the Minimum Package for Graduation framework. The Ministry of Disaster Management & Refugees (MIDIMAR) will continue to coordinate all interventions in disaster risk reduction and management and refugee affairs. MIDIMAR interventions, mainly the provision iron sheets, non-food items and food items to disaster victims, constitute a key contribution to poverty reduction and the protection of the most vulnerable persons. Over the SP-SSP implementation period, MIDIMAR will not only focus on improving post disaster interventions but also on pre disaster actions including public awareness, early warning, prevention and mitigation as provided for within District Disaster Management Plans (DDMP), disaster management policies and the Law relating to the disaster management in Rwanda. The Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) will continue to create an enabling environment for sustainable graduation from extreme poverty and reduced malnutrition through the provision of good quality, accessible health care for all Rwandans. Furthermore, MoH will proactively work with the social protection sector to establish robust coordination mechanisms to enable monitoring of conditionalities under the Nutrition Sensitive Direct Support (NSDS) scheme and promote referrals between community health workers (CHW) and other proximity advisory services. The Ministry of Education and TVET will coordinate technical and vocational training programmes with the social protection sector to ensure that poor households access relevant and appropriate skills that support the development of sustainable livelihoods. The Ministry of Public Service & Labour (MIFOTRA) will support the social protection sector’s efforts to ensure that appropriate structures and staffing are in place at national and decentralised levels to enable efficient and effective implementation of social protection programmes. The Ministry of Economic Planning and Finance (MINECOFIN) will ensure, to the extent that is possible, that resources are allocated to finance SP-SSP implementation while also ensuring that financial management systems enable sufficiently detailed tracking of social protection expenditures to enable accountability for resources and evaluation of value-for-money in social protection sector investments. MINECOFIN will also lead implementation of the Long-term Savings scheme, working through other institutions as appropriate. The Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) will support coordination of contributory and non- contributory social security interventions and will work to strengthen the administration of the Community-based Health Insurance (CBHI) scheme to maximize coverage of all households, particularly the poorest and people with disabilities. MINICOM and the Rwanda Cooperatives Agency (RCA) will ensure regulation and capacity building of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) and, potentially, coordinate with RSSB in the promotion of the Long-term Savings Scheme (LTSS) among members of cooperatives. The Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) will ensure the regulation of civil society organisations engaging in the social protection sector, conduct citizen satisfaction surveys and monitor service delivery quality. Districts will be responsible for the delivery of the majority of Rwanda’s social protection programmes in compliance with guidelines provided by national institutions. Although precise responsibilities will vary according to the nature and design of the various social protection interventions, commons responsibilities are expected to include: • Identification and selection of beneficiaries • Case management • Coordination of interventions at local level 59 • Coaching and sensitisation of social protection beneficiaries • Recruitment and management of frontline social protection staff • Narrative and financial reporting to social protection agencies and central Government • Handling complaints and appeals about targeting and programme delivery issues • Channeling feedback from the field on programme delivery challenges and recommendations for design improvements to agencies and central Government.

4.1.2. Role of Private sector The private sector has key roles to play in support of social protection, including in the following areas: • Ensuring compliance with mandatory social security obligations; • Creating jobs for the poor that respect labour standards; • Offering a range of appropriate financial services including savings and insurance; • Providing the technical skills required for the design of more complex public works projects and the skilled labour to work alongside unskilled public works beneficiaries in implementation • Providing technological solutions to key social protection delivery challenges/instruments; • Supporting effective communications in the sector drawing on the positive experience of m-health internationally; • Creating revenue-generating investment opportunities for pension and other formal social security funds. Government will work increasingly in collaboration with the private sector in delivering social protection objectives and will explore new opportunities for partnerships.

4.1.3. Role of civil society organisation Civil society organisations have key roles in social protection in Rwanda, including in: • Service delivery: particularly with regards to Social Care Services and complementary programmes related to livelihood development and nutrition. Whilst most CSO projects are reaching only small numbers of people, the large number of active CSOs means that their collective contribution to service delivery will be substantial. • Sensitisation of citizens on social protection rights and responsibilities and supporting citizens to hold service providers to account: civil society organisations are encouraged to actively empower citizens to understand their rights and responsibilities, to monitor service delivery quality and proactively engage with duty bearers where service delivery is found to be wanting. • Innovation: Many NGOs are piloting new approaches in Rwanda, often drawing on lessons from international experience. Lessons from such pilots will be used to inform the on-going improvement of existing Government SP programmes. • Participation in policy and programme development: Given their experience of delivering services at community level, civil society organisations are encouraged to participate in policy formulation and programme development and evaluation processes. Key civil society networks will be permanently represented on the SPSWG. In addition, in order to maximise civil society input, CSOs/NGOs will be invited to participate in policy discussions on particular issues on which they have expertise. At District levels, civil society organisations intervening in the social protection sector will continue to actively participate in JADFs, including in the Social Commissions and Social Protection Sub- Commissions (once established), helping to ensure a co-ordinated approach to social protection delivery. Government will work together with civil society to strengthen Sector level JADFs, so that JADFs are enabled to undertake detailed co-ordination, including comparison and modification of beneficiary lists to minimise duplications and gaps in coverage. 60

4.1.4 Role of Development Partners Development partners are very active in the SPSWG and its sub-committees and provide extensive technical support to the sector, as well as very substantial financial resources. The sector will work to sustain and further build upon the active partnerships already established with DFID, the World Bank, and the One UN, as well as to encourage new development partners to increase their engagement in the sector. The sector will make full use of the resources and expertise available from development partners, ensuring that these are used in an efficient and harmonised way, aligned behind the common agreed strategy.

4.2 Mechanisms for co-ordination between stakeholders and partners in the sector National level co-ordination Inter-ministerial coordination shall be achieved through the Social Cluster meetings. Given its cross- cutting role and relationship with local governments that are responsible for delivery of most social cluster services, including social protection, the Social Cluster shall be chaired by MINALOC. The main purpose of this committee is to provide a forum for high level consultation on key policies, strategies and programmes prior to their submission to Cabinet, as well as monitoring of implementation of Presidential pledges, post Cabinet Actions, National Dialogue and Leadership Retreat resolutions and items to be submitted to cabinet. The key mechanism for technical co-ordination and information sharing at national level between stakeholders and partners in the sector will continue to be the Social Protection Sector Working Group (SPSWG), which will meet at least quarterly. The SPSWG’s responsibilities will include:  Ensuring the implementation and monitoring of the social protection strategy, including providing regular six-monthly reports on progress during Joint Sector Reviews  Making recommendations on annual budgets for all activities set out in the strategy  Monitoring the execution of social protection budgets across government  Monitoring all social protection initiatives across government  Overseeing analytical work undertaken by Ministries on social protection The SPSWG will be restructured to create dedicated sub-committees focusing on all key elements of the SP-SSP. The precise configuration of these sub-committees will be determined in 2018. Sub-committee are expected to meet quarterly and are expected to submit reports on their deliberations, including any recommendations, to the Chair of the SPSWG for consideration. MINALOC will also strengthen its capacity to coordinate the SPSWG and the various sub-committees and the preparation and conduct of the bi-annual Joint Sector Review (JSR) and other sector activities with dedicated technical specialists. Decentralised co-ordination At decentralised levels, JADFs will play the key co-ordination role. The role of JADFs in overseeing social protection interventions will be strengthened through guidelines issued by MINALOC. Every year, government institutions and civil society organization will present to District authorities a detailed plan of their social protection interventions, disaggregated for each sector. Through JADFs, CSO will ensure that these programmes are aligned with District development priorities and a District wide plan of social protection activities by Governmental and non-governmental actors will be elaborated as part of the District Development Plan. This process will be facilitated by the Secretary to the District JADF. 61 Bringing together local government and civil society stakeholders, Sectors will be strengthened in order that they have the capacity to play an effective role in practical co-ordination, for example, in reviewing beneficiary lists of key Governmental and non-governmental social protection interventions in order to identify both inappropriate duplications of support and any gaps in coverage of extremely poor or vulnerable households. Once the social protection MIS is operational it will be used as a tool to facilitate this process. Details of beneficiaries receiving support from programmes will be entered into the MIS by local government staff and the MIS will be used to easily identify and oversee the benefits that each household is receiving. 62 Chapter 5: Monitoring and evaluation The M&E system comprises three main elements: monitoring; impact evaluation; and focused analytical work.

5.1 Sector monitoring arrangements Regular monitoring of sector performance will continue to be carried out through the Joint Sector Reviews which take place twice a year (backward and forward looking). These reviews will assess performance against indicators and policy actions contained within this strategy and others agreed over time by the SPSWG. All social protection sector institutions will review their internal M&E systems to ensure that they are able to deliver reliable and timely data on all SP-SSP indicators to the JSRs. An integrated Social Protection MIS (which is expected to be operational by end 2017/18) will compile data from programmes and institutions across the sector.

5.2 Sector evaluation framework A sector-wide M&E framework was developed in 2016 including a sector-wide theory of change, logframe, evaluation matrix and implementation framework. This should be reviewed by the SPSWG to ensure alignment with this SP-SSP and on at least an annual basis thereafter. Key evaluation activities to be conducted over the course of this SP-SSP include: i. Impact evaluation of the VUP shall continue to be conducted through analysis of the ‘VUP oversample’ included within the EICV series. NISR shall continue to be responsible for producing a ‘Social Protection Thematic Report’ after the completion of each EICV survey round and in-depth descriptive and impact analysis shall be commissioned by the SPSWG as necessary. A specific impact evaluation will also be conducted for the Nutrition-Sensitive Direct Support scheme. ii. Analysis of national survey datasets (e.g. EICV, Ubudehe, RDHS) and programme administrative data iii. Special reviews, studies and process evaluations shall be commissioned on the following issues, among others: a. The design and implementation of the minimum package for graduation b. Ubudehe classification process c. Household profiling mechanism d. Disability classification mechanism e. Institutional capacity and arrangements in the social protection sector f. Gender audits of key social protection programmes g. The effectiveness of development partner support programmes (bilateral financial aid, World Bank operations and technical assistance etc) The vast majority of these reviews, studies and evaluations will be conducted through the SPSWG. iv. Changes in the welfare / socio-economic status of social protection beneficiaries shall be monitored through: a. A mobile-phone-based households monitoring system to be managed by proximity advisors b. A multi-dimensional household welfare assessment mechanism, to be implemented annually on a sample basis c. Household profiling, to be conducted at least every 2 years. On an annual basis, sector progress, evaluation evidence and lessons learnt will be documented in a Social Protection Sector Performance & Learning Report, to be published by the SPSWG. 63 Chapter 6: Cost and Financing of the Sector Strategic Plan Rwanda aims to eradicate extreme poverty by 2024. This is achievable if the rate of reduction in extreme poverty experienced between 2010/11 and 2013/14 continues over the course of this SP-SSP period. However, sustained graduation from extreme poverty is likely to be more difficult to achieve among the poorest 8-10% of the population who tend to experience chronic, rather than transitory, poverty. Furthermore, significant evidence has emerged through the EICV series that low levels of resilience to shocks is undermining the poverty eradication process, with many households experiencing declines in welfare over time and descent into extreme poverty. Rwanda’s social protection system must therefore start to address key vulnerabilities, such as old age, disability and child malnutrition in a systematic and preventative manner. Finally, increased focus needs to be placed on ensuring that poor and vulnerable households have access to a range of complementary livelihood development and employment support services. Achievement of the 2024 targets for the eradication of extreme poverty eradication and fast-tracking reductions in malnutrition demand continued strengthening of Rwanda’s social protection system. Continued commitment to public and private investment in social protection will therefore be required, including in response to changing expectations for minimum living standards as the country raises its ambitions towards the attainment of prosperity and wellbeing for everyone.

6.1 Overall estimated cost of the SP-SSP13 This costs associated with implementation of this financing strategy are set out in Table 1 below. Table 8: Annual cost of the SP-SSP by component (2017 prices) OUTCOME Baseline (17/18) 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23 23/24 1: Expanding access to social security 41,164,892,197 51,634,842,965 53,264,062,910 58,532,267,129 47,259,049,000 48,371,449,000 48,117,874,000 2: Increasing SP contribution to reducing malnutrition 0 4,356,136,313 6,969,904,946 7,155,033,402 6,806,175,229 6,806,175,229 6,806,175,229 3: Increasing effectiveness of social assistance 21,248,205,543 28,444,965,543 16,358,755,293 15,992,505,556 16,057,868,305 16,571,512,917 17,071,125,298 4: Strengthening Social Care Services 9,467,751,125 13,220,960,544 20,232,360,544 13,254,760,544 13,629,460,544 14,037,960,544 14,037,960,544 5: Strengthening livelihood support services for economic empowerment 20,423,050,733 21,712,770,889 21,290,436,197 20,661,924,814 17,516,050,722 15,961,458,783 14,310,439,811 6: More postive values, attitudes and behaviours among all stakeholders 1,793,617,999 2,344,507,216 7,527,040,903 2,691,754,590 2,691,754,590 7,691,754,590 2,691,754,590 7: Institutional capacity building 9,468,177,929 11,271,810,009 12,059,544,903 11,195,544,903 11,704,104,903 11,344,104,903 11,853,304,903 TOTALS 103,565,695,526 132,985,993,478 137,702,105,696 129,483,790,938 115,664,463,293 120,784,415,966 114,888,634,375 13 Notes on costings: In order to avoid duplication, no programmes that are costed within other sector strategies have been included. Budgets are driven by the specific operational targets set-out in the sector results matrix. Entitlements specified within legislation regulations or other policy documents shall be fully funded and shall be prioritised (e.g. FARG Direct Support, health insurance for households in Ubudehe category 1 and people with disabilities, VUP Direct Support). Where specific operational targets are not provided within the results matrix (or where data availability is limited), budgets for 2017/18 have been rolled forward. 64 Figure 6: Annual cost of the SP-SSP by component (2017 prices)

6.2 Detailed breakdown of component costs

6.2.1 Component 1: Expanding access to social security Funding requirements for Direct Income Support schemes is projected to increase slowly in line with the wider sector as coverage of the core social protection system increases. However, funding allocations between Direct Income Support schemes are expected to change as the VUP Expanded Public Works scheme is rolled-out nationally and VUP coverage of people with disabilities expands in 2021. Given the expected eradication, or near eradication, of extreme poverty by 2020, the VUP Classic Public Works scheme will be refocused on disaster risk reduction and supporting community recovery from shocks to provide support to approximately 60,000 households per year from 2021 onwards (although, due to the scale-up of Expanded Public Works, the total number of Public Works beneficiaries is expected to remain significant and relatively stable over the course of the SP-SSP).. Figure 7: Annual costs of component 1 disaggregated by programme 65

6.2.2 Outcome 2: Increasing social protection’s contribution to reducing malnutrition Under component 2, the social protection sector will roll-out a conditional Direct Income Support scheme targeting extremely poor pregnant women and infants. The costs for this scheme are expected to remain broadly flat across the 6 year period (unless geographic scale-up of the NSDS is approved) so are not presented graphically here.

6.2.3 Component 3: Increasing the effectiveness of social assistance Over the course of the SSP, annual expenditures under component 3 will decrease by approximately 9%. This reduction will be largely driven by the gradual scale-down of the FARG and shelter programmes and the end of MIDIMAR external returnee support programmes. Figure 8: Annual cost of component 3 broken down by programme

6.2.4 Component 4: Strengthening social care services Expenditures on social care services are projected to increase by 48% over the SP-SSP implementation period. This is somewhat faster than growth of the sector as a whole, reflecting the expansion of services for victims of SGBV, children and people with disabilities in particular. Figure 9: Annual cost of Component 4 broken down by activity 66

6.2.5 Component 5: Strengthening livelihood support for economic empowerment Expenditures on strengthening linkages with complementary livelihood development services are forecast to decrease significantly over the period of the SP-SSP, due in large part to the phasing out of the FARG education support programme. However livelihood development support for extremely poor households delivered through the VUP and other programmes is expected to increase by 234% reflecting the sector’s increased focus on supporting sustainable graduation. Expansion of productive asset transfers, the caseworker mechanism and skills training are the key drivers of this increased expenditure. Figure 10: Annual cost of Component 5 broken down by activity

6.2.6 Component 6: More positive values, attitudes, behaviours among all stakeholders Expenditures on awareness raising, sensitisation and behavioural change communications are projected to increase by 38% over the course of SP-SSP implementation, reflecting the sector’s increased prioritization of this issue. CSOs and NGOs are expected to be increasingly engaged in this area, building on the CSO partnership framework developed in 2016. Figure 11: Annual cost of component 7 by activity 67

6.2.7 Component 7: Institutional capacity building Expenditure on institutional capacity building and programme administration is expected to rise by 19% over the course of SP-SSP implementation period, reflecting the increased geographic scale and complexity of programming as well as concerns for improved programme effectiveness. 62% of all expenditures forecast under component 6 are at local government level, including the majority of costs associated with Ubudehe reclassification which is forecast to be conducted in 2018/19 and 2021/22. However, overall the proportion of the social protection sector budget spent on capacity building and administration is expected to fall from 18% to 16% over the course of implementation, representing an 11% increase in efficiency. Figure 12: Annual SP sector capacity building and administration costs

6.3 SP-SSP Financing SP-SSP implementation will be financed from a mixture of domestic revenues, grants from development partners and concessional borrowing as follows:  10% of the previous year’s domestic revenue shall continue to be allocated to LODA and at least 40% of these funds shall continue to be allocated to social protection.  Entitlements for Genocide survivors provided for by legislation or regulations shall be funded in full from FARG’s maximum allocation of 6% of the previous year’s domestic revenue.  Programming costs at MIGEPROF, MIDIMAR and RDRC shall be financed from general budget.  Funding gaps shall be covered by grants from development partners and IDA credits as necessary (World Bank Strengthening Social Protection Project 2018/19 – 2020/21: approx. RWF 86 Bn; DFID Strengthening Social Protection for the Poorest in Rwanda II (under preparation) 2019/20 – 2023/24: approx. RWF64 Bn)  In the event that development partner grants and loans do not continue beyond those already agreed, the core parts of this plan are affordable within the existing domestic funding formula for social protection. In fact, as a percentage of total projected domestic revenues, social protection expenditures are expected to fall slightly by 2024 compared to the baseline year of 2016/17. 68