National Social Protection Strategy

Ministry of Local Government

January 2011
0. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

0.1. Introduction

In recent years Rwanda has managed to achieve a good level of economic growth.
However there is still much to be done if the government‟s aspirations for poverty
reduction are to be achieved. In 2006, almost 57 percent of the population still lived
in poverty, while levels of inequality were on the rise1. A number of categories of the
population are particularly vulnerable to poverty including older people, those living
with disabilities, young children, female-headed households, genocide survivors and
the historically marginalised. Young people are a group that also need support, given
the difficulties many have in finding jobs due to low skill levels.

The Strategy defines social protection across two main dimensions:

 As a Social Protection Sector, which essentially comprises the system of regular

and predicable cash transfers that will provide income support to those living
in poverty and vulnerable to falling into poverty;
 As a means of ensuring access to other public services – such as health and
education – by enabling poor households to overcome the financial barriers that
they may face.

In addition the Strategy sets out a number of social development initiatives and
complementary activities to social protection focused on helping poor households
graduate out of poverty.

The Social Protection Strategy will play an important role in enabling the government
to tackle poverty and inequality across Rwanda. It complements other sector
strategies already in place, and is focused on enabling Rwanda to achieve its
commitments as set out in the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction
Strategy (EDPRS). This Strategy focuses mainly on programmes delivered by
MINALOC; social protection programmes provided by other sectors – such as free
education, the mutuelle de santé community health insurance and subsidised
fertiliser inputs – are set out in the strategies of those sectors, but summarized in this
Strategy.

0.2. Mission of the sector

The mission of the social protection sector is:

Ensuring that all poor and vulnerable people are guaranteed a minimum income and
access to core public services, those who can work are provided with the means of
escaping poverty, and that increasing numbers of people are able to access risk
sharing mechanisms that protect them from crisis and shocks.

1
Enquête Intégrale sur les Conditions de Vie-2 (EICV-2)

2
The long-term vision for social protection in Rwanda is, in the next ten years, to
build a system that comprises two guiding elements:

a) A social protection floor for the most vulnerable households and individuals,
comprising:
a. Cash transfers, providing a minimum income and livelihood security, and
b. Continuing extension of access to core essential services for poor and
vulnerable households, in particular health, education, shelter and water
and sanitation;
b) Increased participation of the informal sector in the contributory social
security system, with more people enjoying the benefits of labour legislation.

Alongside these core elements will be social development initiatives and

complementary activities to help the poor graduate out of poverty.

Underpinning Rwanda‟s vision for social protection system are three important
principles; that it be protective (providing essential support to those living in
poverty), preventative (providing a safety-net to those in danger of falling into
poverty) and promotive (supporting people to pull themselves out of poverty and
graduate from the need for social protection). The integration of these aspects is
critical to the success of the Strategy.

0.3. Objectives of the Strategy

The Global Objective of the social protection sector is to: build a social protection
system that tackles poverty and inequality, enables the poor to move out of poverty,
helps reduce vulnerability and protect people from shocks, helps improve health and
education among all Rwandans, and contributes to economic growth.

The Social Protection Sector will support the EDPRS objectives and 7 year plan by:

 Helping increase economic growth through encouraging and enabling poor and
vulnerable households to invest in more productive activities, stimulating
consumption and market activity, and extending the reach of the country‟s
financial system;
 Contributing to slowing down population growth through greater household
income security, thereby reducing the imperative for young parents to invest in
large numbers of children as a means of enhancing their own security in old age;
 Directly tackling extreme poverty by providing cash transfers to poor
households with limited labour capacity while also supporting the economic
empowerment of those who can become more self-sufficient and graduate out of
poverty, and by contributing to improved access to health and education services
and improved nutrition;
 Providing greater efficiency in poverty reduction through the development of a
comprehensive electronic management information system (MIS), efficient
delivery of cash benefits, and strengthening co-ordination in the delivery of social
protection across government and civil society.

3
The focus of the Strategy in the next five years (2011-2016) will be to: a) harmonize
and coordinate different interventions to respond to the needs of the poor and
vulnerable; b) build on and extend existing cash transfer programmes, b) extend
access to public services to the poorest households; c) begin to extend contributory
social security mechanisms; d) deliver complementary programmes to assist
households to graduate; e) build leadership and capacity across government on
social protection and strengthen the alignment of non-governmental actors with
national priorities, and f) strengthen systems and structures for delivery of social
protection.

0.4. Programmes

0.4.1. Build a comprehensive system of cash transfers

The Strategy will build on, integrate and extend the cash programmes that are
currently part of the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP), Genocide Survivors
Support and Assistance Fund (FARG) and Rwanda Demobilisation and
Reintegration Commission (RDRC): the VUP Direct Support and Public Works
programmes, the FARG emergency assistance and the subsistence allowances for
disabled ex-combatants. These will enable the government to take the first steps in
establishing a comprehensive Social Protection Floor.

VUP Direct Support Programme

We will continue with the VUP Direct Support programme, providing a grant to
extremely poor households with no adult labour capacity in line with guidelines under
the VUP direct support manual of procedures. The grant will provide an important
safety net for those who temporarily fall into crisis – for example, as a result of a
long-term illness – while also reaching some of the poorest and most vulnerable
households with more long-term support. The programme will be scaled up at a
faster rate, to ensure timely coverage of all the eligible beneficiaries, reaching
national coverage within the next 5 years. The Direct Support programme will benefit
approximately 345,000 people living in 5% of households across Rwanda. It will
have a significant impact on extreme poverty.

Grants for other vulnerable groups

During the lifetime of the Strategy, we will assess the continued relevance,
complementarities and synergies, as well as duplications in existing categorical
programmes like the FARG, RDRC, Child and Refugees Support Programmes, and
how the different programmes can be implemented in a more harmonised and
coordinated way. Where possible, support for specific vulnerable groups will be
integrated into the VUP Direct Support, and funding streams harmonised. We will
also conduct feasibility studies on the viability of implementing old age, disability and
child grants. Nonetheless, older people, children and people with disabilities will be
key beneficiaries of the Direct Support programme where they are members of those
households receiving grants.

4
VUP Public Works Programme

The VUP Public Works Programme will be extended nationally in line with the
programme scale up plan and lessons learned, and will gradually provide, over the
next 5 years, the different types of support outlined below.
 An initial “booster” along the lines of the current programme. Participating
households will receive, where feasible, at least 100 days employment in one
year, at up to market rates, with the expectation that they will use this income to
invest in productive activities to try and graduate from poverty. The programme
will aim to ensure that at least 10 percent of households access the “booster”
programme in any one year and, after three years – on average – in a sector, all
eligible households will have participated for one year.
 Skills development strategy: the VUP programme will develop a strategy to
ensure that structured skills development is incorporated into the Public Works
programme, with a particular focus on the youth, and will monitor its impact.
Support to infrastructure development: VUP staff will take on the role of
mobilising the VUP work-force to participate in infrastructure projects, as
appropriate. These are likely to be projects that require large numbers of
unskilled workers, such as terracing.
 Options for better implementation of the public works component will be
explored based on lessons learned. Among others, by 2012, a feasibility study
will be conducted for establishing an employment guarantee scheme and
modalities for doing so.

0.4.2. Social protection programmes implemented by other sectors

Social protection also takes place across a range of other sectors, in which its focus
is on ensuring that poor people can overcome financial barriers to accessing public
services. The Strategy sets out the government‟s key social protection commitments
in the areas of health, education, agriculture, youth and disaster management.
These include mutuelle de santé, free basic education and girinka, the one cow one
family programme.

0.4.3. Extension of contributory social security and labour standards

The main focus of this strategy is on reaching the poorest and most vulnerable.
However, we also recognise that social protection is broader than this and that it is
important to ensure that the benefits of labour standards and contributory social
insurance schemes are extended to as many people as possible. Therefore, during
the period of the Strategy, we will focus on two main areas: a) extending the benefits
of the Social Security Fund for Rwanda (SSFR) to the informal and agricultural
sectors; and b) ensuring that labour standards are strengthened and begin to extend
to the informal and agricultural sectors.

0.4.4. Social development initiatives to support social protection

A range of social development initiatives to support social protection will be taken

forward by the Ministry in charge of Social Welfare, other ministries and institutions
in the social protection sector. These will focus on helping poor households move out
of poverty while also building community cohesion.

5
The programmes to be prioritised by MINALOC are the VUP Financial Services
programme, support for income generation programmes among genocide survivors,
and the continuation of the Ubudehe priority community interventions programme.
These programmes are part of and contribute to broader national initiatives across
government and the private sector, focused on strengthening cooperatives, Savings
and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) and increasing access to financial services and
income generating opportunities.

0.4.5. Complementary services to social protection

A range of complementary activities to strengthen the impact of social protection will

be taken forward, focusing on the roles of households, communities and culture in
building community participation and cohesion and helping poor households
graduate out of poverty. Community mobilisation on cross-cutting issues and
government strategies that impact on livelihoods (for example on gender, primary
health care, human rights, nutrition, the environment, savings and cooperatives) are
key complementary activities.

Coordination and linkages with skills development and vocational training activities
carried out by other ministries and institutions, particularly for the youth, will further
enhance cohesion of society and the ability of households to generate income,
construct shelters and graduate from social protection programmes. Local
mechanisms that will be used to strengthen community mobilisation, coping
mechanisms and social cohesion include: Umuganda, Kuremera abacu, Ingobyi
y‟abarwayi, Kuragizanya, Kugabirana, Itorero, Kuzitura and Igikumba Rusange.

0.4.6 Risk mitigation and responsiveness to shocks

Shocks and disasters impact poor households most negatively. It is crucial therefore
to minimise the impact of shocks so that they do not undermine poverty reduction
efforts of social protection programmes. This can be done by complementing and
strengthening social protection with risk mitigation and rapid response systems. Core
elements of effective risk management are effective early warning, contingency
plans and financing and adequate institutional arrangements and capacity to be able
to respond. Within the social protection sector, there is potential to utilise timely early
warning information and for existing programmes to be refined in order to be able to
scale up to meet transitory needs in response to shocks.

In order to better coordinate and help strengthen the effectiveness of early warning,
risk mitigation and response systems in Rwanda, the government will establish a
technical working group. This group will seek to better coordinate and enhance the
effectiveness of the range of stakeholders involved in early warning, risk mitigation,
climate adaptation and disaster management.

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0.5. Implementation and Monitoring of the Strategy

0.5.1 Strengthen social protection structures and coordination

To ensure the effective implementation of the Strategy, a range of structures will be

built or strengthened. These will put in place strengthened systems of leadership,
co-ordination, implementation as well as building capacity at all levels, to take
forward this important agenda. A detailed implementation plan will be developed,
once this Strategy is approved. Implementation of the Strategy will be led by the
Ministry in charge of social protection, in close collaboration with other Ministries,
local government, para-statals, development partners and civil society.

0.5.2 Strengthen social protection systems

Over the next five years, a key focus of our engagement on social protection will be
to strengthen implementation systems, so that programmes become more efficient
and effective. We will focus on two key areas:

 Building a nationwide electronic Management Information System in which

beneficiaries of all social protection programmes are registered and
monitored; and,
 Assess advanced means of electronic payments of cash to social protection
beneficiaries that enhance financial security and increase the accessibility of
financial services – provided by the banking sector – to vulnerable households
in even remote communities.

0.5.3 Monitoring and Evaluation

Once the electronic MIS is established, we will be able to undertake effective

monitoring of all social protection programmes. We will also undertake a major
impact evaluation of our cash transfer programmes, using both quantitative and
qualitative methods. We need to ensure that we learn lessons from the
implementation and evaluation of social protection programmes and incorporate this
learning into our future policy development and improvements to programmes. A
communications strategy will be developed to ensure that progress in implementing
this Strategy is well-communicated across government and to citizens.

0.6. Budget and Funding Arrangements

The proposed annual costs of the Strategy are shown in Table 2. The indicative cost
of the Strategy, if implemented in the next fiscal year, is RwF59.8 billion in 2011/12,
rising to RwF94.5 billion in 2015/16.

It is our intention to develop a sector-wide funding mechanism for social protection.

Currently, development partners fund specific social protection programmes, in
particular the VUP. However, the development of a sector-wide funding mechanism
will allow development partners to contribute to the sector as a whole, rather than
specific projects. This will ensure that funding is aligned to government priorities and
will also enable development partners to engage over the whole sector.

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CONTENTS

0. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................... 2

0.1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 2
0.2. MISSION OF THE SECTOR .......................................................................................... 2
0.3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY ................................................................................ 3
0.4. PROGRAMMES ......................................................................................................... 4
0.5. IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING OF THE STRATEGY ............................................. 7
0.6. BUDGET AND FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS ................................................................... 7

1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 10
1.1. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT ................................................................................. 10
1.2. POVERTY, VULNERABILITY AND INEQUALITY IN RWANDA .......................................... 11
1.3. RATIONALE FOR INVESTING IN SOCIAL PROTECTION ................................................. 13
1.4. INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH SOCIAL PROTECTION .......................................... 15
1.4.1. IMPACTS ON POVERTY AND NUTRITION ................................................................................................... 15
1.4.2. IMPACTS ON HEALTH AND EDUCATION .................................................................................................... 16
1.4.3. IMPACTS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH ............................................................................................................. 17

2. OVERVIEW OF THE SECTOR ............................................................................... 18

2.1. INSTITUTIONAL OVERVIEW OF THE SECTOR .............................................................. 18
2.2. REVIEW OF THE SECTOR ......................................................................................... 20
2.3. SECTOR CHALLENGES AND LESSONS LEARNED ....................................................... 21
2.4. POLICY COMMITMENTS ........................................................................................... 24
2.4.1. INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS .............................................................................................................. 24
2.4.2. REGIONAL COMMITMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 25
2.4.3. NATIONAL COMMITMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 25

3. THE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK .......................................................................... 27

3.1. UNDERSTANDING OF SOCIAL PROTECTION IN RWANDA ............................................. 27
3.2. MISSION AND OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................... 29
3.2.1. MISSION OF THE SECTOR – OUR LONG-TERM VISION............................................................................. 29
3.2.2. NEW DIRECTIONS FOR THE SECTOR ......................................................................................................... 29
3.2.3. OBJECTIVES OF THE SECTOR ...................................................................................................................... 31
3.3. PROGRAMMES ....................................................................................................... 34
3.3.1. A COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM OF CASH TRANSFER PROGRAMMES ......................................................... 34
3.3.2. SOCIAL PROTECTION PROGRAMMES IMPLEMENTED BY OTHER SECTORS .......................................... 37
3.3.3. EXTENSION OF CONTRIBUTORY SOCIAL SECURITY AND LABOUR STANDARDS .................................. 39
3.3.4. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT SOCIAL PROTECTION ............................................ 40
3.3.5. COMPLEMENTARY SERVICES TO SOCIAL PROTECTION .......................................................................... 41
3.3.6. RISK MITIGATION AND RESPONSIVENESS TO SHOCKS ............................................................................ 42

4. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGY .............................................................. 44

4.1. HIGH-LEVEL LEADERSHIP ON SOCIAL PROTECTION ................................................... 44
4.2. SOCIAL PROTECTION AT DISTRICTS AND SECTORS .................................................. 44
4.3. ROLES OF PARA-STATAL ORGANISATIONS ............................................................... 45
4.4. ENHANCED CO-ORDINATION OF SOCIAL PROTECTION PROGRAMMES ......................... 46
4.5. STRENGTHEN SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS .......................................................... 47
4.6. BUILD CAPACITY ON SOCIAL PROTECTION ACROSS GOVERNMENT ............................. 48
4.7. UNDERTAKE POLICY ANALYSIS ON SOCIAL PROTECTION ........................................... 49

8
5. MONITORING AND EVALUATION ........................................................................ 50
5.1. REGULAR MONITORING .......................................................................................... 50
5.2. MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF THE STRATEGY ......................................................... 55
5.3. IMPACT EVALUATION .............................................................................................. 55
5.4. COMMUNICATIONS ................................................................................................. 56
6.1. SECTOR BUDGET ................................................................................................... 57
6.2. A SECTOR WIDE FUNDING MECHANISM................................................................... 57
ANNEX 1: GOVERNMENT-OWNED SOCIAL PROTECTION PROGRAMMES IN RWANDA FOR SELECTED
PUBLIC SERVICES ......................................................................................................... 60
ANNEX 2: BUILDING A NATIONAL SOCIAL PROTECTION FLOOR: GUIDING PRINCIPLES ........ 61
ANNEX 3: PUBLICATIONS CONSULTED IN ELABORATION OF STRATEGY ............................ 63
ANNEX 4: CONSULTATION RECORD ............................................................................... 67

FIGURES
Figure 1: Poverty levels of households including specific categories of the population,
compared to the poverty level of all households .......................................................... 12
Figure 2: Increase in social protection sector spending 2005-10 ................................. 20
Figure 3: Increase in broad social protection spending across government, 2005-10 .. 21
Figure 4: The link between social security as a public service and social protection as a
cross-cutting principle across public services .............................................................. 28

TABLES
Table 1: Log-frame for the Social Protection Sector ....................................................................... 51
Table 2: Budget for the Social Protection Sector, 2011-16.......................................................... 59
Table 3: Existing building blocks of the future social security floor .......................................... 61

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background and Context

Rwanda is a landlocked country with a population of about 10.1 million (2009)2. It is

situated in central Africa with a land area of 26,338 km². It is one of Africa‟s most
densely populated countries with an average of 373 people per square kilometre3.
The population is composed mainly of young people; in 2005, under 25‟s
represented two thirds of the population.

The Government of Rwanda is committed to eliminating poverty and reducing

inequality. Its five-year aims were set out in the Economic Development and Poverty
Reduction Strategy (EDPRS), approved in 2007. In the EDPRS, social protection
was given a prominent role and, in the past three years, the government has taken
major steps towards realising its commitments. The gradual expansion of social
protection across Rwanda – in particular through the Vision 2020 Umurenge
Programme (VUP), a flagship programme of the EDPRS – has already begun to
make significant in-roads into reducing poverty, in particular in the sectors where it
has been implemented. The government‟s economic development strategy will be
key to further reducing poverty and enabling the further expansion of social
protection to those who need it.

As the EDPRS indicates, underlying the challenge of addressing poverty in Rwanda

is continuing rapid population growth, resulting from increasing fertility combined with
declining infant mortality. The total fertility rate rose from 5.8 children per woman in
2000 to 6.1 children by 2005. This has led to a population growth rate that is one of
the highest in Africa, at around 2.7 percent per year.

This National Social Protection Strategy sets out in detail the government‟s vision
and commitments within the sector. It will describe how the government plans to
build on commitments already made in the EDPRS and will demonstrate how our
vision continues to grow. We will take significant steps to broaden the coverage of
social protection to those in need of support from government. At the same time, we
will prioritise enabling households to become self-sufficient and graduate from social
protection: key to this will be the broadening and strengthening of the VUP Public
Works programme as well as measures to establish complementary social
development programmes to social protection, such as increasing the access of poor
people to financial services.

By the end of the Strategy, we expect to have taken significant steps to transforming
the lives of poor and vulnerable Rwandans.

2 National Institute of Statistics Year book 2009

3
Source: NISR (Population Projection, 2009)

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1.2. Poverty, vulnerability and inequality in Rwanda

Rwanda has achieved good economic growth during the past decade. Between
2004 and 2008, average annual real GDP growth was 8.6 percent, exceeding the
EDPRS target of 7 percent. However alongside this impressive growth, Rwanda has
made only modest progress in reducing poverty. 4 Poverty rates reduced from 60.4
percent in 2000 to 56.9 percent in 2006, a rate of reduction that is insufficient to meet
either the targets set in Vision 2020 or the Millennium Development Goals.5
Furthermore, 36.9 percent of the population in 2006 lived in extreme poverty. Also of
concern, due predominantly to population growth, the absolute number of poor
people grew from 4.8 million in 2001 to 5.4 million in 2006.

The challenge of high poverty levels is exacerbated by rising and high levels of
inequality. Inequality as measured by the Gini co-efficient rose from 0.47 in 2000 to
0.51 in 2006.6 To put this in perspective, a Gini co-efficient of 0.40 is regarded as
high inequality: when China reached this in 2000, it rapidly changed its policy from
one focused only on economic growth to “growth with equity.” In the East African
community, only Kenya has a higher level of inequality. A key challenge with high
and rising inequality is that not only does it reduce economic growth it also reduces
the impact that economic growth has on poverty reduction. It is likely to lead to a
reduction in social cohesion.

Poverty in Rwanda is concentrated among certain groups. In the initial Ubudehe

survey of the mid-2000s, communities ranked the poorest and most vulnerable
categories of the population as “widows, landless, sick, the elderly and child-headed
households.”7 These views are backed up by statistical evidence, with Rwanda
having a range of priority vulnerable categories of the population, as set out below.

Households with older people aged above 65 years are one of the poorest groups
in the country. They have a poverty rate 5.7 percent higher than the national average
(see Figure 1).8 Indeed, 79.1 percent of these households could be regarded as poor
or vulnerable to falling into poverty.9

There are currently an estimated 328,000 people over 65 years of age, but only
24,300 (7.4 percent10) have access to a pension from the Social Security Fund for
Rwanda (SSFR). Older people suffer from increasing social exclusion and many
have to take care of orphans and children of migrants at a time in their lives when
they would be expected to be taken care of themselves. These households – and
their children – are particularly vulnerable in the absence of assistance from
government.

4
EDPRS (2007:12f)
5
EDPRS (2007:13)
6
EDPRS (2007:15)
7
EDPRS (2007:13)
8
Source: analysis by Prof. Nanak Kakwani, using EICV-2 data. We are grateful to the World Bank for facilitating
this research.
9
To identify those that are prone to falling into poverty, we have estimated a “vulnerability line” which is the
equivalent of twice the extreme poverty line. In reality, poverty figures disguise much of the truth about poverty as
they give only a snapshot at a particular time. For example, while 56.9 percent of the population are regarded as
poor, over a five year period a much larger proportion of households will spend at least one year in poverty.
Household survey data cannot demonstrate this so a “vulnerability line” is a useful proxy.
10
Source: SSFR (2008)

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Figure 1: Poverty levels of households including specific categories of the
population, compared to the poverty level of all households11

People living with disabilities: Households with a disabled member have a poverty
level 1.7 percent above the national average (see Figure 1) and 76.6 percent are
either poor or vulnerable to living in poverty. The need to care for disabled people
means that some households cannot work as much as they otherwise could while
many disabled people are inhibited from working themselves because they are too
poor and cannot meet the additional costs they face when accessing work. People
who are both old and disabled experience double vulnerability. Those who are
chronically ill are also very vulnerable to living in poverty: 22 percent of food insecure
households have a chronically ill member.

Children: Poverty levels of households with children under-12 are 1 percent above
the national average (see Figure 1). Recent data has indicated that 52 percent of
young children are stunted which will, of course, set them back significantly in life, an
increase from 43 percent in 2000.12 Of particular concern are children living in
households with older people as these have one of the highest poverty rates in the
country, at 7 percent above the national poverty rate (see Figure 1). 13 There is still a
low completion rate of basic education – at 52.5 percent – and it is likely that poverty
is a significant cause.14

Female-headed households: Have a poverty rate that is 4.4 percentage points

above the poverty rate for all households (see Figure 1). They represent around 43
percent of all households.15 The 2009 Comprehensive Food Security and
Vulnerability Analysis and Nutrition Survey found that female headed households are
more likely to have poor food consumption. In 2006, 37 percent of households
headed by widows were food insecure compared to only 25 percent for male-headed

11
Analysis based on EICV-2 data
12
Source: CFSVA and Nutrition Survey (2009:71)
13
Source: World Bank analysis of EICV-2 data
14
Source: Ministry of Education (2009)
15
EDPRS (2007:17)

12
households. Poverty increases with age, with single women over-60 years of age
significantly poorer than younger single women.

Youth: Many Rwandan young people have had very difficult backgrounds, often
growing up without parents as a result of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.
Indeed, there is a poverty rate of 69.5% among youth, and 54.5% are living in
absolute poverty, while 15% are relatively poor. Poverty in childhood has meant that
many have suffered nutritionally and do not have sufficient education and skills to
find employment. Some young people continue to face psycho-social challenges as
a result of the traumas they have experienced. Without jobs or opportunities to earn
for themselves, these young people face a difficult future. They are a group that
needs particular attention, as recognised by the recent creation of the Ministry for
Youth.

Certain other groups are particularly vulnerable within the context of Rwanda. The
government is committed to supporting needy genocide survivors, and has a
range of programmes in place to support the most vulnerable among them.
Nonetheless, the most vulnerable genocide survivors tend to fit into the vulnerable
demographic categories outlined above (such as older people, children, single
females, etc). Historically marginalised people – who number around 25-30,000 in
total16 – are believed to experience higher levels of poverty and worse social
indicators than the general population, although little objective data is available.

Poverty in Rwanda is concentrated in rural areas. In 2006, poverty levels in rural

areas were 62.5 percent compared to 41.5 percent for urban areas. 17 Around 80
percent of adults have agriculture as their main occupation. Indeed, among those
whose main source of income is agricultural wage labour, poverty levels are 91
percent. To a large extent, rural poverty is due to a lack of land. The EICV-2 has
demonstrated that almost 30 percent of households have less than 0.2 hectares of
land, yet the minimum farm size needed to feed a household in Rwanda is estimated
at 0.7 hectares. But, it is important to recognise that poverty continues to impact on
over 40 percent of households in urban areas and must not be ignored.

1.3. Rationale for investing in social protection

Investing in social protection will enable the government to address a range of

challenges. By doing so, it can continue to convert its strong economic growth
achievements into programmes that benefit poor households and enable the country
to tackle high inequality. We expect to see positive impacts in the areas of broad
economic growth, reduction in poverty and inequality, and improvements in human
development outcomes in poor households.

Social protection is a key component of economic growth. A significant challenge

faced by many prospective small businesses in Rwanda – in particular those run by
young people – is a lack of market demand for goods and services, to a large extent
due to the poverty and limited purchasing power experienced by a large proportion of
the population. Injecting significant amounts of cash into the economy through cash

16
MINALOC (2009)
17
EDPRS (2007:13)

13
transfer programmes will provide a major economic stimulus. It will increase
consumption and, therefore, the demand for goods and services, particularly those
produced locally. Young people, for example, should benefit from the extension of
cash transfer programmes and coverage to areas where they have not reached as
many will find a market for their small businesses.

A key priority for government is to enable households with sufficient labour capacity
to graduate off social protection programmes, since we do not want to create
dependency when it is not needed. We believe that social protection programmes
will give poor people the confidence – and the cash – to invest in productive activities
and build assets. People will be encouraged to invest in higher risk but higher return
activities, knowing that, if they fail, there is a safety net to support them. Putting in
place essential and important complements to social protection – such as financial
services and productive asset transfers – will help facilitate the graduation of many
people from social protection programmes. By investing in their own productive
activities – with the assistance of small loans – households will be able to become
increasingly self-sufficient and not need to fall back on social protection. However,
we do recognise that programmes alone are insufficient; we need the community
support to ensure that social protection programmes are effective in reducing
household poverty. Community led initiatives and community participation will be
supported. We will also strengthen linkages with skills development and
vocational training activities in other sectors so that a strong healthy environment is
created, to further enhance the ability of households to generate income and
graduate from social protection programmes.

Social protection will also impact directly on poverty and nutrition. It will increase
incomes among poor and vulnerable households and enable them to purchase a
wider and more nutritious range of food. Among the very poorest households – in
particular those with little labour capacity – social protection will significantly increase
their incomes and enable them to care for their children. We will ensure that those
who really need long-term support – such as older people and people with
disabilities – will be able to receive it.

Cash-based social protection programmes will also help improve the human
development of poor households, in particular among children, especially when
complemented by broader social protection programmes that remove or reduce the
financial barriers that limit the ability of poor households to access public services
such as health and education (such as free basic education, health insurance, etc).
Even with the actions taken by government to increase access to public services,
some private financial costs still remain. The provision of cash-based social
protection programmes will be an important means of ensuring that the poorest and
most vulnerable households can overcome these costs. Furthermore, providing
additional income to poor households will mean that children will develop better and
perform better at school, while improved nutrition will underpin better health.

A critical benefit from rising investment in social protection will be an increase in the
government‟s ability to tackle inequality. By ensuring an increase in income and
access to services for poor and vulnerable households, we should begin to see a
reduction in inequality. By establishing programmes that are accessible to all, we
will strengthen the social contract between government and citizens: receiving

14
benefits from social protection programmes will be clear evidence to everyone –
even the most marginalised – that the government has their best interests at heart,
and is striving to support them as best it can, within the fiscal realities of the country.
A reduction in inequality should also be associated with an increase in social
cohesion, as people gain evidence that the government‟s role is to protect and
support all citizens, whenever they are in need.

We recognise that providing income transfers alone are not sufficient to achieve
outcomes in poverty, nutrition, health and education, although they are essential.
Building a broad range of social protection benefits – that increase incomes while
also expanding access to essential public services – will be absolutely critical in
improving the well-being of citizens in all areas of their lives. It will complement and
strengthen our commitment to enhance the ability of poor people to participate in
economic activities, while building on our existing commitments to eliminate
discrimination and progressively extend the full enjoyment of human rights to all.

1.4. International experience with social protection

Our increasing commitment to social protection is based on strong international

evidence that investing in the sector can have significant impacts on the well-being
of poor people.

Across Africa, there is a range of social protection cash transfer programmes. Most
are found in southern Africa. There are a number of national and pilot programmes
which are similar to Rwanda‟s Direct Support programme, such as in Burkina Faso,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia. In addition, a number of countries
have public works programmes, the largest being in Ethiopia. The most common
national programmes in Africa are old age grants (found in Botswana, Lesotho,
Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, and being trialled in Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia). Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa have also
introduced child grants and disability benefits.

1.4.1. Impacts on poverty and nutrition

National social protection programmes in southern Africa have had a significant

impact in reducing the poverty gap; for example, in South Africa, cash transfers have
reduced the poverty gap by 48 percent.18 In Mauritius, households with both
children and older people have had their poverty rates reduced from 30 percent to
only 6 percent as a result of the old age grant.19 Across Africa, cash transfers have
impacted on food consumption. In Lesotho, the old age grant has resulted in an
increase in the number of older people reporting that they never go hungry from 19
percent to 48 percent.20 In Malawi, 93 percent of beneficiaries of the Mchinji cash
transfer programme report that their food consumption had improved in a period of
six months, compared to only 10 percent in a control group.21 In Zambia, in the

18
Samson et al. (2004)
19
Kaniki (2007)
20
Croome and Nyanguru (2007)
21
Miller at al. (2008)

15
Kalomo cash transfer programme, there has been a 12 percent increase in
households consuming proteins while 35 percent more consume oil on a daily
basis.22 And, in the Ethiopia Productive Safety Nets public works programme, 75
percent of beneficiaries consumed a higher quantity and quality of food compared to
the previous year.23

Lower poverty and improved diets have led to improvements in nutrition. In South
Africa, children who live with recipients of the old age grant are up to 3.5 centimetres
taller than children who do not,24 demonstrating that grandparents use their cash to
care for children. Indeed, in Namibia, older people spend around 70 percent of their
income from the old age grant on others, mainly children. 25 Similar, though slightly
lower, impacts on nutrition have resulted from the South Africa Child Support
Grant.26

1.4.2. Impacts on health and education

Investing in health and education services and reducing their cost is clearly
essential, but it is not sufficient if countries want to maximise impacts on health and
education outcomes. It is also important to directly tackle poverty.

Cash transfer programmes across Africa have made significant impacts on school
enrolment and attendance. For example, Zambia‟s Kalomo pilot programme –
which mainly benefits households headed by older people – has resulted in a 16
percent increase in attendance.27 In Lesotho, recipients of the old age grant spend a
significant proportion of their grant on uniforms, books and stationary for their
grandchildren. And, in Malawi‟s Mchinji programme, 150 percent more children in
beneficiary households were newly enrolled in school, compared to children in a
control group.28

It is also evident across Africa that recipients of social protection cash transfer
programmes spend their money on accessing health services for themselves and
their households. In Malawi, 81 percent of beneficiary households have reported
improved health as a result of the Mchinji programme cash grant, compared to only
14 percent in a control group.29 In Namibia, 15 percent of the cash from the old age
grant is spent on health care, including for children.30 And in Zambia, the incidence
of illness among beneficiaries of the Kalomo cash transfer programme reduced from
43 percent to 35 percent.

22
MCDSS/GTZ (2007)
23
Devereux et al. (2007), in Samson et al. (2007)
24
Case (2001)
25
Devereux (2001)
26
Aguero, Goddard and Woolard (2006)
27
MCDSS/GTZ (2005)
28
Miller et al. (2008)
29
Miller et al. (2008)
30
Devereux (2001)

16
1.4.3. Impacts on economic growth

There is increasingly evidence from within Africa on the impact that social protection
cash transfer programmes can have on local economic growth, both by
supporting investments by beneficiaries and stimulating markets. In Rwanda
itself the VUP programme has demonstrated that recipients of cash transfer
programmes invest in productive assets, including livestock and farms.31

In Zambia, beneficiary households of the Kalomo cash transfer programme have

increased their ownership of goats from 8.5 percent to 42 percent. There has also
been a four-fold increase in investment activity and a doubling of the amount
invested.32 In Ethiopia, 15 percent of beneficiaries of the Productive Safety Net
Programme have invested in farming and 8 percent have purchased livestock.33

Impacts from injecting cash into the economy have also been noticed. A recent study
in Malawi demonstrates how local businesses have been significantly strengthened
by the increased flow of cash in the economy. 34 There have been similar findings in
Namibia where many shops in remote areas only exist because of the old age
grant.35 All these results chime with research carried out in Mexico which has
indicated significant increases in assets among non-beneficiaries in communities
where significant numbers of households were beneficiaries of the Progresa cash
transfer programme.36 Furthermore, in India, the Maharashtra Employment
Guarantee Scheme has encouraged farmers to invest in riskier higher yield crops. 37

31
Devereux and Ndejuru (2009)
32
Schuering (2008)
33
Devereux et al. (2006)
34
See: http://sph.bu.edu/insider/index.php/Recent-News/cash-payments-to-poor-not-only-help-families-but-
boost-local-economy-study-finds-video.html
35
Devereux (2001)
36
Barrientos and Sabates-Wheeler (2009)
37
Devereux (2002)

17
2. OVERVIEW OF THE SECTOR

This section will begin with a review of the sector over the past five years, looking at
both the institutions charged with taking forward social protection as well as progress
by programmes, challenges and lessons learned. It will also set out the policy
commitments that underpin this Strategy.

2.1. Institutional overview of the sector

A wide range of institutions – both governmental and non-governmental – are active

in broader social protection. MINALOC has the overall policy lead on social
protection. It heads a cross-governmental Social Protection Working Group, which
includes representatives from Ministries working on social protection, key para-
statals, development partners and NGOs. The responsibilities of the Social
Protection Working Group are to provide co-ordination on social protection across
government, oversee the development and implementation of the Social Protection
Strategy, and report to central government on progress.

MINALOC is also directly responsible for a number of key social protection

programmes. These include:

 The Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP) is a flagship programme of

the EDPRS. It commenced in 2008 and comprises three components: Direct
Support which gives cash grants to extremely poor households without labour
capacity; Public Works which provides community work opportunities for
extremely poor households with labour capacity; and Financial Services that
acts as a complementary service to social protection and provides investment
loans to poor households. Funding for the programme is currently shared
between government and development partners. It works at a pilot scale,
currently reaching 90 sectors.
 The Genocide Survivors Support and Assistance Fund (FARG) is a para-
statal organisation that provides vulnerable genocide survivors with support in
of education, health, shelter, social assistance and income generation. The
social assistance cash transfer payments provide people with RwF5,000 per
month; the education scholarships and support for mutuelle de santé
payments enable people to access other public services; and the income
generating projects.
 The Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission (RDRC)
which provides support for demobilized ex- combatants and disabled soldiers.
 Funding to Districts to ensure that they can provide a broad range of
services to vulnerable groups.

In addition, MINALOC oversees a number of additional social development initiatives

to social protection. These include:

 Ubudehe programme which, among other things, has financially assisted

poor households to invest in income generating projects, and enabled
communities across the country to undertake priority projects.

18
  Income generating and other activities supported especially for the most
vulnerable people such as the historically marginalized groups and women
headed households, so that they can be able to support themselves and also
instilling in them the culture of helping themselves to do self help projects so
that they can graduate from support and be able to sustain themselves
economically.

A number of other Ministries have significant social protection programmes. For

example:

 The Ministry of Finance oversees the Social Security Fund of Rwanda, a

mandatory defined benefit fund that was founded in 1962. It provides old age,
disability and survivors’ pensions to members, among other services The
SSFR is a semi-autonomous para-statal organisation which, in 2007, had
216,000 active contributors and provided pensions to 24,200 people. 38
 The Ministry of Health in 1999 introduced a community-based health
insurance (CBHI) scheme called the Mutuelle de Santé. CBHI is regulated
under law no. 62/2007 which also stipulates that membership in at least one
health insurance is mandatory for every Rwandan. The CBHI membership fee
is an annual contribution. It provides access to a complete minimum package
of medical services at the health centre and the complete complementary
package at district and referral hospitals. The main funding of the health sector
– which plays a key role in enabling people to access health services – is from
general government revenues, including support from development partners.
 The Ministry of Education‟s main social protection programme is the provision
of free basic education to all Rwandans. This is serviced through a capitation
grant to government and subsidised schools. In addition, the Ministry provides
bursaries to select secondary school scholars, while school feeding is offered
in around 300 schools, with support from development partners.
 The Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion is mandated to coordinate the
formulation and implementation of national policies, strategies and
programmes regarding the promotion of gender, family and children‟s rights.
Under its policy and strategic plan of action for Orphans and Vulnerable
Children, it provides and coordinates all support to orphans and other
vulnerable children with emphasis on the Most Vulnerable through a
minimum package of services which comprises health, nutrition, education,
shelter, protection and psycho social support.
 The Ministry of Agriculture 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 families with more than 0.7 hectares
are provided with a cow; a programme providing small animals (goats and
rabbits) to poor households with little land; and fertilizer subsidies and
seeds. The Ministry of Agriculture also has a major public works programme
to tackle erosion, but this is not provided with social protection objectives.
 The Ministry of Trade and Commerce oversees Microfinance institutions which
are established in the sectors (Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOS))
in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning
(MINECOFIN) and MINALOC. These will help all members of society learn the

38
The Source of information for data in this section is the 2007 report of the SSFR.

19
 culture of saving and also to access loans that will support them to venture
into entrepreneurship opportunities.

Within Rwanda‟s decentralised governance structure, District and Sector authorities

have key responsibilities for the delivery of social protection programmes. For
instance, the VUP is implemented at Sector level with oversight provided by the
District authority, which is responsible for reporting to MINALOC. Districts are also
responsible for ensuring that budgets are accessed from central government – and
from organisations such as FARG – to provide Sectors with the resources they
require.

Furthermore, a range of development partners and civil non-governmental actors are

active in social protection. Some provide direct assistance and financial support to
the core social protection sector, while others work across other sectors.

2.2. Review of the sector

Over the past five years, social protection has expanded significantly in Rwanda and
the range of social protection programmes across government are set out in Annex
1. These programmes are delivered through three distinct funding mechanisms:

 Programmes funded from government revenue often referred to as social

assistance.
 Programmes funded by contributions, often known as social insurance
programmes. These involve some form of risk-sharing between
members/contributors of the social insurance schemes.39
 Employer-funded programmes resulting from labour legislation that
mandates employers to finance social protection programmes (such as
maternity benefits, and health and safety legislation) etc.

Figure 2: Increase in social protection sector spending 2005-1040

39
In reality, many social insurance programmes are, in fact, hybrid programmes since government funding can
be used to subsidise them.
40
The data for this graph is taken from the 2010 Public Expenditure Review for Social Protection.

20
Figure 2 demonstrates, investment in the core social protection sector41 has
increased significantly by the introduction of the innovative VUP Flagship
programme, which provides regular cash transfers and public works wages to
around 20% of households in 60 sectors, making a major difference to their lives.

Yet, investment in non-contributory cash-based social protection is still low by

international standards (although it is probably in line with other Central and East
African countries). The Social Security Fund for Rwanda is an example of a well-
managed contributory pension scheme, being actuarially sound and providing
regular and significant benefits to members.42

Across other sectors, there have also been significant increases in commitments to
social protection. For example, Figure 3 indicates the increase in spending on
broad-based social protection, including in particular health and education.
This represents an increase in real resources for the 2009/2010 budget period of
142% over actual expenditure in 2004, including a 17% real decrease in resources
from development partners and a 250% real increase in government spending.

Figure 3: Increase in broad social protection spending across government, 2005-1043

2.3. Sector challenges and lessons learned

There has been good progress and a strong upward trend in the government‟s
commitment to social protection in recent years. However, there are still many
challenges that need to be addressed.

41
Core social protection sector spending in the Public Expenditure Review (PER) report is for the narrow
definition of social protection – social assistance - which includes MINALOC funding to Districts, Haute Intensité
de Main d‟Oeuvre (HIMO) and VUP.
42
For example, the SSFR – in 2007 – had a net replacement ratio of 76%, which implies that, on average,
pensioners receive 76% of their pre-retirement net earnings.
43
The data for this graph is taken from the 2010 Public Expenditure Review for Social Protection

21
The main challenge, of course, is that coverage is still low. We need to achieve
national coverage of existing programmes, such as the VUP, to achieve the desired
impacts. Furthermore, there are many vulnerable groups in the population which do
not have adequate coverage or support. For example, there is no specific national
programme of support for older people or people with disabilities. Many of the most
vulnerable children are in need of additional assistance, but such coverage has been
beyond the financial means of the country. We recognise that we need to work within
the constraints of available finances, but we are committed to extending coverage to
these groups over the next few years.

We recognise that there are still too many small and overlapping government
social protection programmes and funding lines. Wherever possible, we will
consolidate programmes to create greater efficiency and put resources behind those
major programmes that we believe have the greatest transformational potential. We
will aim to mainstream certain programmes that are directed at particular groups. For
example, support for genocide survivors through FARG will increasingly be provided
through mainstream government programmes, such as the VUP Direct Support
programme.

It is important that we make efforts to further strengthen monitoring of all social

protection programmes. Investing in comprehensive, electronic data-bases will
enable more efficient and effective monitoring of programmes at sector, district and
national levels. The availability of new technologies should enable us to establish
cutting-edge systems.

Similarly, we need to do more to evaluate and learn from our current and
proposed social protection programmes. It will be crucial to invest in
comprehensive evaluations of key programmes that examine both their impact and
their effectiveness. It will also be important for government – including MINALOC –
to have the resources and capacity to undertake key analytical and policy work as
we seek to continually improve the social protection sector and provide a better
service to all citizens.

International experience demonstrates that for programmes to be well-funded and

sustainable in the long-term, they need popular support among citizens, in particular
tax-payers. We need to establish programmes that have strong buy-in across all
sections of the population and ensure that we communicate effectively the benefits
of social protection programmes to citizens.

We now have two years experience of implementing the VUP programme and have
identified a range of lessons that will enable us to improve the programme, and
others like it. These include:

 We recognise that while some households can quickly graduate from

social protection programmes, others will take longer. Indeed, there are
some particularly vulnerable categories of the population – such as older
people and people with disabilities – who will need long-term support. This will
require us to put in place a range of programmes that: a) provide long-term
support for the most vulnerable; b) provide a safety net for the working poor,

22
 should they need it on a temporary basis; and, c) facilitate the graduation of
those who can.
 VUP has demonstrated that we can reach certain categories of the
population without directly targeting them. This is particularly important in
the case of children who must be regarded as members of households, as
well as individuals. Programmes that, for example, increase the incomes of
households as a whole will also, necessarily, benefit children within them.
While programmes such as child grants are desirable in the long-term – once
the government has the financial means to sustain them – we recognise that
we can also reach children effectively by providing financial assistance to their
carers‟ and other household members who have their best interests at heart.
 We have seen that identifying and targeting the poor has both benefits
and challenges. We will, therefore, continually review and improve our
targeting methods while prioritising and ensuring that eligible individuals and
households are included in the programmes. There is strong evidence
internationally that providing benefits to particular categories of the population
– such as older people and people with disabilities – and self-targeting (in
public work programmes) can work effectively. We will review such forms of
targeting as part of the planned Old Age, Disability and Child grant feasibility
studies.
 It is not possible for our programmes to be completely successful in identifying
everyone who is eligible during initial targeting, so it is important that
potential beneficiaries are able to appeal decisions. All our social
protection programmes must have parallel and independent grievance
procedures. We also want to ensure that the general public are able to
provide our programmes with a welcome critique, as part of our drive for
continuing improvement.
 Spending on VUP public works programmes has been slower than
anticipated but we have learned important lessons. We will identify how to
implement more stream-lined measures for contracting and implementing
work, so that the VUP public works programme can achieve its social
protection objectives even more effectively, as well as provide communities
with important infrastructure.
 We have taken important steps to improve the gender sensitivity of the VUP
programme. We can build on this and need to further strengthen gender-
friendly policies across all social protection programmes so that women – in
particular those with young children – can fully benefit from them.
 It has become apparent that not all recipients of cash transfers receive
their benefits in a regular and timely manner. We need to ensure that
systems are strengthened to improve the efficiency of cash transfers, taking
full advantage of new technologies. We also need to build synergies into our
programmes, in particular by ensuring that the provision of cash transfers also
enables financial services to move closer to more remote communities. It is
evident that there is potential to use cash transfers as a form of indirect
subsidy to improve the reach and efficiency of the banking system.

23
2.4. Policy commitments

There are a wide range of laws, conventions and policies that underpin our
commitment to social protection. Key among these is the Constitution and two
articles that are the driving force for our work and long-term vision for social
protection are:

 Article 14: The State shall, within the limits of its capacity, take special
measures for the welfare of the survivors of genocide who were rendered
destitute by the genocide committed in Rwanda from October 1st, 1990 to
December 31st, 1994, the disabled, the indigent and the elderly as well as
other vulnerable groups.
 Article 28: Every child is entitled to special measures of protection by his or
her family, society and the State that are necessary, depending on the status
of the child, under national and international law.

Beneath the Constitution are a range of international, regional and national

commitments made by Rwanda. These are summarized below.

2.4.1. International commitments

Rwanda has ratified a range of 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:

 Article 22: „„Everyone, as a member of society, has a right to social security

and is entitled to realisation through national effort and international co-
operation and in accordance with the organisation and resources of each State,
of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the
free development of his personality.‟‟
 Article 23.3: „„Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable
remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human
dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.‟‟
 Article 25: „„Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the
health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing,
housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to
security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age
or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Motherhood and
childhood are entitled to special care and assistance.‟‟

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 goal for all countries, the ILO has set the provision of “universal
access” to social protection in order that all older people, children and people with
disabilities enjoy income security.

24
2.4.2. Regional commitments

At a regional level, there are key agreements within which we will set our social
protection engagement. For example, Article 18 of the African Charter on Human
and People‟s Rights stipulates that “the aged and the disabled shall also have right
to special measures of protection in keeping with their physical or moral needs.”
Furthermore, the African Union‟s Social Policy Framework – ratified by Rwanda in
2009 – sets out commitments to build social protection systems, ideally based on a
social protection floor that provides benefits to old people, people with disabilities,
children and the unemployed.44 The Social Policy Framework also argues that
comprehensive pension – or old age grant – systems need to be established to help
reduce fertility.

2.4.3. National commitments

At a national level, the Social Protection Strategy is oriented towards supporting the
achievement of the EDPRS and its priorities of: a) economic growth; b) slowing down
population growth; c) tackling extreme poverty; and, d) ensuring greater efficiency in
poverty reduction. The EDPRS states that: “The objective of the Social Protection
Sector is to achieve effective and sustainable social protection for the poor and
vulnerable, to reduce the risks to which households are subject, to mitigate the
potential consequences of those risks, and to help families that experience them to
cope with the consequences.” This Strategy is consistent with and builds on this
objective as well as those of the national Social Protection Policy, which was agreed
in 2005.45 Specific sector targets found in the EDPRS are set out in Box 1. The
EDPRS also established the VUP and this Strategy will set out a vision for
strengthening and building on VUP, in line with the EDPRS‟s overall goals.

44
The recent 2010 Mwanza Declaration on Improvement of Social Protection Benefits for All East Africans calls
for countries to develop national social protection policies that stipulate minimum benefits and the Social
Protection Floor as a guaranteed government programme.
45
The general objective of the Social Protection Policy is “to give orientation to reduce vulnerability in general
and the vulnerability of the poor and marginalised people in particular, and to promote a sustainable economic
and social development centred on good social risk management and good coordination of savings actions and
protection of vulnerable groups.”

25
 Box 1: 2012 Sector Targets for Social Protection, as set out in the EDPRS46

 Social protection coverage is planned to be extended from 12% to 20%, whilst

ensuring that 75% of stakeholders perceive safety nets as successful.
 38% of vulnerable people graduating from livelihoods enhancement schemes
should achieve economic independence.
 The whole target group of employed and self-employed should obtain
coverage by the mutuelle de santé, whilst 15% of the remaining population is
included in other insurance schemes.
 The proportion of districts undertaking social protection capacity building
should rise from 30% to 85%, while the corresponding proportion among
sectors should increase from 20% to 85%.
 All districts should supply evidence of consultation and harmonisation between
social protection providers in their District Development Plans (DDP) by 2012
 55% of sectors should have at least two programmes for vulnerable groups
managed and funded by community-based organisations (CBOs), non-
governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector.
 MIS should regularly be used to support social protection policy making and
implementation in 100% of MINALOC departments, districts and sectors
 90% of civil society organisations should be regularly evaluating their own and
MINALOC‟s social protection activities by 2012.

A further key national policy to be supported by the Strategy is the National Social
Security Policy, approved by Cabinet in 2009, which stipulates that all Rwandans
should have access to pension coverage by 2020. This strategy will help to make
that a reality.

46
EDPRS, p. 42-43

26
3. THE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

This section of the Strategy sets out the understanding of social protection in
Rwanda. It then defines our long-term vision – over the next ten years – followed
by the new directions for the sector, specific objectives and programmes to be
implemented over the next five years.

3.1. Understanding of social protection in Rwanda

The 2005 Social Protection Policy defined social protection, in a broad sense, as: “a
set of public and private initiatives that provide income or consumption transfers to
the poor, protect the vulnerable against livelihood risks and enhance the social
status and rights of the marginalised; with the overall objective of reducing the
overall social and economic vulnerability of the poor, vulnerable and marginalised
groups.”

Within the context of this definition, the Strategy moves our thinking forward by
clearly identifying a specific Social Protection Sector while also recognising the role
of social protection in cutting across other public services. Therefore, social
protection in this Strategy encompasses two essential components:

 The Social Protection Sector: we will build a public service of regular and
predictable cash transfers – some financed by government and some from
contributions – that will provide income support to those living in poverty and
vulnerable to poverty. Examples in the strategy include the Social Security
Fund of Rwanda, Public Works programmes, and regular cash payments to
extremely poor households, genocide survivors and disabled ex-combatants.
 Ensuring access to other public services: social protection can be
understood more broadly as cross-cutting all sectors with the aim of ensuring
that poor people can access public services, such as health and education, in
particular by enabling them to overcome the financial barriers they face.
Examples include free basic education, education scholarships for genocide
survivors and mutuelle de santé health insurance.

The link between the two dimensions of social protection as a) the social protection
sector, which should be regarded as a public service in itself, and b) social protection
as a cross-cutting – and access-enhancing – element of all public services, is
expressed diagrammatically in Figure 4. The columns represent public services while
the arrow indicates the role of social protection in increasing access.47

47
The diagram should be regarded as indicative only. For reasons of space, it does not include other public
services – such as water and sanitation, legal services, etc. – which could also be represented as columns.

27
Figure 4: The link between social security as a public service and social protection
as a cross-cutting principle across public services

In addition, the strategy recognises that social protection, while essential, is not
sufficient in itself to enable poor people to move out of poverty. Social
protection needs to be combined with investments across a range of areas including
improvements in the quality of other public services, activities to enable poor people
to access jobs or undertake investments (including training etc), and commitments to
secure basic rights and entitlements for all citizens and continue to tackle
discrimination. The government also needs to ensure that national policies are
developed and implemented that indicate how specific vulnerable groups – such as
people with disabilities, old people and the historically marginalised – will be
supported across all public services.

Much of this is, of course, much broader than social protection and, consequently, is
not dealt with within the Social Protection Strategy. Other strategies and policies
across government deal with many elements of these wider social policy and social
development commitments. Nonetheless, this Strategy will indicate how we will put
in place a number of additional social development initiatives and
complementary services to social protection. While not social protection in
themselves, these social development activities and complementary services should
be regarded as providing essential additional support to those in need, enabling
households to invest in their own futures, become increasingly productive and self-
sufficient. Examples in the Strategy include the Ubudehe community priority projects
and the VUP Financial Services programme.

These different elements are in line with Rwanda‟s vision for social protection which
incorporates three important principles. Social protection is protective in that it
provides essential support to those living in poverty, protecting them from the worst
consequences of that poverty. It is also preventive in that it puts in place a safety
net that can be activated to catch people in danger of falling into poverty, for
example as a result of falling ill. And, it is promotive in that it supports poor people‟s
investment so that they can pull themselves out of poverty and graduate from the
need to receive social protection. The integration of the protective, preventive and
promotive aspects of social protection will be critical to the success of the Strategy.

28
3.2. Mission and objectives

3.2.1. Mission of the sector – our long-term vision

The mission of the sector is oriented towards a long-term vision for social protection
in Rwanda, with a perspective of ten years.

Vision:

By 2020, Rwanda will have established a social protection system that complements
and contributes to economic growth.

Mission:

Ensuring that all poor and vulnerable people are guaranteed a minimum
income and access to core essential services, that those who can work are
provided with the means of escaping poverty, and that increasing numbers of
people are able to access risk-sharing mechanisms that protect them from
crises and shocks.

The social protection system will comprise two guiding elements:

a) A social protection floor48 for the most vulnerable households and individuals,
comprising:
a. Cash transfers, providing a minimum income and livelihood security, and
b. Continuing extension of access to core essential services for poor and
vulnerable households, in particular health, education, shelter and water
and sanitation;
b) Increased participation of the informal sector in the contributory social
security system, with more people enjoying the benefits of labour legislation.

Alongside these core elements will be complementary activities to help the poor
graduate out of poverty.

3.2.2. New directions for the sector

Rwanda has had positive experiences in providing financial assistance through

FARG, VUP, RDRC and SSFR to poor and vulnerable households. We have seen
how cash transfers can make a significant difference to the lives of beneficiaries and
to communities as a whole. The social protection sector will build on and extend
key existing cash transfer programmes to ensure that they continue to respond to
the needs of Rwanda. We will do this in the following ways:

 Where possible, we will integrate support for specific vulnerable groups –

such as genocide survivors – into other mainstream social protection
programmes, and ensure that effective monitoring of their inclusion takes
place. Our aim will be that all members of the household benefit. By investing

48 Explanations for the guiding principles are in Annex 2

29
 in impact evaluations, we will be able to assess the extent to which this goal is
achieved.

 Because a large proportion of poor and vulnerable people are not yet reached
through the existing programmes, we will accelerate the scale up of Direct
Support coverage across the country. Funding for FARG, RDRC and VUP
Direct Support, which are currently administered separately, will be
harmonized where possible. We will continue to assess and improve the
effectiveness of the targeting system, so that the extreme poor are reached
and access a minimum income.

 As part of Rwanda‟s mission to move towards a social protection system

which guarantees a minimum income and access to services for all vulnerable
and poor people, we will assess the extent to which current programmes
reach the most vulnerable groups. As indicated earlier (Section 1.2.)
households with older people are one of the poorest groups in the country.
Whether this group is or can be fully reached through the extension or
modification of existing cash transfer programmes, or whether a separate
programme is needed, will be assessed. Therefore, by 2012, we will
undertake a study to assess the feasibility of introducing an old age
grant.

 Given that some households receiving cash transfers from the VUP and
FARG programmes have disabled persons who require additional support, we
will also focus on strengthening programmes across government that
empower those living with disabilities and provide access of disabled people
to other services. Our future engagement on disability issues will be
dependent on gaining adequate information on the number of people with
disabilities, as well as a better understanding of the nature of those
disabilities. Therefore, by 2014, we will undertake a study to assess the
feasibility of establishing a disability grant.

 The VUP Public Works programme will be rolled out over the next five years
according to the existing scale up plan. Use of the VUP Public Works
approach will also be encouraged in other public works programmes. While
retaining much of the current design of the VUP, we will make two
innovations. We will integrate the VUP public work programmes, and
workforce, with appropriate infrastructure projects across government, using
VUP to co-ordinate the mobilisation of poor people in sectors as a workforce
for infrastructure projects. The other innovation is that by 2012, we will
conduct a feasibility study to assess the possibility of introducing an
Employment Guarantee Scheme. This would offer a safety-net of public
works employment at a lower market wage, to households which opt to
participate when they absolutely need to.

The implementation of the above programmes will be underpinned by

improvements in the systems for delivery of social protection. We will focus on
two main interventions:

30
  A comprehensive electronic management information system (MIS) will
be introduced nation-wide, to enable the registration and monitoring of all
beneficiaries of social protection programmes.
 A system of electronic transfers of cash to beneficiaries will be introduced –
using advanced technologies – which will be combined with initiatives to
extend financial services to rural communities.

We will support our social protection programmes with social development initiatives
that will focus on providing poor households with investment opportunities to pull
themselves out of poverty and strengthen the cohesion of communities. Two key
programmes will be the VUP Financial Services programme which will provide poor
households with easy to access and inexpensive loans, and the Ubudehe
programme which will enable communities to undertake priority projects of their
choosing, strengthening community cohesion in the process.

A number of innovations in contributory social security schemes will be taken

forward. We will take measures will be to extend the social security to the informal
sector. We will also take steps to establish a minimum wage and provide
mechanisms to enable women to access maternity leave insurance. Labour
enforcement capacity will be strengthened in those Districts where the demand and
needs are highest.

We will increasingly take a holistic approach towards social protection interventions

in order to increase impact, forging strong linkages with complementary activities
across ministries, such as mother to child health, ECD, protection of people with
chronic illnesses, and other local coping mechanisms.

3.2.3. Objectives of the sector

The Global Objective of the social protection sector is to:

Build a social protection system that tackles poverty and inequality, enables the poor
to move out of poverty, helps reduce vulnerability and protect people from shocks,
helps improve health and education among all Rwandans, and contributes to
economic growth.

The Specific Objectives of the Sector over the next five fiscal years (2011-2016)
are to:

 Harmonize and coordinate the different interventions to respond to the needs

of the poor and vulnerable persons.
 Establish a system of cash transfer programmes that a) provide poor and
vulnerable households with a guaranteed minimum income b) provide
essential financial services to the poorest and most vulnerable c) enable poor
households who can work to access employment d) build resilience to
shocks/risks and e) enable government to respond quickly and efficiently to
emergencies.
 Extend access to health and education services to all, but in particular to the
poorest and most vulnerable households and individuals, especially children.

31
  Extend contributory social security mechanisms to the informal sector and
enable workers to enjoy a minimum wage and access to maternity insurance.
 Deliver social development and complementary initiatives that enable
vulnerable households to access credit facilities, shelter and strengthen the
cohesion of communities (through sensitization, financial literacy, group
mobilisation, mindset change and other local coping mechanisms).
 Build leadership and capacity across government on social protection, and
strengthen the alignment of non-governmental actors to national priorities.
 Strengthen systems for the delivery of social protection, in particular by
establishing a nationwide and comprehensive electronic management
information system (MIS) and building a cash transfer delivery system that is
efficient, cost-effective, and facilitates the extension of financial services –
such as savings accounts and loans – to the most vulnerable households and
remote communities.

All programmes will aim to have a significant impact on the well-being of older
people, vulnerable children, women, people with disabilities, genocide survivors and
the historically marginalised.

Achieving the above objectives will help transform Rwanda in line with the EDPRS‟s
priorities49 and the government‟s 7 year plan:

 The cash transfer programmes will help increase economic growth by

encouraging and enabling poor and vulnerable households to invest in more
productive activities, stimulating consumption and market activity and
extending the reach of the country‟s financial system;
 The Strategy will contribute to slowing down population growth through
greater household income security, thereby reducing the imperative for young
parents to invest in large numbers of children as a means of enhancing their
own security in old age;
 The system of cash transfers and improved access to health and education
services will directly tackle extreme poverty, while also contributing to
improved nutrition;
 Greater efficiency in poverty reduction will be ensured through the
development of a comprehensive electronic management information system,
efficient delivery of social protection benefits and greater co-ordination in the
delivery of social protection across government and civil society.

How the strategy will address the needs of different vulnerable groups

Programmes within the social protection strategy will focus on tackling poverty
among priority vulnerable groups. However, it needs to be recognised that the social
protection sector is only one means of improving well-being among these groups.
They will also benefit from other public services such as health, education and
agricultural support, as well as other non-social protection programmes. Priority
groups for support are set out by the Constitution and include the elderly, disabled,
genocide survivors, vulnerable children and other vulnerable groups such as the
historically marginalised and single parents.

49
The priorities of the EDPRS can be found on page 28 of the EDPRS.

32
 To date, there has been no specific programme for older people. Extremely
poor old people already benefit from existing cash transfer programmes,
particularly the VUP Direct Support, and a larger proportion of this vulnerable
group will be reached as the programme scales up. In addition, by 2012 we
will assess the feasibility of introducing an old age grant. Other key services
will be provided by government, including access to health services and the
ability to participate in employment without discrimination.
 The government is working with civil society to establish a number of
programmes of support to people with disabilities, with a focus on their
empowerment. We have in place a policy on special needs education,
although there remain challenges in getting all disabled children to school.
However, we also recognise that disabled people need financial support to
enable households to care for those in a dependent situation and help those
who can take care of themselves to overcome additional costs they face in
accessing jobs and establishing their own enterprises. We will gradually build
this assistance through the VUP Direct Support programme and, by 2014, we
will assess the feasibility of a Disability Grant, building on the programme of
financial assistance we currently give to ex-combatants. Access to health and
financial services are also critical for people with disabilities.
 The most vulnerable children are a particularly important category to
support. Many vulnerable children will benefit as members of households
receiving cash transfers (including Direct Support and Public Works
Programmes), which will enable households to feed, clothe and educate their
children, even in times of crisis. They will also benefit through complementary
programmes aimed at increasing the ability of households to engage in
productive activities. By 2014, we will assess the feasibility of a future child
grant. We will also encourage non-governmental actors working with
vulnerable children to provide them with a package of minimum support, and
we will gradually build our capacity to ensure children are protected from
abuse
 Single mothers – and older widows and single women – are particularly
vulnerable as they have less labour capacity. Rwanda has a very high
proportion of single mothers due to the genocide and conflict. We expect that
our cash-based social protection programmes will reach a significant
proportion of single women and mothers. We will also ensure that single
women can access other financial services, and enable them to send their
children to school and for everyone in the household to access health
services.
 Vulnerable genocide survivors have been a priority for the government. The
FARG programme has, over ten years, provided essential support over a
range of services. Increasingly, however, we will ensure that genocide
survivors can benefit from the range of mainstream programmes, and will pass
FARG funding through those programmes, where appropriate.
 The government seeks to help historically marginalised peoples in Rwanda.
In particular, we will enable them to overcome their disadvantages by
providing positive discrimination in terms of access to benefits from public
services.
 The needs of youth are a priority for government. The focus for support to this
group should be on ensuring that they are able to gain access to work, with a
priority on skills development. Injecting cash into local markets through the

33
 social protection cash transfers will be an important means of building demand
for the goods and services to be sold by young people. We will also develop a
strategy for building training into the Public Works programme, so as to
provide young women and men with skills for the labour market. As an
important complement to this strategy, government will take broader measures
to provide young people with skills development and access to credit.

A critical element for ensuring the access of vulnerable groups to services will be to
build an effective monitoring system. When undertaking monitoring we will ensure
that data is disaggregated so that we can effectively track the inclusion of priority
vulnerable categories in social protection programmes, and take steps to address
any situations of concern. Disaggregation of data will take place by, for example,
sex, age, and disabilitility.

All programmes will actively seek to promote gender equity and women’s
empowerment. All monitoring data will be disaggregated by gender to ensure that
we are on track with our commitments. We will undertake regular gender audits of
our programmes – as aspects of regular reviews – and seek to disseminate good
practice across all programmes. Each programme will be required to set out how it
will support the goals of gender equity and women‟s empowerment and all regular
reports will address progress against these goals.

3.3. Programmes

A wide-range of programmes will be put in place that build on social protection

initiatives already underway and which are in line with Rwanda‟s Constitution, laws
and policies, the 7 year government programme as well as the objectives of the
EDPRS.

The programmes and their design features will begin the process of building a
National Social Protection Floor in Rwanda. They will aim to protect those who are
most in need while also enabling those among the poor who can work to gain access
to employment on public works programmes. This should provide them with cash to
invest in productive assets while also encouraging them to invest in higher return but
more risky activities through, for example, the VUP Financial Services programme.

Not all elements of a future National Social Protection Floor can be established in the
next five years. Nonetheless, over the next five years, we will begin a process of
assessing the feasibility of old age, disability and child grants, and an employment
guarantee scheme, and the best means of implementing them.

3.3.1. A comprehensive system of cash transfer programmes

We will build on, integrate and extend the four cash transfer programmes that are
currently part of the VUP, FARG and RDRC: the VUP Direct Support and Public
Works programmes, the FARG emergency assistance and the subsistence
allowances for disabled ex-combatants. Having learnt many lessons from the

34
implementation of these programmes we believe that we should now focus on
making the following changes.

VUP Direct Support Grant

The VUP Direct Support programme will be scaled up at a faster rate, to reach
national coverage within the next 5 years. We will continue to assess and improve
the effectiveness of the targeting system, so that the extreme poor are reached and
access a minimum income.

The Direct Support Grant will play two major roles. It will provide an important safety
net for those who temporarily fall into crisis – for example, as a result of a long-term
illness – while also reaching some of the poorest and most vulnerable households
with more long-term support. At national scale, it will benefit approximately 345,000
people living in 5% of households across Rwanda, and will have a significant impact
on extreme poverty.

Grants for other vulnerable groups

During the lifetime of the Strategy, we will assess the continued relevance,
complementarities and synergies, as well as duplications in existing categorical
programmes like the FARG, RDRC, Child and Refugees Support Programmes, and
how the different programmes can be implemented in a more harmonised and
coordinated way.

Where possible, support for specific vulnerable groups - such as the FARG
emergency assistance and subsistence allowances for disabled ex-combatants - will
be integrated into the VUP Direct Support, and where possible currently separate
funding streams will be harmonised. We will also conduct feasibility studies on the
viability of implementing old age, disability and child grants.

VUP Public Works

The current VUP Public Works Programme has two main objectives. It provides
social protection to extremely poor households with labour capacity, while also
building assets that are useful to communities. The VUP Public Works Programme
plays a critical role in enabling households to exit from poverty. Households that
participate on the programme receive cash wages as a short-term “boost” to their
income. They are able to invest their cash in productive assets and enterprises that
will help them graduate from poverty. The assets built by the programme will also
help generate economic growth in communities. Over the next five years, the VUP
Public Works Programme will be rolled out according to the existing scale-up plan.

We recognise that the VUP Public Works Programme can have a significant role in
helping young people enter the work-force. We will, therefore, take efforts to ensure
that the programme can also meet the needs of the youth. A key element will be to
introduce a strong element of structured capacity-building into the programme, so
that the youth can gain skills that will help them enter the job market. By 2013, the
VUP programme will put in place a strategy to ensure that skills development is
incorporated into employment programmes, as appropriate. It will be necessary to

35
have systems in place to monitor and evaluate the adequacy of skills development
and the related impact that this has on the youth.

An addition to the programme will be a more explicit attempt to link the VUP work
force to appropriate infrastructure projects. Every year, plans will be drawn up by
each District for future infrastructure projects to be funded from Ministries across
government. Projects that could usefully use the VUP workforce will be identified and
VUP staff will manage the inputs of the VUP workforce into these projects, in co-
ordination with other Ministries. Participation in these projects will be at market rates
and would be open to those identified as eligible for the VUP programme. Given that
these infrastructure projects will be happening anyway, the budgetary implications of
this element of the cash for work programme should be neutral.50

It is recognised that not every household may be able to graduate after participation
in VUP Public Works, and also there may be a need for a safety-net for those who
fall back into poverty. The current design is very worthwhile in the short-term, but the
possibility of an Employment Guarantee Scheme in the longer-term, offering a
safety-net of guaranteed public works employment at a lower market wage, which
households would opt into when they absolutely need to, will be assessed through a
feasibility study. It will be necessary to test a range of alternative options for the
programme and we will, in the initial stages, adopt an experimental approach,
alongside good monitoring and evaluation.

The VUP Public Works programme will, therefore, have four main elements over the
next 5 years:

 An initial “booster”: the current VUP programme will be extended to all

sectors according to the scale up plan. It will continue to provide participating
households with an initial cash “boost. In each sector, the programme will aim
to provide all eligible households, where feasible, with at least 100 days work.
The programme will be aimed at households living in extreme poverty with
labour capacity. Wages will be set at up to the prevailing local market rate.
The programme would aim to ensure that 10 percent of households access
the “booster” programme in any one year and, after three years – on average
– in a sector, all eligible households will have participated for one year.
 Skills development strategy: the VUP programme will develop a strategy to
ensure that structured skills development is incorporated into the Public Works
programme, with a particular focus on the youth, and will monitor its impact.
 Infrastructure public works: as indicated above, VUP staff will take on the
role of mobilising the VUP work-force to participate in infrastructure projects,
as appropriate. These are likely to be projects that require large numbers of
unskilled workers, such as terracing.
 A feasibility study on an Employment Guarantee Scheme: will be
conducted by 2012.

50
In fact, it is possible that savings will be made by using the VUP workforce, where appropriate, since wage
rates are likely to be lower when compared to the normal workforce for these types of programmes. However,
necessary skilled labour will still need to be identified and contracted separately.

36
For all cash transfer programmes transparency, justice and accountability will be
strengthened through for example:
 Targeting beneficiaries, awareness creation of entitlements, settlements of
disputes, and
 An independent appeals and complaints mechanism.

3.3.2. Social protection programmes implemented by other Sectors

Social protection is not just the responsibility of the Social Protection Sector. As
Section 2.1 indicated, social protection also takes place across a range of other
sectors, in which its focus is on ensuring that poor people can overcome financial
barriers to accessing public services.

The Social Protection Strategy will summarize the main forward looking plans for
each sector and suggest where programmes and strategies need to be aligned.
Detail on each area can be found in the strategies and plans of each sector. The
main sectors involved in social protection are set out below (health, education,
agriculture, youth and disaster management).

Health Sector

In the past, community-based health insurance, social and private health insurance
have been managed and rolled out independently. With the elaboration of the
Rwanda Health Financing and the Rwanda Health Insurance policies, an attempt is
being made to develop a wider social health protection framework. The policies are
based on the principles of universal access as well as equity, solidarity and risk-
sharing, which have underpinned the achievements of the current schemes.

In order to consolidate and further improve the coverage of the Rwandan population
with health insurance, different strategies have been identified including the
extension of social health insurance to growing formal and informal sectors,
strengthening the CBHI, protection of vulnerable groups through subsidies or
exemption from payments, and providing health insurance to pensioners through the
SSFR. A national council – the Rwanda Health Insurance Council (RHIC) - will be
created as the regulatory watchdog over health insurance in Rwanda. Financial
sustainability will be reinforced by increasing domestic resource mobilization and
more efficient use of resources. To address the current regressive contributions to
CBHI, a new premium scheme will be introduced based on members‟ ability to pay.
Identification of the different income groups will be undertaken in close collaboration
with MINALOC using the Ubudehe targeting approach.

Education Sector

Parallel to the development of the Social Protection Strategy, the education sector is
also developing its own strategy. The Education Strategy covers a wide range of
areas. In terms of social protection, however, its main provisions are:

 Capitation grants for schools providing basic education, so as to eliminate all

formal fees.

37
  The remaining financial barriers to access for the poorest quintile of the
population will be identified and tackled, and it is expected that the
governments system of cash-based social protection programmes will help
poor households send their children to school. Additional support will be
provided through wider community sensitisation, the provision of catch-up
centres, better provision in schools of water and sanitation, expansion of
primary schools and construction of lower secondary school classrooms.
 Better physical access and working environment will be put in place for
disabled and special needs pupils.
 Access to a greater range of cheaper quality learning materials will be
achieved through the formation of a minimum profile recommended book list.
 To encourage greater access to upper secondary school, more day schools
will be established as boarding schools are very expensive. More classrooms
will be constructed. Furthermore, bursary and scholarship schemes for the
poorest and most vulnerable students will be harmonised.

The FARG programme will continue to support the education costs of genocide
survivors through secondary school and university. In 2008, FARG provided support
to 53,000 children at secondary school and 3080 university students. In the short
term we expect these numbers to increase before gradually beginning to fall as
genocide survivors move through the system. The programme will also continue its
practice of providing historically marginalised children with free access to upper
secondary school, through District governments.

Agriculture Sector

The Ministry of Agriculture will continue with its programmes to provide essential
inputs to poor households. Key programmes will include:

 Girinka, the One Cow one Family programme, which provides poor families
with more than 0.7 hectares of land with a cow. The first-born off-spring
should be passed to another programme.
 Poor households with less than 0.7 hectares will increasingly have access to
programmes that provide them with small animals, such as goats, rabbits and
chickens.
 The practice of subsidising fertilizer inputs will continue.

A large erosion control programme is underway, which will require the

implementation of a large number of public works infrastructure programmes. We will
explore the potential of linking these programmes to the VUP work-force at District
level so that poor people in local communities can benefit from the employment that
will be available.

Youth

The youth sector will continue to support youth empowerment through various
programmes. It is still important that all the other stakeholders „‟change their lenses
of looking at youth‟‟ and look at them as future builders of the nation and thus lay a
good foundation for them to become self sustainable citizens.

38
The 2010 leadership retreat recognised the fact that Youth ought to be supported in
terms of access to finance, and therefore a credit line through UMURENGE SACCO
is being set up to ensure sustainable access to finance for youth, the ministry of
youth is developing a comprehensive strategy to mobilize savings among youth. The
idea is that with the start up fund, support to business start ups for youth will be
ensured in a way that does not create dependency i.e. this money can be channelled
through SACCOs and access should be limited to those with bankable projects at
normal SACCO credit terms but without demanding collateral. The Ministry of Youth
with the support of other specialised institutions will then implement a
comprehensive savings campaign out within identified MFIs (i.e. SACCOs) with
incentives for saving such i.e. if you save so much money; you will be assisted to
develop a bankable project. After the savings scheme has generated sufficient funds
to support member credit needs, the start up fund can either be merged with the
SACCOs to increase loan portfolio or paid back to the government.

Across government there will be a continued drive to promote skills development

reflected in the establishment of specialized institutions such as Work Force
Development Agency to enhance employability skills of people especially the youth
link to TVET.

3.3.3. Extension of contributory social security and labour standards

The main focus of this strategy is on reaching the poorest and most vulnerable.
However, we also recognise that social protection is broader than this and that it is
also important to ensure that the benefits of labour standards and contributory social
insurance schemes are extended to as many people as possible. Therefore, during
the period of the Strategy, we will focus on two main areas: a) extending the benefits
of the SSFR to the informal and agricultural sectors; and b) ensuring that labour
standards are strengthened and also begin to extend to the informal sector.

Extending the Social Security Fund of Rwanda to the informal and agricultural
sectors

The Social Security Fund of Rwanda is, essentially a well-functioning, mandatory,

contributory pension scheme. Employees are obliged to contribute to the SSFR, and
their contributions are augmented by further contributions from their employers.
However, as in most developing countries, its members mainly belong to the formal
sector. This does not, of course, mean that they are all well-off as many have
relatively low wages. However, it is government policy – as set out in the National
Social Security Policy – to extend to the benefits of the SSFR to the informal sector
workforce. We recognise that the vast majority of the population will not be able to
contribute to the SSFR for many years – hence the need to ensure that Direct
Support reaches old people who are poor so that they are catered for – but an
additional 10-15 percent of the overall workforce may be able to, if the right
incentives are put in place. It is in the interests of workers in the informal and
agricultural sectors – and of the country – for the Social Security Fund to grow.
Informal and agricultural sector workers, with sufficient income, can provide a higher
level of protection for themselves in the case of disability or old age while a larger
SSF will provide the nation with more funds for investment.

39
The SSFR is, of course, already making efforts to expand to the informal sector. For
example, it has made good progress in ensuring that members of motorcyclists‟ co-
operatives join the fund. One attraction of SSFR membership is that it offers
additional benefits to the pension, such as disability insurance and is also planning to
introduce pre-retirement benefits. These features are already making the SSFR
attractive to those members of the informal work force who can afford to save and
pay for insurance.

It is, however, impossible to make the SSFR mandatory in the informal and
agricultural sectors as workers do not declare their income. So, once the feasibility
study on introducing an old age grant is conducted, the government will work with
the SSFR to develop and implement proposals for incentives that will encourage the
further extension of the SSFR to the informal sector.

Labour legislation and enforcement

In May 2009, Rwanda modernised and up-dated its labour legislation through the
promulgation of Law Number 13/2009. The law covers a wide range of areas such
as child labour, maternity provisions, sick leave, holidays, salary protections, health
and safety in the workplace, employment of disabled people and organisation in the
work-place. The law will make a significant difference to the lives of workers across
Rwanda. Its application is led by the Ministry of Public Service and Labour.

Over the next five years, the Ministry of Public Service and Labour‟s focus will be on
ensuring that the law is implemented. However, there are two other areas where
further improvements can be made. First of all, measures will be taken to modernise
minimum wage regulations. Secondly, maternity insurance will be developed so that
working pregnant women can gain the best deal possible for themselves.

However, laws, by themselves, are insufficient. Their implementation needs to be

assured. For this reason, a network of labour inspectors is in place across the
country, with one in each District. Nonetheless, the demands on inspectors vary
significantly between Districts as some have many more enterprises to oversee than
others. Therefore, the Ministry of Public Service and Labour will work with Districts to
encourage those where the demand is greatest to increase the number of inspectors
employed.

3.3.4. Social development initiatives to support social protection

A range of social development initiatives to support social protection will be taken

forward by the Ministry in charge of Social Welfare, other ministries and institutions
in the social protection sector. These will focus on helping poor households move out
of poverty while also building community cohesion.

The programmes to be prioritised by MINALOC are the VUP Financial Services

programme, support for income generation programmes among genocide survivors,
and the continuation of the Ubudehe priority community interventions programme.
These programmes are part of and contribute to broader national initiatives across
government and the private sector, focused on strengthening cooperatives, SACCOs

40
and increasing access to financial services and income generating opportunities in
Rwanda.

VUP Financial Services

The aim of the Financial Services component is to enable people to move

themselves out of extreme poverty on a sustainable basis. The Financial Services
component provides loan funding to enable beneficiaries to implement income-
generating activities which will provide enough income to make them self sufficient
and to repay the loan. The Financial Services component is managed as a revolving
loan fund in each sector.

The Financial Services component is rooted in the community based Ubudehe

approach, and the Ubudehe Credit Scheme is managed by Government. Currently,
neither the microfinance sector nor SACCOs are capable of providing the services
required to operationalise the scheme, given the challenges inherent in targeting
loans at the very poor.

Beneficiaries of the Financial Services component will be able to access loans to

finance income-generating activities either individually or collectively in groups or
cooperatives. The Financial Services component is mainly orientated towards
facilitating poor people‟s access to loans.

FARG Income Generation

FARG will continue to provide support to genocide survivors to obtain loans so that
they can take forward income generating activities. Groups of survivors will be
formed and FARG will either provide co-lateral for a loan or will provide a percentage
of the loan in cash. Over the next five years, however, we will identify how to
mainstream the FARG income-generation programme in other programmes
providing credit, such as the VUP Financial Services programme.

Ubudehe community support programme

We plan to launch a third phase of the Ubudehe community support programme.

Rwanda has 14,837 villages and, over a two-year period, we would hope to fund
every village to take forward a priority community project. We will, however,
encourage communities to focus on projects that have significant multiplier effects. In
addition, in each village, we will also fund one household to take forward a priority
project, although we will assess whether we can increase the number of households
in each village. Alongside the programme, we will strengthen capacity-building of
communities and improve the monitoring of results.

3.3.5. Complementary services to social protection

Community mobilisation on cross-cutting issues and government strategies that

impact on the livelihoods of people (for example on gender, primary health care,
human rights, nutrition, the environment, savings and cooperatives) is another key
complementary activity both within MINALOC social protection programmes and

41
across government and other institutions. It will strengthen the impact of social
protection programmes. It will also be important to coordinate and link with skills
development and vocational training activities carried out by other ministries and
institutions, particularly for the youth, to further enhance the ability of households to
generate income, construct shelters and graduate from social protection
programmes.

Some of the local mechanisms which will be used to support social protection
through strengthening community mobilisation, coping mechanisms and
strengthening social cohesion include: Umuganda, Kuremera abacu, Ingobyi
y‟abarwayi, Kuragizanya, Kugabirana, Itorero, Kuzitura and Igikumba Rusange.
Other public led supporting social protection include Army week and youth solidarity
camps.

Old people who are capable will also be facilitated to form associations and
cooperatives, in order to support the younger generation in skills transfer and cultural
heritage.

3.3.6. Risk mitigation and responsiveness to shocks

The social protection programmes and complementary activities already described

under this strategy combine protective and productive measures, which will work
together to reduce household and community poverty and vulnerability. However
they largely address chronic needs and it is crucial to prevent progress from being
undermined by shocks and disasters. Commonly experienced risks/disasters are
linked with climate related factors, and increased climate variability and possible
climate change makes things worse.

Shocks and disasters impact the poor most negatively because their asset base is
low and livelihoods highly exposed; their risk management options are limited; and
their coping mechanisms may entail heavy costs (such as in terms of nutrition,
education, health and even a shift in burden to less affected households) which all
negatively impact on human development and perpetuate accelerated vulnerability.

It is important therefore that social protection systems are complemented and

strengthened by risk mitigation and rapid response systems.

Pillars of effective risk management are:

 Effective early warning systems in place to indicate the need for a response
as early as possible;
 Contingency plans in place so that when a shock is indicated key actors in
the system have already thought through how they need to respond;
 Contingent financing resources need to be ready and available to avoid
negative consequences of a delayed response; and
 Adequate institutional arrangements and capacity in place or able to be
put in place quickly to allow the pre-prepared plans to be implemented.

42
By anticipating and responding to shocks early, people can be provided with
appropriate and timely support, and will be able to avoid destructive coping
mechanisms and minimise negative impacts of shocks.

There are a range of stakeholders involved in early warning, risk mitigation, climate
adaptation and disaster management and response in Rwanda. There is great
potential across them for greater linkages, coordination and synergies in strategies,
plans, programmes, data management and information systems, and responses.

Within the social protection sector, there is potential to utilise early warning
information and for existing programmes (such as the VUP Direct Support and Public
Works) to be refined in order to be able to scale up when needed to meet transitory
needs in response to shocks. Much of the infrastructure and systems for delivery are
already in place, and modifications could include increased payments to existing
beneficiaries and an extension of programme coverage.

The government will therefore establish a technical working group to strengthen

linkages and coordination between all government and non-government
organisations involved in early warning, risk mitigation, climate adaption and disaster
management. Its objective will be to strengthen the effectiveness and potential
impact of early warning, risk mitigation and response systems.

43
4. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGY

To ensure the effective implementation of the Strategy a range of structures will be

built or strengthened across all levels of government. These will put in place
strengthened systems of leadership, co-ordination and implementation by
government and partners, as well as build capacity at all levels. A detailed
implementation plan will be developed once this Strategy is approved.

4.1. High-level leadership on social protection

Implementation of the Strategy will be led by the Ministry in charge of social

protection, in close collaboration with other Ministries, local government, para-
statals, development partners and civil society:

 Central Government (Ministries of Local Governments, Education, Health,

Agriculture, Gender, Disaster Management and Refugees)
 Local Governments – Districts and Sectors
 Para-statals – FARG and SSFR
 Development Partners
 Civil Society

The current Social Protection Working Group will be strengthened. Its

responsibilities will be laid out in the detailed implementation plan, including:

 Ensuring the implementation and monitoring of the National Social Protection

Strategy (NSPS), including providing regular six-monthly reports on progress;
 Providing regular reports to the Social Cluster;
 Making recommendations on annual budgets for all activities set out in the NSPS;
 Monitoring the execution of social protection budgets across government;
 Making recommendations to the social cluster on all new social protection
initiatives across government;
 Monitoring all social protection initiatives across government, through, for
example, receiving and reviewing six-monthly reports from all members of the
Social Protection Working Group;
 Overseeing analytical work undertaken by Ministries on social protection.
 Reporting on the different thematic groups outcomes.

4.2. Social protection at Districts and Sectors

As the VUP programme implementation and approach is rolled out nationally, it will
be necessary to assess how implementation roles and responsibilities can be
integrated into the decentralised structures. A key area of work will be to link the
VUP work-force to District infrastructure programmes. Sector and District
responsibilities will include:

44
  Overseeing and monitoring the implementation of the Direct Support and
Public Work Programmes, ensuring the inclusion of eligible genocide
survivors, historically marginalised, and vulnerable old people and people with
disabilities.
 Supporting the co-ordination of infrastructure projects across the District, and
helping the integration of the VUP eligible workforce in these projects, where
appropriate and ensure the use of VUP approach.
 Overseeing the implementation of relevant complementary programmes, as
set out in this strategy.
 Advising the District leadership on District social protection policy;
 Reporting to the District leadership, MINALOC, and FARG on progress with
social protection programmes;
 Ensuring co-ordination of social protection programmes run by NGOs
 Implementing a District-wide communications strategy on social protection
 Maintaining a District-level social protection electronic MIS;
 Overseeing District-level training on social protection

4.3. Roles of para-statal organisations

A number of para-statal organisations will continue to play key roles in taking forward
the National Social Protection Strategy.

Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR)

The SSFR will continue to be responsible for the current contributory social security
fund, reporting directly to MINECOFIN. It will develop the Fund in line with the
priorities set out in the Social Protection Policy, and maintain the actuarial
soundness of the fund, while ensuring the best deal for members.

FARG

FARG will continue to fund a range of programmes in education, health and income
generating activities, to assist the most vulnerable genocide survivors. These will be
undertaken in co-ordination with the relevant Ministries and through decentralized
entities, as appropriate.

The current emergency assistance cash grants – which currently reach around
30,000 people – will be integrated into the broader non-contributory social security
programmes. Policy work will be undertaken to assess whether the Income
Generation component of FARG can be integrated with the VUP Financial Services.

The Districts will, as now, propose candidates for assistance to FARG. However,
they will indicate into which social protection programme they should be
incorporated. The Districts will register the candidates on the respective
programmes. FARG will transfer funds to the respective social protection
programmes and monitor the incorporation of Genocide Survivors‟ in the
programmes, receiving regular reports from MINALOC. It is expected that, once the
social protection programmes are scaled up nationally, it should be possible to

45
identify an increase in the number of genocide survivors receiving cash benefits from
the government.

Over time, as genocide survivors move through and out of the education system,
FARG should gradually decrease in size.

The future direction of FARG is set out in more detail in its Policy and Strategic Plan,
of August 2009.

Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission (RDRC)

The ex-combatants, once they are demobilised, undergo pre-discharge orientation

programmes such as counselling, entrepreneurship training and also socio-economic
profiling. Children go back to school and those who past primary school age are
enrolled in catch-up schools and others join technical and vocational schools. These
programmes will continue in a bid to integrate them in government programmes,
main streaming and exit strategies so that they can be integrated socially. Those
with special cases that need special attention will receive rehabilitation and will also
be enrolled on the programmes that they qualify for. The demobilized combatants
will be encouraged to integrate into the mainstream social protection programmes.

National Council of Refugees (now under the Ministry for Disaster Management and
Refugees (MIDIMAR))

The refugees living in Rwanda are mainly from the DRC and these are taken care of
by the Government of Rwanda, UNHCR and other partners. They are supported
with food items, shelter, education for children and health. However, it is important to
realise peace and security in the region is getting better and these will be returning to
their countries.

Currently, there are around 70,000 Rwandans who live as refugees, mainly in
Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Until 2011, under the oversight of the
National Council of Refugees, we will continue to support the return of these
refugees, in collaboration with the international community. We have two transit
centres where returnees are received, in Gicumbu (Northern Province) and Nkamira
and Nyagatare (Western Province). Each returnee receives a package of support,
including food for three months from the World Food Programme and non-food items
from UNHCR. If required, we also provide support for returnees to access shelter.
Measures are also taken to ensure that returnees are able to access mainstream
programmes such as the VUP Public Works and Financial Services programmes.
Direct Support cash transfers will be made available to those returnees who qualify.

4.4. Enhanced co-ordination of social protection programmes

To ensure the effective harmonization and coordination of the different intervention in

the sector, a range of structures will be built or strengthened across all levels of
government. These will be put in place to strengthen systems of leadership, co-
ordination and implementation by government and partners, as well as build capacity

46
at all levels. This will necessitate creating linkages with other sectors such as health
and education so that targeting the vulnerable groups is better coordinated.

As is evident from above, a wide range of international partners and non-

governmental actors provide social protection services across Rwanda. However,
effective co-ordination of these services is minimal and there is no comprehensive
data-base of their activities. We will build structures for more effective monitoring of
activities, with co-ordination undertaken at District level.

On an annual basis, each development partner and non-governmental actor will

present to District authorities a detailed list and plan of their social protection
interventions – as well as relevant complementary activities - in the District,
disaggregated for each sector. The District authorities will ensure that these
programmes align to District development priorities and a District wide plan of
activities by non-governmental actors will be elaborated.

In addition, development partners and non-governmental actors will provide a list of

all beneficiaries receiving support, and an indication of the nature of this support.
These lists will be entered into the Social Protection MIS by District staff. Districts will
set out guidelines on whether and how beneficiaries can access more than one
programme. The MIS will identify the programmes that each household is receiving
and lists will be compiled of households inappropriately receiving more than one
programme.51 These lists will be discussed with relevant development partners and
non-governmental actors and measures taken to remove beneficiaries from
programmes that they should not be accessing.

4.5. Strengthen social protection systems

Over the next five years, a key focus of our engagement on social protection will be
to strengthen systems, so that programmes become more efficient and effective. We
will focus on two key areas:

 Building a nationwide electronic Management Information System based on

the National Identification (NID) and UBUDEHE databases, in which
beneficiaries of all social protection programmes are registered and
monitored; and,
 Assess advanced means of electronic payments of cash to social protection
beneficiaries that enhance financial security and increase the accessibility of
financial services – provided by the banking sector – to vulnerable households
in even remote communities.

Electronic Management Information System

Effective monitoring of social protection programmes can only take place if a high
quality electronic and nationwide management information system (MIS) is
established. Recent advances in technology and extensive coverage by the mobile
phone network make this achievement possible.
51
In many cases, it may be entirely appropriate that households receive more than one programme. But, in other
cases, households will be accessing more than one similar programme against regulations.

47
By 2012 we will develop a comprehensive data-base of all households in Rwanda.
Building on the National Identity Card programme and the Ubudehe database, over a
period of one year, basic data will be registered of each household across the
country including: number of members and their date of birth, sex, marital status,
orphanhood, and disability status.

The establishment of the social protection data-base will core enable a range of
operations to be undertaken including: 1) identifying inappropriate multiple receipt of
programmes by households; 2) monitoring of beneficiaries; 3) building of payment
lists; etc. All data will be appropriately disaggregated including by age, sex and
disability.

Once the data-base is established and functioning well, it will also be used to identify
households in receipt of programmes from non-governmental organisations. Each
NGO working in a district will be asked to provide lists of beneficiary households, at
sector level, and this will be inputted into the data-base and up-dated annually.

The existence of an electronic MIS will enable payments to beneficiaries to be made

much more effectively and regularly, through electronic transfers. The electronic MIS
will also enable government to have a more effective and flexible response to large-
scale crises and shocks such as droughts and floods. If a disaster hits a District – or
sector – it will be possible to quickly identify all beneficiaries of cash-based social
security programmes and, immediately, increase payments to them for a specified
period. While this will directly assist beneficiary households, it will also help others in
the communities through established sharing and informal support networks. It will
be a first step in a response, prior to larger scale emergency assistance – often in
kind – being directed to the area. MINALOC will take forward the development of this
emergency response facility, once the social protection MIS has been established.

An Advanced Electronic System of Cash Delivery

Initially delivery of cash to beneficiaries of the Direct Support and Public Works
Programmes will take place using the type of delivery structures already used by
VUP and SSFR (such as Bank Populaire, etc). However, these delivery systems
have weaknesses, such as not being close enough to all recipients and - to date -
delivery of cash in a timely manner has not been up to the standards expected.

Advances in communications technology are making it possible to put in place much

more advanced systems of cash delivery. Alternative options will explored and
potentially pilot tested in some sectors where implementation is already taking place.

4.6. Build capacity on social protection across government

Given the increased importance of social protection in Rwanda, it will be important to

build our capacity to take forward this important agenda. We will, therefore, develop
a capacity-building strategy, under the leadership of MINALOC. The strategy will
consider social protection across all sectors and will encompass training for both the
implementation of social protection programmes and on policy. It will include

48
international and in-country training courses as well as study visits to social
protection programmes outside Rwanda for key staff and Ministers.

Funding for most capacity-building activities will be provided by programmes

themselves. However, a small fund will be available for core training in priority areas
as well as study visits.

4.7. Undertake policy analysis on social protection

It is absolutely essential that capacity is established to ensure that the Government

can undertake its own analytical and policy work on social protection, collaborating,
as appropriate, with development partners. We also need to ensure that we can
learn lessons from the implementation of social protection programmes and
incorporate this learning into our future policy.

Therefore, we will build a social protection policy team that can lead policy
development across government on social protection. We will ensure that high
quality policy work will take place, and collaborate with development partners as
appropriate. We will also put in place a comprehensive impact evaluation of our
social protection cash transfer programmes (see Section 5.3 for more detail). The
results of this evaluation will be incorporated into government policy development
and lead to improvements in programmes.

Potential priorities for further policy analysis include:

 Feasibility studies for the development of old age, child and disability grants.
 A new Social Protection Policy, as the current one is out of date;
 Understanding the contribution of social protection to economic growth;
 The role of social protection in strengthening support for the most vulnerable
children.
 Building synergies between social protection transfers and enterprise
programmes (such as microcredit etc.)
 Pilot the system of cash transfers using electronic cards
 Assessing the integration of FARG support for Income Generation with VUP,
as well as the broader integration of all programmes of financial support at
District level.

Policy analysis will be undertaken with relevant line Ministries and plans for
analytical work will be agreed on a six-monthly basis by the Social Protection
Working Group. In addition to government core funding for analytical work, we will
engage with development partners to augment funding and, where possible,
undertake joint work.

49
5. MONITORING AND EVALUATION

There will be three components to the Strategy‟s monitoring and evaluation

programme. In addition, a communications strategy will be developed and
implemented.

5.1. Regular monitoring

Once the electronic MIS is established, it will be possible to undertake regular

monitoring of all programmes set out in the Strategy. Monitoring will take place at all
levels of government: Sector, District and National. As the MIS is established,
MINALOC – in consultation with the SP Working Group – will set out the data fields
to be included in the MIS to enable effective monitoring. All data should be able to be
disaggregated by sex, disability, age, household composition and it should be
possible to indicate coverage of specific vulnerable groups such as older people,
genocide survivors, people with disabilities, single parents, the historically
marginalised and the most vulnerable children.

The Social Protection Working Group will be responsible for oversight of monitoring
of all social protection programmes. In addition to the monitoring of activities set out
in this strategy, it will also monitor progress in social protection programmes in other
sectors and Ministries, such as health and education and relevant social protection
programmes directed at the Most Vulnerable Children (MVCs). Sector working group
meetings to monitor progress will be held every six months and, in February of each
year, a Joint Sector Review will be undertaken, as stipulated in the Organic Budget
Law. It is the responsibility of District governments to ensure that the MIS is regularly
up-dated and to provide regular reports – every six months – on progress with all
programmes set out in the Strategy.

Key performance indicators are set out in the Sector Log-frame, in Table 1. Many of
the baseline indicators cannot yet be determined due to a lack of baseline data. A
number of activities set out in the strategy will enable baseline indictors to be
generated including the development of a Social Protection Index, the establishment
of a good social protection monitoring system and the planned impact evaluation
baseline will enable a number of indicators to be included.

50
Table 1: Log-frame for the Social Protection Sector
Objectives Objectively verifiable Baseline Milestone 2013 2015 Target Means of Assumptions
indicators verification
Goal
Build a social Social Protection Index TBD TBD TBD SPI report
protection system (SPI) Score
that helps tackle Household surveys
poverty and National poverty rate 56.9% TBD TBD
inequality, enables
the working poor to National poverty gap 22.5 TBD TBD
move out of
poverty, supports National extreme 36.9% TBD TBD
access to health poverty rate
and education
services among all
Rwandans, and
contributes to
economic growth
Purpose
To reduce poverty Expenditure levels on TBD An average An average Impact evaluation
and help improve food items among increase of RwF.30 increase of RwF.30
access to health targeted households per day per hh per day per hh
and education member in targeted member in targeted
services among households households
beneficiaries of Primary school TBD 10% increase in Increase by 10% in Impact evaluation
social protection completion rate for operational areas operational areas
programmes, while children in targeted MINEDUC reports
providing an households
economic stimulus Increase in assets TBD TBD TBD Impact evaluation
to local markets among non-beneficiary
households in
communities where
programmes are
operating
 Increase in number of TBD TBD Increase of 30% Impact evaluation
visits per year to health above baseline
clinic by beneficiary
households
Outputs
O1: A national Number of eligible 58% VUP monitoring
system of non- households system
contributory cash participating in Public
transfers Works
established: Old Average number of TBD Average of 70 days Average of 90 days VUP monitoring
Age Grant; Public days work completed per year among per year among system
Works by each HH eligible households eligible households
Programmes; and Number of households 9,666 2.4% of households 4% of households VUP monitoring
Direct Support for receiving Direct system
vulnerable Support
households.
O2: SSFR extended Number of informal SSFR to provide Increase by 3% on Increase by 10% on SSFR membership
to informal sector sector workers enrolled data baseline baseline data
workers and in SSFR
benefits from labour Number of women 0 10% of formal 30% of formal Insurance scheme
legislation taking out maternity sector female sector female records
strengthened insurance workers workers
Number of social 0.5 central staff 7 central SP 7 central SP Payroll
O3: Leadership, co- protection staff in place in place positions filled positions filled
ordination and in MINALOC
capacity on social 30% of District 70% of District-level
protection positions filled posts filled
strengthened Number of SPWG 12 SWG Average of 6 Average of 12 SPWG meeting
across government meetings held meetings per year meetings held per records
year


EDPRS Results and Poverty Matrix Indicator

52
 Attendance of SPWG 40 60% of ministries 80% of Ministries Attendance records
meetings, including attend with officials attend with officials
level of representation at level of ** at least at level of ** at least
by officials
Number of government 0 100 staff have been 500 staff have been MINALOC records
staff who receive SP trained in SP trained in SP over 5
training years
Perception of TBD TBD TBD Satisfaction surveys
effectiveness of SPWG to be implemented
and MINALOC SP by MINALOC
Department by
Ministers in Social
Cluster
O4: Evidence Development and No new policy Policy approved by Policy Annual reports on
generated on social implementation of new 2013 demonstrated to policy
protection in Social Protection Policy have influenced implementation
Rwanda that feeds direction of SP
into policy debates MINALOC SP web-site No web-site Web-site Website is updated Review of web-site
and is effectively designed and established by 2012 on a weekly basis
disseminated functioning and contains latest
data on progress on
sector and EDPRS
targets
Number of publications 0 per year 3 per year 5 per year MINALOC records
produced on SP across
government
No of SP policy and 0 3 per year 5 per year MINALOC records
analytical studies
undertaken by
MINALOC SP
Department
O5: Effective and Regularity and VUP to provide 70% of beneficiaries 90% beneficiaries Payment records
efficient systems timeliness of payments data receive benefits on receive payments
developed for the time „on time‟

53
delivery of social Travel time to pay-point VUP data 70% of beneficiaries 95% beneficiaries Impact evaluation
protection in travel<3 hours to travel <3 hours to
Rwanda collect payment collect payment
Number of beneficiaries VUP data 10% of all 20% of all Impact evaluation
accessing other beneficiaries beneficiaries
financial services from Payment Service
financial service
provider Provider records
Electronic management No electronic Electronic MIS Electronic MIS MINALOC records
information system MIS functioning in 40% functioning in 80%
implemented of districts of districts MIS records
O6: Programmes Number of vulnerable VUP to provide 10,000 households 30,000 households VUP and FARG No major crises that
implemented that households accessing data data de-rail investments
complement social credit and savings by households
protection by facilities from VUP and
enabling people to with FARG support Community projects
move out of poverty Number of communities 0 8,000 in previous 2 4,000 in last year of Ubudehe records add value and are
and improving implementing priority years project maintained
community projects
cohesion

54
5.2. Measuring the success of the Strategy

A mechanism for measuring progress on social protection, including the

implementation of the Strategy, will be developed. We will design a national Social
Protection Index (SPI) which will measure the effectiveness of the country‟s social
protection system.52 The Social Protection Index concept was initially developed by
the Asian Development Bank and has been used to measure social protection in
almost all Asian and Pacific countries. We will adapt the SPI measure to the
Rwandan context and undertake a baseline measure. The SPI will be repeated every
two years as a key performance measure by government. We will also engage with
other countries in East Africa to develop a common measure for the SPI, so that
cross-countries comparisons can be made.53

5.3. Impact evaluation

The Strategy will harmonise its monitoring and impact evaluation plans with existing
national systems, such as the EICV surveys, as far as possible.

From 2012, once the key cash-based social protection programmes are established,
a comprehensive, nationwide evaluation will commence to assess their impact and
performance. The evaluation will have both quantitative and qualitative components.

 The quantitative evaluation will be based on a panel data set. Further surveys
will be undertaken on a yearly basis over five years. A sample of sectors
across the country will be selected.
 The qualitative evaluation will use a mix of focus group discussions, in-depth
one-on-one interviews and key stakeholder discussions. It will focus on both
the impacts of the programme and its operational effectiveness. Key
informants will be followed up on, at least, an annual basis over five years.
The evaluation will encompass the same communities, sectors and districts
as the quantitative evaluation.

The evaluation will examine a range of areas, covering, for example, impacts on
beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries in the areas of poverty and human development,
impacts on local markets and communities, and key operational aspects of the
programmes such as targeting, registration and payments.

52
The Social Protection Index uses four main measures: 1) social protection expenditure, as a proportion of
GDP; 2) the social protection coverage of key target groups; 3) the social protection distribution, which measures
the proportion of poor people who are beneficiaries; and, 4) the social protection impact which measures the per
capita social protection expenditure going to the poor as a proportion of the poverty line.
53
Uganda is currently making plans to undertake an SPI, and we will engage with the Uganda Ministry of
Gender, Labour and Social Development in designing the SPI. Longer-term, the SPI could be managed as a
regional exercise by either the East African Community or African Union.

55
5.4. Communications

A communications strategy for the Social Protection Strategy will be developed by

2012. Its aims will be to build understanding on the role of social protection in
promoting poverty reduction and economic growth in Rwanda, inform citizens and
government on progress with the Social Protection Strategy, and disseminate
evidence on the impact of social protection, including results from analytical work,
monitoring and the impact evaluation. A range of media will be used including
publications, television, radio, the internet, workshops and public meetings.

56
6. COSTING AND FINANCING OF THE SECTOR STRATEGY
Given that the main aim of the Social Protection Strategy is to support poor people,
most of the instruments outlined in the Strategy will be funded from government
revenue. Usually, social insurance programmes are only feasible for those who have
sufficient income to be able to contribute and save, while labour legislation normally
only applies to formal sector employees. Nonetheless, some social protection
programmes for the poor in Rwanda are financed through social insurance – such as
the Mutuelle de Santé health insurance – although they can also incorporate
subsidies from government financing to facilitate the access of the poor and the
informal sector.

6.1. Sector budget

Table 2 sets out the budget for the Social Protection Sector over the next five years.
It also includes the budget for two key social development initiatives: the VUP
Financial Services programme and the Ubudehe programme. It does not include
budgets for social protection programmes in other sectors, as these are dealt with in
those sector budgets. The combination of social protection programmes under the
Strategy, and phased approach to implementation, has taken fiscal affordability and
sustainability into account. These factors will continue to be assessed as a detailed
implementation plan is developed, and as the Strategy is rolled out.

6.2. A Sector Wide Funding Mechanism

It is our intention to develop a sector-wide funding mechanism for social protection.

Currently, development partners fund specific social protection programmes, in
particular the VUP. However, the development of a sector-wide funding mechanism
will allow development partners to contribute to the sector as a whole, rather than
specific projects. This will ensure that funding is aligned to government priorities and
will also enable development partners to engage over the whole sector. The sector-
wide funding mechanism will also facilitate coordination, harmonisation and synergy
across the different ministries and institutions that implement social protection
programmes, through, for example, joint action plans, division of labour and
accountability mechanisms.

This Strategy has focused on identifying a core Social Protection Sector, as distinct
from understanding social protection as cross-cutting a wide range of other sectors.
The sector-wide funding mechanism will incorporate the core programmes in the
Social Protection Sector as proposed in this Strategy. These include:

 VUP Direct Support programme

 VUP Public Works programme
 Feasibility studies
 Impact evaluation
 Policy analysis on social protection
 Development of the social protection management information system
 Social protection training

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By June 2011, we will finally agree the programmes that will be included in the Social
Protection Sector. MINALOC and the MINECOFIN will collaborate on establishing
the sector wide funding mechanism, and will be responsible for developing
Memoranda of Understanding with development partners.

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Table 2: Budget for the Social Protection Sector, 2011-16

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 Total

RwF millions RwF millions RwF millions RwF millions RwF millions RwF millions
Social Protection Sector
VUP Direct Support (DS) 5,863 9,014 12,320 17,331 22,394 66,922
VUP Public Works (PW) 11,947 15,308 18,813 22,436 26,210 94,714
Feasibility Studies 90 45 45 0 0 180
Electronic MIS 1,500 1,500 0 0 0 3,000
Impact Evaluation 300 200 200 200 200 1,100
Policy analysis 100 100 100 100 100 500
Training 50 50 50 50 50 250
Total (Social Protection Sector) 19,850 26,218 31,528 40,117 48,954 166,666
Social Development Initiatives
VUP Financial Services (FS) 8,831 7,032 7,710 8,370 9,042 40,984
Ubudehe Community Projects 4,000 5,000 6,000 5,000 0 20,000
FARG 24,600 25,300 27,400 30,100 33,600 141,000
Girinka (One Cow per Family) 2,500 2,600 2,704 2,812 2,925 13,541
Total (Social Development
39,931 39,932 43,814 46,282 45,566 215,525
Initiatives)
TOTAL 59,781 66,149 75,342 86,399 94,520 382,191

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Annex 1: Government-owned social protection programmes in Rwanda for selected public services

Social Direct cash Health Education Care Services Housing Agriculture

Protection transfers
Social  VUP Direct Support  Tax-financing  Free basic  Financial support  Housing for indigent  One Cow
Assistance  VUP Work underpinning health education for orphanages households and programme
(Government Programmes services (capitation grants) informal settlements  Transfers of goats
 FARG Emergency  Free pre-natal care  Bursaries for  FARG construction and rabbits to poor
Financed) Assistance  FARG and ex- secondary and repair of households
 Disability benefits combatants education houses  Fertiliser subsidies
for ex-combatants payment of  FARG bursaries for  Housing for  Subsidized training
 Short-term food and Mutuelle secondary and historically for farmers
cash transfers to contributions university education marginalised
returnees  Donor support – eg  School feeding
Global Fund – for (WFP supported)
mutuelle  Access to job
contributions training
 FARG special
assistance for
hospital treatment
 Nutritional
assistance (WFP
supported)
Social Insurance  Social Security  CBHI Mutuelle de
(Contributor Fund of Rwanda Sante
 Social health
Financed)
insurance (civil
servants, military,
etc)
Labour  Provisions in the  Health and Safety
legislation 2009 Labour Law legislation
(Employer
financed)

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Annex 2: Building a national social protection floor: guiding principles

A National Social Protection Floor (NSPF) establishes a system of minimum support

in terms of social transfers and access to essential services to households and
individuals across the life-cycle. It ensures that the most vulnerable members of
society and those who cannot or should not work – such as older people, people with
disabilities, long-term sick and vulnerable children – are provided with a minimum
package of support. At the same time, it enables those who can work to participate
fully and productively in the labour force. It considers both the supply and demand
sides of extending social protection and ensuring effective access. It includes:

a. Cash or in kind transfers, providing a minimum income and livelihood security,

and
b. Continuing extension of access to core essential services for poor and
vulnerable households, in particular health, education, shelter and water and
sanitation.

For the former, the Rwandan social protection floor will aim to progressively move
towards establishing a system of cash transfers comprising four key instruments
over the next ten years.

Table 3: Existing building blocks of the future social security floor

Current building blocks of social Potential future social

protection floor protection floor
 VUP Direct Support programme Old Age Grant
 FARG cash payments for elderly
genocide survivors
 VUP Direct Support programme Disability Grant
 FARG cash payments for disabled
genocide survivors
 Disability payments for ex-
combatants
 Payments to children in VUP Direct Child Grant
Support
 VUP Public Works programme Public Works programme
 WFP Food for Work programmes

The social protection floor will build on initiatives already underway in Rwanda. For
example, a large proportion of the beneficiaries of the VUP Direct Support
programme are extremely poor old and disabled people. The VUP Public Works
programme is catering for the needs of the working poor and enabling them to
access cash that will act as a springboard out of poverty. And, a number of other
cash transfer programmes are targeted at the most vulnerable people. These include
FARG emergency cash payments and disability payments for ex-combatants. These
initiatives will act as the building blocks of the future social protection floor, as
indicated in Table 3.

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For the latter, ensuring access to essential services, the next two decades will
see increased investment by government in the core public services of health,
education, water and sanitation and housing, so that poor people can begin to enjoy
full access. We will ensure that mechanisms are put in place to enable everyone to
participate in education at all levels. We will invest in the health system to improve
the breadth and quality of services, and guarantee access for all by building an
adequate health financing system. Clean water and improved sanitation will
gradually reach everyone, while we will make certain that the most vulnerable
households are provided with a minimum standard of shelter.

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Annex 3: Publications consulted in elaboration of Strategy

Aguero, J., Carter, M. and I. Woolard (2007) The Impact of Unconditional Cash
Transfers on Nutrition: the South African Child Support Grant. Working Paper 39,
Brasilia: International Poverty Centre

Antunes, A. F & Saksena P. (2009) Technical Note: Preliminary Simulations of

Stratification for the Consideration of the Ministry Of Health - Version 2, Rwanda:
World Health Organization

Bangwanabusa, T. (2004) National Strategies for Social Protection: An Assessment

of Interventions in the Field of Social Protection, and Their Observance in Rwanda,
Final Report, Rwanda

Barrientos, A. and R. Sabates-Wheeler (2009) Do Transfers Generate Local

Economy Effects? Brooks World Poverty Institute Working Paper, No. 106

Case, A. (2001) „Does Money Protect Health Status? Evidence from South African
Pensions‟, National Bureau of Economic Research, NBER Working Paper No. 8495

Croome, D. and A. Nyanguru (2007) The Impact of the Old Age Pension on Hunger
and Vulnerability in a Mountain Area of Lesotho. Report written for the Regional
Evidence Building Agenda (REBA) of the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability
Programme (RHVP), Johannesburg

Devereux, S. (2001) Social Pensions in Namibia and South Africa, IDS Discussion
Paper 379, February 2001, Brighton, IDS

Devereux, S. (2002) Social Protection for the Poorest: Lessons from Recent
Experience, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, Sussex

Devereux, S. et al. (2006) Ethiopia‟s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP):

Trends in PSNP Transfers within Targeted Households, IDS/ INDAK

Devereux, S. & Ndejuru, A. (2009) Annual Review of DFID Support to the Vision
2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP) 1st Draft, Rwanda

DFID (2009) Social Transfers: the Evidence of Impact and Affordability. Draft Policy
Background Paper

EDPRS Flagship Program Document (2007) Vision 2020 Umurenge An Integrated

Local Development Program to Accelerate Poverty Eradication, Rural Growth, and
Social Protection, Rwanda: Government of Rwanda

Foster, M. (2006) Public Expenditure Review Government and Donor Expenditure on

Social Protection, Rwanda: Ministry of Information and Social Affairs (MINALOC)
and Ministry of Economics and Finance (MINECOFIN)

Kaniki, S. (2007) „Mauritius Case Study‟, Unpublished paper of Economic Policy

Research Institute, Cape Town, South Africa

63
MCDSS/GTZ (2005) External monitoring and evaluation report of the pilot social
cash transfer scheme, Kalomo district, Zambia, Lusaka: MCDSS/GTZ

MCDSS/GTZ (2007) Final Evaluation Report: Kalomo Social Cash Transfer Scheme.
Ministry of Social Development and Community Services, Zambia

McKay A., M. Strode, C. O‟Brien, and G. Greenwell (2007) EICV Poverty Analysis for
Rwanda‟s Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, Unpublished
manuscript of Oxford Policy Management

Miller, C., M. Tsoka and C. Reichert (2008) Impact Evaluation Report: External
Evaluation of the Mchinji Social Cash Transfer Pilot. Unpublished Manuscript,
Boston University School of Public Health

MINALOC (2008) (Draft) National Social Protection Strategy 2008-2013, Rwanda:

Ministry of Local Government

MINALOC (2009) Historically Marginalised Communities; the Rwanda Case.

Unpublished manuscript

Ministry of Education (2009) Girls‟ Education Policy, Ministry of Education, Kigali

Ministry of Education (2009) Draft Education Sector Strategy

Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (2003) Ubudehe » to fight poverty:

Concept Note, Rwanda: Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning

Minister in the Prime Minister‟s Office in charge of Gender and Family Promotion,
Republic of Rwanda (2006) Strategic Plan Of Action For Orphans And Other
Vulnerable Children 2007-201, Rwanda: Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion

Ministry of Health (2009) National Health Insurance Policy (Draft), Kigali, Rwanda,
Ministry of Health

Ministry of Health (2009) Rwanda Health Financing Policy (Draft), Kigali, Rwanda,
Ministry of Health

Ministry of Health (2010) Community Based Health Insurance Policy (Draft), Kigali,
Rwanda: Ministry Of Health

Ministry Of Local Government (2009) Direct Support Operational Framework and

Procedure Manual, Revised Version, Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP),
Rwanda: Rwanda Government

Ministry of Local Government (2009) Social Protection Joint Sector Review

Summary Report Jan-June 2009 (Mini-budget), Rwanda

Ministry of Local Government (2009) Policy and Strategic Plan of the Genocide
Survivors Assistance Fund (FARG), Rwanda: Ministry Of Local Government

64
Ministry of Local Government, Information and Social Affairs, Rwanda (2003)
National Policy for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children, Rwanda: Rwandan
Government

Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (2009) National Social Security Policy

Ministry of Local Government, Good Governance, Community and Social Affairs,

Republic of Rwanda (2005) National Social Protection Policy in Rwanda, Kigali,
Rwanda: Ministry of Local Government

National Policy for Social Protection (2005) Unpublished manuscript

NISR, WFP, UNICEF and World Vision (2009) Rwanda: Comprehensive Food
Security and Vulnerability Analysis and Nutrition Survey. United Nations, Rwanda

Organisation For Social Science Research In Eastern And Southern Africa (2006)
EDPRS Poverty Analysis of Ubudehe Proposed Report Outline Rwanda Chapter,
Organisation For Social Science Research In Eastern And Southern Africa

Oxford Policy Management (2007) Draft Plan of Action for Implementation of

Rwanda‟s Social Protection Policy, UK: Oxford Policy Management

Rwanda National Decade Steering Committee, Proposed Activities to Support

People with Disabilities, African Decade of Persons with Disabilities, ADPD/RNSC,
FENAPH, Rwanda

Rwanda National Decade Steering Committee (RNDSC) of the African Decade of

Persons with Disabilities (ADPD), Government of Rwanda and the disability
movement of Rwanda, 2010, National Programme (2010-2019) First edition.
Rwanda: Government of Rwanda.

Republic of Rwanda (2007) Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy

2008-2012. Rwanda: Republic of Rwanda

Republic of Rwanda (2009) Law Regulating Labour in Rwanda, No. 13/2009 of

27/05/2009

Republic of Rwanda (2009) Long-Term Approach for Health Care Financing

Systems in Rwanda - Initial Proposal for Internal Discussions: Concept Note,
Rwanda
Rwanda VUP Fiduciary Risk Assessment (2009) Fiduciary Risk Assessment (FRA)
of the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP): the Government of Rwanda‟s
national social protection programme, Rwanda

Samson, M., U. Lee, A. Ndlebe, K. Mac Quene, I. van Niekerk, V. Gandhi, T.

Harigaya and C. Abrahams (2004) „The Social and Economic Impact of South
Africa‟s Social Security System‟. EPRI Research Paper Number 37

65
Samson, M. et al. (2007) „The Social and Economic Impact of Cash Transfers‟,
Economic Policy Research Institute, South Africa

Schuering, E. (2008) „Social Cash Transfers in Zambia: A Work in Progress‟, Poverty

in Focus, Number 15, pp. 20-21

Social Protection Sector (2009) Summary Joint Sector Report

SSFR (2008) Annual Statistical Bulletin (2007) Social Security Fund of Rwanda,
Kigali

Ubudehe Training Manual, Annex 5: Ubudehe Poverty Mapping Process and

Categories Summary, Ubudehe Village-level Poverty Mapping Process.

UNDP (2007) Turning Vision 2020 into Reality: From Recovery to Sustainable
Human Development. National Human Development Report, UNDP, Rwanda

World Bank (1994) Averting the Old Age Crisis: Policies to protect the old and
promote growth, New York: Oxford University Press

World Bank (2008) Aide Memoire: Social Protection and Health Mission to Rwanda;
Pre-Appraisal Mission (July 28 – August 12, 2008)

World Bank (2010) Rwanda Second Community Living Standards Grant

Development Policy Grant Program Document, Rwanda: Human Development
Department, Eastern Africa Country Cluster, World Bank

World Food Programme (2007) Development Project Rwanda 10677.0, Paper for
Executive Board Second Regular Session, Rome, 22-26 October 2007

VUP M&E (2009) VUP Targeting List Training Manual, VUP M&E

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Annex 4: Consultation record

Names Date Place

Social Protection Sector Working 18/03/2010 MINALOC
Group
Northern Province* 29/04/2010 Rulindo District
Southern Province* 04/05/2010 Huye District
Eastern Province* 05/05/2010 Rwamagana District
Western Province* 06/05/2010 Karongi District
Kigali City* 11/05/2010 Kigali City
Validation Workshop** 20/05/2010 LAICO Hotel, Kigali
Consultative Meeting with Ministers PMO, Kigali
Inter-Ministerial Consultations Kigali
Technical Committee on NSPS 11-12/11/2010 Gashora, Bugesera

* Vice-Mayors in charge of Social Affairs and Economic Development, Local Government

officials, NGO representatives and Civil Society representatives from all Districts

** MINALOC, MINECOFIN, MINEDUC, MIFOTRA, MIGEPROF, MINISANTE, MINIYOUTH,

Institute of Policy Analysis and Research, Social Security Fund of Rwanda, Development
Partners, NGOs

67