The Board of Directors of the World Bank has just approved additional financing of 350 million dollars intended to support the social protection sector in Morocco.
This financing, in addition to the initial program of $400 million approved and disbursed in 2020, aims to support Morocco in the implementation of a modern and efficient social protection system, indicates the international financial institution in a press release published Monday.
The initial funding was intended to support the Kingdom’s strategy to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. “Morocco has launched a comprehensive reform program covering the entire social protection sector and made significant progress in its application”, says the Bretton Woods institution, adding that the additional financing will support the design of Morocco’s universal family allowance program and will strengthen the medium-term adaptive capacity of the social safety net system.
In addition to Emergency Cash Transfers (ECT), this program also incorporated measures to ensure access and scale up cash transfer programs to support vulnerable households and social protection initiatives.
“Since its launch in 2020, the COVID-19 social protection emergency response project has laid the foundations for a modern and efficient social protection system”said Jesko Hentschel, Country Director for the Maghreb and Malta at the World Bank, quoted by the press release.
“This additional funding supports the operationalization of key elements of the Kingdom’s social protection reform, paving the way for a modern social protection system for all to make growth more inclusive.“, he added. The additional funding will support two “key features” of the reform of social protection, assures the financial institution based in Washington.
“Its objective will be to strengthen support for the Government of Morocco’s existing cash transfer programs and to implement the new non-contributory health insurance program aimed at vulnerable households”, explains the same source. It will also add a component to improve the information system of social assistance programs for vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities.
” Given the importance of these programs for the well-being and resilience of households, but also to guarantee the continuity of the services they provide, it is essential to digitize payments and modernize the Management Information System to a successful transition to the new system envisaged by the social protection reform”notes Mehdi Barouni, senior economist and program manager at the World Bank.
The additional funding will help ensure a smooth transition between existing cash transfer programs and the universal family allowance program, the statement said, adding that this funding will support the implementation of the AMO-TADAMON program, the cornerstone of child protection. households – particularly the most vulnerable – in the face of health risks likely to be exacerbated by the fallout from climate change.
“The implementation of the AMO-TADAMON program is vital to protect vulnerable populations (women, children, people with disabilities) and isolated populations (in rural or remote areas) against health risks”, says Dalal Moosa, senior economist and co-team leader at the World Bank. “To achieve this, it will be essential to take advantage of the tools for identifying and targeting vulnerable populations that have already been created,” adds Ms. Moosa.
The new funding will also take into account people with disabilities through the implementation of a disability assessment system that will facilitate identification as well as access to services, underlines the international financial institution, adding that this system aims to reach all people with disabilities in Morocco (about 2.6 million).