Result achieved
A social protection scheme to extend coverage, enhance comprehensiveness and/or increase adequacy of benefits has been adopted or reformed (Step 2)
Number of countries that have adopted or reformed social protection schemes to extend coverage, enhance comprehensiveness and/or increase adequacy of benefits (Step 2)
Outcome summary
The National Social Solidarity Program has been approved to provide COVID-19 emergency cash assistance
Outcome achieved
The Office of the Prime Minister of the caretaker government approved the implementation of the COVID-19 emergency cash assistance scheme, the National Social Solidarity Program (NSSP) in March 2020. The NSSP provides income support in the form of direct cash payments to households affected by Covid-19. The NSSP has been implemented over various phases which have benefitted from adaptations to improve its reach and delivery. The NSSP includes categorical eligibility criteria to identify people experiencing lifecycle vulnerabilities, such as persons with disability and older people. Initial estimates suggest that approximately 290,000 households were considered eligible to receive a benefit. A report documenting the design and implementation of the program, and policy recommendations, has been prepared in collaboration with the Lebanese Army Forces in charge of implementation.
ILO's contribution to the outcome
The ILO provided technical assistance to the government in the design of the NSSP and the need to include categorical targeting to provide coverage for lifecycle contingencies, in addition to the documentation of the process. The report prepared by the ILO provides policy recommendations for future cash assistance programs.
Gender equality & non-discrimination
The process of the development of the National Social Protection Strategy has involved the establishment of a platform for organizations of persons with disability (OPDs) co-facilitated by the ILO, increasing the engagement of representatives of persons with disability and their participation in national dialogues around social protection. OPDs have been regularly engaged in consultations and national dialogues on the Social Protection Strategy, and actively involved in the design of the new National Disability Allowance in Lebanon. Gender has also been mainstreamed in the various chapters of the strategy with specific initiatives around the elimination of discriminatory social insurance provisions based on gender and nationality in social insurance as well as the development of a national social assistance system that would provide income security to women who have been excluded from the contributory system. ILO and UNICEF are also collaborating with UN Women on a gender analysis of the draft strategy that is meant to provide specific recommendations on that level. The ILO has also requested the inclusion of female-headed households, which was added as a selection criteria for beneficiaries of the NSSP covid-19 emergency cash assistance program.
Partnerships
UNICEF
Informal network of Organization of Persons with Disability
Beyond Group
SDG
Goals
- End poverty in all its forms everywhere
- Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
- Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Targets
- 1.3 Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable
- 3.8 Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all
- 5.4 Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate