Government’s plan to build a single social registry to consolidate social protection interventions into one database and streamline the eligibility criteria is ongoing. The grand plan is to harmonise safety net programs by reviewing existing eligibility criteria.

The long- awaited Botswana Social Protection Programmes and Systems Review Report – the work of the World Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has made compelling recommendations, if taken on, could change the landscape of social protection services in Botswana.

According to Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Tebogo Bagopi, the World Bank played a significant role in its support towards modernisations of social protection programs and systems, which gave birth to the development of the National Social Protection Framework ( NSPF).

This framework according to Bagopi, aims at positioning social protection systems to be more effective and efficient in responding to the varied vulnerabilities faced by Batswana of all ages. The NSPF provides for system development at three levels including policy, administrative and programme levels. The Framework was approved by Cabinet in 2020.

“Government continues to devote significant resources to ensure delivery of quality social protection to its citizens, including the vulnerable population in the form of social safety nets and economic empowerment programs,” Bagopi said, adding that it calls for Policy reform, as well as harmonised social protection system.

The World Bank also offered Technical assistance, which focused on the development of Single Social Registry ( SSR), which has been identified as a priority, but has been delayed as a result of technical challenges.

The SSR is expected to help government to better understand the economic reality of households and benefits provided; provide i n format ion on both applicants and beneficiaries and help promote coordination between programs. It would also free social worke r time and allow them to spend more time on case management, thereby helping link clients to health, education and labour market services.

The Deputy Permanent Secretary further said in a bid to implement the NSPF, the Ministry had developed an Implementation Plan whose objectives are to consolidate and harmonise the existing 29 social protection programs across nine Ministries into five Life Stage Course Programmes, ranging from cash transfers, in- kind transfers, feeding programs, fee waivers, public works, programs to enhance employability and livelihoods of young and other adults and pension programs, among others.

According to the report, a large percentage of Botswana’s population is benefiting from social protection programs, with nearly 56 percent of the total population and 79 percent of the poor benefiting from at- least one social protection program. However, the report states that 21 percent of the poor are not covered by any type of social protection program.

World Bank Country Director, Marie Francoise Marie- Nelly says while social protection programs in Botswana cover a large portion of the country, there is however, little to no coordination and any effort to reduce dependency on programs.

“Botswana could go a long way in creating a more efficient social protection system, able to lead to a more sustainable impact, by fully implementing the single social registry, modernising delivery systems, improving eligibility determination methodologies,

linking social assistance programs with human development services for beneficiaries, and helping them transition into jobs,” she said.

Further, that Botswana is a regional leader in social protection investment, and “it is my sincere hope that the analysis within this report will help further strengthen its already impressive social protection programs and systems in the face of unprecedented challenges.”

The report strongly recommends for the transformation of the Destitute Persons Programme. It says coverage of the program and targeting outcomes could be improved; impacts on poverty and inequality are modest; and beneficiaries who could leave the program are not being served by an effective graduation strategy.

It decries administrative costs of targeting and making payments via multiple mechanisms and recommends that they be reduced by modernising targeting systems and moving to a fully cash benefit. It also calls for a budget neutral strategy to increase expenditures on the program, however, cautions against increasing expenditures on the Destitute Persons Programme without reforms in the way beneficiaries are selected, paid, and helped.

In addition, a review of small social benefit programs is recommended to consolidate these programs under the transformed Destitute Persons Programme to reduce fragmentation and improve efficiency.

The report also recommends planning for Social Care Services for a growing elderly population. It says while Botswana has given great thought to the financial security of its elderly population, there are gaps in provision of social care services, including home- based care, day care, and residential care, and this would become more acute as the elderly population grows. It states that it would be better if planning for the requirements of an ageing population begins now rather than when the problem is harder to tackle.

It also calls for rethinking of feeding programs so that they can make a bigger contribution to nutrition. It states that the Primary School Feeding Programme is costly, relative to programs in other countries and implementation bottlenecks have been reported.

The report therefore recommends a process evaluation of the Primary School Feeding programme to assess where bottlenecks occur and whether nutritional content of the feeding is adequate. It further states that the process audit should also determine expenditures on the Primary School Feeding Program, as they were unavailable.

The report reckons that an audit could also examine options for provision of school feeding; for example, partnerships with the private sector as was done in Chile.