$118 Million Boost for Social Protection Project

A sum of $118.6 million has been made available in the 2008/09 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives, for the Social Protection Project.
The project, which lasts until March 2013, aims to ensure greater social protection of the poor, vulnerable, and persons at risk, by strengthening the long-term impact of social assistance to poor families; and establishing an effectively viable system for public sector pensions.
The main components that will support the project are: benefits designed to motivate educational attainment and retention in secondary schools; intervention to enable greater participation of household members in meaningful employment; comprehensive analysis and review of public sector pension systems, and support of the social investigation of various types, examination of needs assessment methodologies, and development of response options.
Anticipated targets for the duration of the project are the payment of grants, based on differentiated payment levels; piloting of a ‘Steps to Work’ (formerly ‘Welfare to Work’) programme, and undertaking a legal analysis of the Public Sector Pension System. The Social Protection Project will be jointly funded by the Government and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).