Sahel region Establishing social protection systems with an effective crisis response

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Street vendors in Ouad Naga, Mauritania

The programme aims to help make the basic governmental social protection programmes already in place in the Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal better able to react to crises, in order to increase the population’s resilience to collective shocks such as droughts and pandemics. The SASPP supports these countries in determining where help is needed and delivering the required support as quickly as possible to those who need it most in a crisis situation.

The SASPP was able to help ensure that more than a million poor and vulnerable households in the Sahel region received additional cash transfers to cushion the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The SASPP also supports the development of social registers in the Sahel countries; over 2.7 million households were entered into these registers in the period up to June 2022.

Germany has contributed over 130 million euros to the SASPP, making it the programme’s biggest donor alongside the United Kingdom, Denmark and France. The regional programme is based on a strong partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Following the Global Forum on Adaptive Social Protection (External link) in June 2023, the “Sahel Day” was organised by the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the World Bank, in collaboration with the BMZ and GIZ. This regional event offered 55 participants from various organisations and representatives from Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauretania, Niger, Senegal and Chad the opportunity to discuss their experiences and approaches regarding the introduction and expansion of national social protection systems, to learn from each other and to develop possible courses of action.

More information about the event can be found here (External link).