EDITORIAL: Strengthen social protection schemes

A new report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has praised the impact of the State-funded Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP), a social protection initiative that has since helped improve the wellbeing of vulnerable citizens across the country. With an annual budget of up to Rwf15 billion, the country’s flagship social protection programme encompasses four components; public works, direct cash transfers, financial services and social affairs. This is not the first study to document the significant role of VUP in helping alleviate extreme poverty, especially in the countryside, and creating economic opportunities for the most vulnerable. Many beneficiaries have attested to how their lives have since changed thanks to this programme – subsequently enabling them to meaningfully contribute to the country’s transformation. While more and more Rwandans continue to beat the poverty trap owing to such pro-people schemes, there is need to consolidate the gains made thus far and to scale up these interventions to ensure that beneficiaries are empowered enough to stand on their own in the future. For instance, it is important that able-bodied beneficiaries are given skills to engage in income-generating activities. Also, there should be a holistic, multi-sectoral approach at the grassroots level to ensure that all the interventions geared at alleviating poverty and improve livelihoods, by every stakeholder, are carried out in a way that will leave a lasting impact on the community.

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EDITORIAL: Strengthen social protection schemes