On behalf of the European Union Delegation to Lesotho, I am delighted to be here with you today for the launch of Lesotho’s National Social Protection Strategy 2 (2021-2031).

This is indeed a crucial milestone in the 15-year long partnership between the Kingdom of Lesotho, the European Union, and UNICEF, in support of social protection.

A partnership with tangible results for the lives of Basotho, such as:

• The piloting and establishment of the Child Grants Programme, one of the most pro-poor social programmes in the country
• The development of the National Information System on Social Assistance (NISSA), a social registry – covering over 90% of the population – to help target social assistance and other programmes to the most vulnerable.
• In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, NISSA proved to be crucial for the horizontal and vertical expansion of social assistance to over 55,000 vulnerable households.

In the years before the pandemic (data refers to 2002-2017), the poverty rate in Lesotho declined from 56.6% to 49.7%, inequality was also reduced.

Social protection significantly contributed to these positive trends.

Today, however, we face unprecedented circumstances that risk reversing these trends.

Covid-19 continues to have profound socio-economic consequences, especially on the most vulnerable.

The ripple effects of the war in Ukraine have produced an unparalleled spike in food and energy costs, placing enormous strains on households and public finances.

These multiple crises are exacerbated by the existential threat of our times, climate change.

For 65% of children in Lesotho who are at risk of multi-dimensional poverty, all this means becoming more vulnerable to child labour, trafficking, early marriage, unintended pregnancies, or various other forms of violence.

In these times, a strong social protection system can make a difference for the future of these children.

The incoming government faces difficult choices, but I invite everyone not to see social protection as a simple handout, but as an investment.

The strategy says – I quote – “a comprehensive and well-designed social protection system can be seen as a sound economic investment that promotes social and political stability”.

Not only an instrument to reduce poverty and inequality, but also to promote economic development and social cohesion.

What do we mean by “a comprehensive and well-designed social protection system”?

Essentially three things:

FIRST, a system that targets the most vulnerable – 65% of children between birth and their 17^th birthday who are at risk of multi-dimensional poverty. Currently, only 9% of core social assistance spending goes to the CGP. CGP competes for financial resources with programmes benefitting the more affluent youth. Only 1 % of Basotho youth attend tertiary education, yet over 75% of complementary social assistance is allocated to the Tertiary Bursary.

SECOND, a system that is linked and creates synergies between government ministries and other programmes and services.

THIRD, a system that is efficient. NISSA, with its potential to become the central targeting system, offers enormous efficiency gains. So can digital innovations and the transition to digital payments – improving not only the transparency of social protection, but also its cost.

The strategy embodies this vision of a TARGETED, LINKED and EFFICIENT social protection system.

Its launch could not be more timely. The European Union and Lesotho’s new cooperation strategy until 2027 places social protection at its heart and we are willing to support the implementation of the strategy.

Only two weeks ago, we adopted a new programme to support Lesotho’s efforts to translate the vision of this strategy, the vision of an Equitable Lesotho, into reality.

We look forward to its implementation and our continued partnership.