Social Protection Sector Strategy.

The Social Protection Sector Strategy is a sectoral national strategy of Afghanistan in force for the period of 2008-2013. Its main objective is to support economic growth by improving human capital accumulation and to support stability of the country by reducing poverty and increasing social inclusion.
The Strategy aims to decrease by 5 percent proportion of people who suffer from hunger by end-2010. Additionally, it notes that promotion of gender equality and narrowing of the gender gap has been identified as an important priority for the Strategy. The proposed public arrangements require the Government to introduce new social protection benefits for both female-headed households and women victims of violence. According to the document, the future social protection public arrangements will include food aid programs in order to increase girls’ enrolment in schools. According to the Strategy, Afghanistan is also vulnerable to natural hazards. Widespread poverty increases pressure on natural resources. Massive deforestation has already contributed to soil instability and weakening of the flood protection. Consequently, it recommends introduction of re-forestation as a new national development program. The Program organized in the form of public works would not only provide jobs for the poor, but will also decrease the risk of floods.
The implementation of the Social Protection Sector Strategy will support the Government’s overall efforts to reduce poverty. Given the nature of poverty, most public arrangements will target the rural poor. Poverty reduction, especially in rural areas, will result in a number of the rural poor currently involved in opium production to become less vulnerable and less dependent on opium proceeds. Public arrangements for social risk management and mitigation are aimed at (i) preventing the poor from falling into deeper poverty; (ii) helping the poor to climb out of poverty, and (iii) preventing other vulnerable groups (close to poverty line) from falling into poverty. Among several pro-poor targets, the most important one will be to lower poverty by 2 percent on an annual basis. The Strategy, however, also indicates that poverty reduction is multidimensional and social protection, while crucial, can only play a limited role. The role of other sectors such as Education, Health, Agriculture and Rural Development is equally important. The document notes that given the huge needs of the Afghan poor and very limited resources social protection policies will have to focus on supporting the most vulnerable.
Implementation of the Social Protection Sector Strategy will primarily be the responsibility of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and the Disabled and the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority. However, other ministries will also play important roles in implementing future social protection policies. The role of the NGOs in implementation of the social protection policies will strengthen. The NGOs will be main service providers and will play key role in implementing program and projects for some important vulnerable groups such as women and children “at risk”. The Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board mechanism will be used to monitor implementation of the Strategy and the Working Group on Social Protection will be the main forum to monitor progress in implementation.