National Social Protection Strategy of Kingdom of Lesotho 2014/15 – 2018/19.

The National Social Protection Strategy is a national cross-sectoral strategy of the Kingdom of Lesotho for the period 2014/15 – 2018/19. Its main goal is to provide comprehensive inclusive social protection that reduces poverty, vulnerability and inequality, increases resilience to risks and shocks, promotes access to services and to the labour market, and stimulates economic growth and social stability.
The immediate objectives of the Strategy over the period to 2018/19 are to operationalise an integrated set of core social protection programmes aimed at reducing vulnerabilities throughout the life‐course; to establish coherent and progressive social protection synergies by ensuring strong positive linkages with ministries and key stakeholders; and to integrate and harmonise operational systems for the effective implementation of social protection programmes.
In more specific terms, the document aims for all women in formal employment to have the entitlement to benefit from a legally mandated, standardised maternity benefit; all households with children below the poverty line to receive the child grant on a per child basis, for each child still attending school; the priority social security benefits to be introduced in the period to 2018 such as employment injury and sickness benefits; the old age pension to be well established and robust; to have both an invalidity benefit as part of its social security system, and a specific disability grant for all citizens with severe disabilities in place by 2025; and to provide an integrated, effective and comprehensive social protection and disaster relief system, with improvements happening year on year.
Ministry of Labour and Employment and Ministry of Social Development will have distinct and clearly demarcated mandates for social security and social assistance respectively.