To support the development of evidence-based policy dialogue to enhance the social and economic inclusion of poor and vulnerable rural households with a particular focus on participants of social protection programmes.

Status of the subprogramme
On going

SET-UP AND PLANNING

• Project became operational in September 2019 following series of consultations between relevant FAO divisions. An interdivisional task force meeting was held in December 2019, and a project team is now in place and fully operational.

PARTNERSHIP

• FAO revamped partnership with Partnership for Economic Inclusion (PEI), hosted by the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank. This is a strategic partnership to further highlight FAO’s contribution around social protection and economic inclusion for rural poverty reduction. FAO is actively engaged in the redefinition of the PEI’s approach, as well as in the current development of the State of Economic Inclusion publication.
• Tanzania and the Philippines: FAO working in close partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), including in joint resource mobilization activities.

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

• Organized series of webinars for the Social Cabinet in Paraguay to enhance knowledge and capacity around rural social protection, social protection and economic inclusion and mainstreaming indigenous peoples’ development in social protection programmes.
• Extensive technical support provided to Government of Paraguay in development of the National Social Protection Strategy (Vamos!) and National Poverty Reduction Plan.
• Strategically supported design of short capacity building course for technical professionals responsible for implementing Vamos! at territorial level.
• Organized regional seminar on rural poverty reduction policies in Paraguay to exchange lessons and promising practices in the region (more than 60 participants).
• Provided extensive support to Philippines’ Department of Social Welfare and Development in its commitment to lead adoption and institutionalization of shock-responsive social protection roadmap.
• Provided technical assistance in Uganda for development and review of Social Protection Sector Review, Social Development Sector Plan (2020-25) and new Agriculture Sector Strategic Plan (2020-25).

POLICY ADVICE

• The activities carried out thus far played a critical role in all subprogramme countries in providing strategic policy advice on three core areas: the need to effectively expand social protection in rural areas and ensure adequate design of programmes; the role of social protection in economic inclusion; and the need to foster effective multi-sector coordination at national and territorial levels.
• Activities also played a critical role in facilitating exchange between agriculture and social protection sectors, promoting stronger integrated approach to poverty reduction. The project’s market analysis component will support and facilitate engagement of other actors (civil society, community, producer organizations) – a critical element of strengthening economic capacity at territorial levels.

CATALYTIC EFFECTS

• Philippines: Activities will be complemented and aligned with recently approved SDG Fund Project – Social Protection window, developed in partnership with UNICEF and the WB.
• Paraguay: Internal funds (national and regional TCPs) and Multidisciplinary Fund (MDF) funds were mobilized to support programmatic approach proposed by project activities. Subprogramme is supporting upscaling of activities implemented by three other FAO Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) projects: Productive inclusion of rural poverty reduction in Paraguay and Technical assistance for the design and implementation of the National Poverty Reduction Plan (TCP/PAR/3705), and Enhancing the development of social protection policies in Latin America and the Caribbean (TCP/RLA/3612).

CROSS-SECTORAL WORK

• Paraguay: Activities involve multiple ministries and sectors, with specific focus on promoting multi-sector and joint planning at national level and joint programming at sub-national level. Gender and multicultural components (particularly in indigenous areas) are also being integrated into the revision of the Social Protection Strategy and Poverty Reduction Plan. The experience of FAO in supporting the Government in the development of its National Indigenous Peoples Strategy will complement integration of a multi-cultural lens in Vamos! as well as in implementation of the Poverty Reduction Plan at territorial level.
• Philippines and Uganda: Activities prioritize multi-sector coordination between social protection and agriculture sectors to enhance impact of economic inclusion approaches.
• Tanzania: Analytical work is supporting generation of key evidence to further enhance policy changes across social protection and economic inclusion national strategies.

GENDER

• Work in Paraguay on gender-sensitive programming in social protection and economic inclusion is embedded in all actions of the work plan. FAO and the Government partnered to write and launch the National Framework for Social Protection Policies/Programmes for Rural Women, followed by a workshop to build capacity within key ministries on how to implement the guidelines.
• Activities in the work plan relating to mapping, analysis and development of inclusive value chains and food systems have specific gender components that will support the Government in addressing this agenda at both national and territorial levels within the implementation of Vamos! and the National Plan for Poverty Reduction.

INNOVATION

• Subprogramme’s digital inclusion component is an innovative approach to enhance access to information for rural farmers in Tanzania. The M-Kilimo App is being studied to understand functions and modules that can be integrated into the FAO Digital Services Portfolio. Technical team is studying existing technological infrastructure, so that the offering of the FAO Digital Services Portfolio meets Tanzania’s needs.
• FAO is integrating the market access analysis methodology in the context of a social protection strategy at country level to explore potential economic opportunities for poorest and most vulnerable rural populations. The local economy-wide impact evaluation simulations will be able to assess not only income and productive multipliers of various components of the Productive Social Safety Nets programme but also determine the potential for jobs creation in rural local economies.

CHALLENGES and LESSONS LEARNED

• Some delays are being experienced with the hiring of the service provider that will be responsible for the data collection of territorial markets and non-farm enterprises. In addition, some additional delays are to be expected, for the company to get permits for researchers.
• The information gap due to staff turnover of the previous Technical Officers has been addressed and the synergy between project management team and technical team has been reached to proceed.

FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Immediate follow-up actions include:
Paraguay:

• Final agreement with the Government to start design and implementation of pilots under Vamos! and the Rural Poverty Reduction Plan Philippines:
• Philippines: Given the approval of the National Social Protection Operational Framework FAO will support the finalization of National Social Protection Plan and the application of this within the Bangsamoro Regional Development Plan. In addition to this, FAO, in partnership with the Ministry of Interior and Local Government (MILG) and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services (PAGASA), will start the development of tools to measure and predict impact of natural disasters affecting Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) (i.e. floods, drought, typhoons) on vulnerable population. A joint work plan is also now being developed to support the adoption of the Shock Responsive Social Protection (SRSP) roadmap.

Tanzania:

• Finalize the contractual agreement in Tanzania to then start the implementation of data collection for the market analysis and the local economy simulations of the total impacts (direct and indirect) of the cash transfer and public works components of the Productive Social Safety Net programme.

Uganda:

• Preparation of a national conference on agriculture and social protection in Uganda
• Explore the feasibility of a microsimulation analysis in Uganda with the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER).

Global: Organize first task force meeting with the four countries.