This country report on coherence between social protection and productive interventions draws on various studies conducted in Lesotho, using two programmes implemented under the leadership of one single ministry as a case study: the figu (CGP) and a complementary livelihood intervention, with preferential targeting of households participating in the CGP, which was called Sustainable Poverty Reduction through Income, Nutrition and access to Government Services (SPRINGS). The Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) is directly responsible for the CGP. While SPRINGS involved many actors, MoSD retained a critical leadership role in the programme.

The research questions were defined across four areas of inquiry: 1) beneficiary households’ income and economic security through productive activities and market engagement; 2) financial inclusion and willingness to take risk; 3) changes in dietary practices and nutrition for adults and children; 4) local economy effects. The first three domains are analysed separately for households benefitting from the CGP alone, compared to those receiving both CGP and SPRINGS, and are investigated through mixed quantitative and qualitative impact evaluation methods. The impacts on the local economy are detected through a Local Economy-Wide Impact Evaluation methodology, which allows the quantification of local income and production spillover effects in the local economy brought about by the programmes on beneficiary and non-beneficiary households. In turn, the institutional analysis included in this report provides insight into the institutional mechanisms, processes and tools that facilitated or hindered coordination between the social protection and productive dimensions of the CGP and SPRINGS programmes