Mauritania

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Situation and Priorities

Social protection situation
Mauritania has made significant progress in its support to poor and vulnerable populations in recent years. Following the adoption of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) in 2013, the Government of Mauritania has developed a range of social protection tools and programmes, including regular and shock-responsive safety-nets (e.g. Tekavoul and El Maouna cash transfers, EMEL, School Feeding programmes), the deployment of the National Social Registry, the strengthening of the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) and the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM). However, these interventions remain fragmented, and critical gaps still exist.

On a very concrete level, the newly elected government (2019) has expressed strong commitment to expanding social protection coverage (including both safety nets and social security coverage) across the country. In late 2019 they announced a new agency to oversee all social protection policies, with an increased budget of US$64 million over five years.
COVID-19 and other crises
In March 2020 the government created a COVID-19 solidarity fund of US$80 million (1.1% of GDP). Social protection measures included exempting vulnerable families from utility bills for two months and providing cash transfers to 30,000 families for a three month period. The cash transfer programme was implemented with the support of the World Bank.
Government and social partner priorities
Among the highest priorities are to improve the coherence of the social protection system and to implement policies and initiatives aimed at extending social protection to those who are not covered by existing systems – mainly workers in the informal economy and the rural economy. This commitment is reflected in large-scale donor support for social protection currently in the pipeline. This includes extending the effective coverage of the CNAM to the private sector, who in theory are covered, but it is only used by the private sector in practice.

Results

The ILO has supported the Government of Mauritania since 2012 with policy development, implementation, and capacity-building measures related to the adoption of the National Social Protection Strategy. In 2019 the ILO provided technical support to the government, in particular in relation to the extension of social protection to workers in the informal economy.

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IMG
Marc Ninerola
Technical Officer