Teknisk rådgivning och stöd implementering av NSPP

The UNJPSP has contributed to making social protection to become one of the top priorities for the Government. The programme has been instrumental in the dialogue between Government and Cooperating Partners, including the IMF in their discussions with the Government. The UNJPSP has been important in giving policy advices to government and raising awareness on social protection. The programme consists of five pillars, in line with the National Social Protection Policy. Within the social protection sector there are many different programmes that have suffered from lack of coordination and efficiency. The UNJPSP has been highly instrumental in developing an Integrated Framework, which is a basis for increased coordination within the sector. A great deal of the UNJPSP has been technical assistance for the scale-up of the Social Cash Transfer Program (SCT), which is also supported by Sweden. In 2017 the number of beneficiary households increased from 242,000 to 537,766 at the end of 2017. This has required a substantial support from the UNJPSP in the form of technical expertise in program design, as well as strengthening financial control.  Within the Social Security Pillar the UNJPSP has contributed expertise on social insurance schemes that provide prevention against poverty across life, such as maternity, illness and old age, primarily through ILO. There has been a focus on the informal sector since that is where the most vulnerable workers are found. Much of the technical assistance has been on pension reforms, maternity insurance and a health insurance. A draft National Health Insurance Bill has been finalized and presented to the Parliament. A Maternity Protection Policy Paper has been finalized and a chapter on Maternity Protection has been added in the Social Protection Bill. These are important steps to increase maternity protection, especially in the informal sector.  Under the Livelihood and Empowerment Pillar, the UNJPSP focuses on interventions that aim to increase household capacity to generate income. An assessment has been done of the programme Food Security Pack, as well as a a scoping exercise to design an improved Food Security Pack. Assistance has been given to strengthen coherence between agriculture and social protection and to improve collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services. The Social Protection Pillar intends to enforce systems that prevent and respond to violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect of poor and vulnerable populations. The UNJPSP has supported the strengthening of structures that address trafficking and migration-related issues. Several steps for improvements in this area have been taken.  One important part has been to develop access for people with disabilities. The work of UNJPSP with the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities (ZAPD) has raised the capacity and profile of that agency and has played an important role in mainstreaming disability. This is reflected in the Social Cash Transfer Programme, where persons with disability are one of the target groups. In November 2017 the programme was evaluated in a Mid-term Review done by the consultant Nicholas Freeland. He concludes that the UNJPSP has been successful on several fronts and has even exceeded its outputs in many areas. All the institutions that the consultant met under the review were highly positive about the capacity building achievements of the UNJPSP.The report mention specifically the role of the programme when it comes to; - Social Cash Transfer scale-up  - Operationalisation of National Social Protection Policy - Disability  - Drafting of the Social Protection Bill and the Social Health Insurance Bill - Home Grown School Meals; UNJPSP has worked closely with the Ministry of General Education to improve the system of Home Grown School Meals -Migrants; Developing a framework for diversion and case management

The UN Joint Programme on Social Protection gives technical assistance to the Government of Zambia to deliver results on the National Social Protection Policy. It is a joint programme with UNICEF, ILO, WFP, FAO and IOM as implementing partners. The overall objectives are to; To expand social protection coverage To strengthen integrated delivery systems To support Communication creating a broader political support and commitment to social protection.