Mauritania Signs Additional Financing Agreement With World Bank to support the Social Safety Net System

The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Abdessalam Ould Mohamed Saleh, signed, Monday in Nouakchott, with the World Bank Representative in Mauritania, HE. Ms. Cristina Santos, a financing agreement provided by the International Development Association (IDA) within the framework of the second additional financing of the Social Safety Net System Support Project.
The financial envelope of this funding amounts to nineteen million seven hundred thousand (19,700,000) units of special drawing rights, equivalent to about one billion twenty-five million (1,025,000,000) new ouguiyas.
This project aims to increase the adaptation, effectiveness and efficiency of the national social safety net system and its coverage of poor and vulnerable households through targeted social transfers, including refugee and host groups.
In a speech on the occasion, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development explained that this funding aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the national social protection system by working on components, including updating the social register and encouraging its use, supporting the social and economic inclusion of poor families by strengthening and expanding the Takaful cash transfer program, in addition to supporting the climate shock response mechanism for vulnerable families through the development of the early warning system, the aid program and the climate shock response financing strategy.
He pointed out that the funding will enable the expansion of beneficiaries of the services of the national social protection system at the national level until 2025 and the integration of refugees on the national territory.
Since the launch of the first social protection project in 2015, Mauritania has made remarkable progress, said the World Bank Representative in Mauritania, noting that the establishment of the Social Registry, the expansion of the Takaful program, and the establishment of the Trauma Response System have transformed the social protection landscape in the country.
She added that the World Bank had the privilege of supporting these initiatives through Social Safety Net 1 from 2015 to 2020, and more recently through Social Safety Net 2 since 2020.