Reduce Rural Poverty

Policy options for the Lesotho Child Grants Programme

Published:
Policy Briefs: Policy Brief

The Lesotho Child Grants Programme (CGP) is an unconditional social cash transfer targeted to poor and vulnerable households. The objective of the CGP is to improve the living standards of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) so as to reduce malnutrition, improve health status and increase school enrolment among OVC. Households are selected through a combination of proxy means testing and community validation and registered in the National Information System for Social Assistance (NISSA). The programme is run by the Ministry of Social Development, with financial support from the European Commission and technical support from UNICEF-Lesotho. As of March 2014, the CGP reached 19 800 households and provided benefits for approximately 65 000 children across 10 districts in Lesotho. Households currently receive quarterly a transfer indexed to their number of children, ranging from M360 for households with 1-2 children, M600 for households with 3-4 children, to M750 for households with 5 children or more.