SOCIAL SAFETY NET INITIATIVE
Protecting the most vulnerable children in Tunisia
Contribution: 60 Million USD (2022-2024)
The Social Safety Net is a United States Government funded initiative that includes a $60 million grant to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) for direct cash transfers to the most vulnerable households across Tunisia. The program will fund a doubling of the Tunisian Government’s back-to-school financial stipend for 421,000 children for the 2022-2023 school year and a monthly child benefit for 305,000 children 6 to 18 years old for 11 months. The program was launched in September 2022 and runs for 28 months through December 2024.
The program was designed in response to the negative socioeconomic impacts of the crisis in Ukraine on the most vulnerable children and will enable the Ministry of Social Affairs to expand the child benefit to children aged 6-18 from poor and vulnerable households registered in the national social protection program AMEN Social.
Thanks to funding from USAID, all beneficiary households from AMEN Social will receive the monthly child benefit enabling families to mitigate the impacts of price increases on children’s food consumption and nutrition and supporting children’s continued school attendance and access to health care.
By reaching all children in the AMEN Social program, the Social Safety Net program protects Tunisia’s human capital amid compound crises, directly contributing to the national social protection program and government economic reform agenda for inclusive growth.
The program will be complemented by accompanying measures to strengthen children and families food security, nutrition, and early childhood development; the national school drop-out prevention and response programs; capacities of social workers; water, sanitation, and hygiene in public institutions in most vulnerable areas of the country; and data collection and evidence generation for children.
