1 Briefing Paper: Coordination and coverage of Social Protection initiatives in

Mozambique enjoys a wide range of initiatives to address vulnerability through social protection projects and programmes. Yet these have not coalesced into a coherent national strategy on social protection. Existing interventions tend to be sectoral and, or narrowly defined, whilst institutional arrangements are complex and sometimes confusing. There is a whole web of imperfectly connected or intersecting public agencies, statutory committees, and ad hoc coordination bodies that cross over several line ministries as well as between emergency/disaster led institutions and those trying to implement more continuous social support for vulnerable groups. The Government of Mozambique has received praise for rapid response to emergency situations; yet such response by its nature is short term and temporary. Coverage of interventions aimed to address life-cycle and chronic vulnerability is extremely limited in terms of numbers reached and assistance provided. Government funded social assistance schemes reach only a fraction of the people that ought to be eligible according to target group criteria and often fail to reach the most vulnerable. The INAS cash transfer (‘food subsidy programme’) has the widest coverage o