The Revised Social Protection Policy is a nationwide, multisectoral policy framework that updates the 2014 National Social Protection Policy in response to evolving national development priorities, implementation challenges, and emerging opportunities. The 2014 Policy marked a significant shift in Zambia’s approach to social protection by establishing 4 core pillars: (1) Social Assistance, (2) Social Security/Social Insurance, (3) Livelihoods and Empowerment, and (4) Protection. Building on this foundation, the revised Policy adopts a life-cycle approach to social protection, recognizing that individuals face different risks and vulnerabilities at different stages of life. The Policy seeks to ensure the effective, efficient, inclusive, and comprehensive delivery of social protection interventions across the life cycle, with particular attention to maternity and early childhood, childhood and adolescence, youth, adulthood, and old age. It broadens the scope of social protection to include access to essential goods and services, protection against risks and shocks, and the promotion of individual and social development opportunities. The Policy provides a framework for coordinating interventions aimed at improving the welfare and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable populations, reducing poverty and inequality, enhancing social security, and strengthening protection mechanisms throughout the life cycle. It also reflects the Government’s commitment to advancing human and social development through the implementation of both contributory and non-contributory social protection programmes, as well as complementary social services and subsidy-based interventions tailored to the diverse needs of the population. In addition, the Policy promotes investment in social protection throughout all phases of life and provides guidance for the implementation of shock-responsive interventions, the strengthening of social protection systems, and the enhancement of inclusive service delivery. Through life-stage-specific measures, it aims to address vulnerabilities from birth to old age in a comprehensive manner, thereby contributing to resilience, social inclusion, and sustainable national development. The Policy outlines the following objectives (i) enhance provision of social protection throughout the lifecycle; (ii) strengthen provision of nutrition sensitive social protection; (iii) enhance shock responsiveness of social protection; (iv) enhance institutional frameworks for social protection; (v) enhance sustained financing of social protection programmes; (vi) enhance advocacy and communication in social protection; (vii) strengthen the integration of cross-cutting issues in social protection. To achieve its objectives, the Policy provides for a range of measures aimed at strengthening social protection across the life cycle. These include expanding access to social protection programmes for all age groups, establishing life-cycle-based social protection grants, extending benefits—including maternity and paternity benefits—to workers in the informal economy, and enhancing coverage of services for early childhood development, children, youth, and adults. The Policy further promotes nutrition-sensitive social protection through the integration of nutrition-specific interventions into social protection programmes, capacity building for implementers, social and behavioural change initiatives, strengthened coordination among stakeholders, and improved monitoring and evaluation of nutritional outcomes. To enhance resilience to shocks, the Policy calls for strengthening institutional and technical capacities for shock-responsive social protection, mainstreaming climate resilience and anticipatory action, and improving coordination mechanisms. It also seeks to ensure sustainable financing through strengthened administrative and financial capacities, the development of sustainable financing mechanisms, the adoption of international good practices, the expansion of fiscal space, and the establishment of financing arrangements for shock-responsive interventions. In addition, the Policy aims to strengthen institutional frameworks by enhancing coordination, decentralizing service delivery, harmonizing institutional arrangements, digitizing social protection systems, integrating management information systems, promoting graduation from social protection programmes, improving monitoring and evaluation, and building capacity at both national and local levels. To improve advocacy and communication, the Policy provides for affirmative action measures supporting women, men, children, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups, while strengthening social accountability, evidence generation, communication strategies, and digital inclusion initiatives. Finally, the Policy integrates cross-cutting issues by promoting gender-transformative social protection, strengthening the role of social protection in mitigating the social and economic impacts of HIV, and expanding disability-inclusive social protection measures to enhance resilience and access to essential services for persons with disabilities.
Zambie · 2025-01-01