Overview

The National Social Safety-Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO) was established in 2016 by the Government of Nigeria in partnership with the World Bank to strengthen social safety nets and social protection system in Nigeria as a core strategy to help end extreme poverty and to promote shared prosperity. The core mandate of NASSCO therefore is to lay a strong foundation of rigorous and reliable evidence of poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria, by building a National Social Register (NSR), as well as coordinate, refine and integrate the social safety-net programs into social protection systems, while ensuring policy coherence.

Social safety-nets are part of broader social protection systems comprising non-contributory transfers in cash or in kind, designed to provide support for the poor and vulnerable. Social safety-nets play a number of important roles. For example, they help alleviate poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition; they contribute by reducing inequality and boosting shared prosperity; they support households in coping with shocks; they help build human capital and connect people to job opportunities; and they are an important factor in shaping social contract between the government and citizens.

In Nigeria the flagship programs that are targeted to help the poor and vulnerable include: the National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO), implementing cash transfers to targeted vulnerable households; Youth Empowerment and Social Support Operations (YESSO), supporting vulnerable youths with life skills trainings, grants and reorientation; and the Community and Social Development Project (CSDP) providing grants to boost the development agenda of vulnerable communities. These programs were encapsulated in the Government of Nigeria National Social Safety Nets Project (NASSP).

POLICIES & PRINCIPLES

Protection Policy

The National Social Safety Nets Project (NASSP) is set within the wider real of the Nigerian National Social Protection Policy, in which social safety nets are part of the broader social protection system.

System Building Blocks

The NASSP, therefore, provides system building blocks that allow the Government to target and deliver a range of programs to poor and vulnerable households (PVHH) more effectively and efficiently through the dynamic use of the National Social Registry (NSR).

Gender Policy

NASSP also supports the Nigeria Gender Policy, which names social protection as a key sector for promoting gender equality and mainstreaming gender in development interventions.

Creation

Create synergy across programs for optimization of use of resources and impact;

Coordination

Coordinate and consolidate information from the various social safety net programs;

Facilitation

Facilitate and support State Operations Coordinating Units (SOCUs) to conduct identification and registration of Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHs)

Establishment

Establish and facilitate the use of the NSR

Knowledge Generation

Generate knowledge to inform policy and programming (e.g. livelihoods, knowledge management)

Efficient Communication

Ensure efficient communication and facilitate knowledge management and experience sharing;

Implementation

Facilitate implementation of National Steering Committee (NSC) NSC decisions across programs;

Dissemination

Disseminate and publish social safety net policies and guidelines; and

Links Provision

Provide appropriate links between government, development partners, private sectors and NGOs on social safety nets.

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