86072 Rwanda Third Support to the Social Protection System Chair Summary* March 13, 2014 Executive Directors approved a credit in the amount of SDR 29.9 million (USD 46 million equivalent) and grant in the amount of SDR 15.6 million (USD 24 million) to the Republic of Rwanda for the Third Support to the Social Protection System on the payment terms and conditions set out in the President’s Memorandum. Directors underscored the important role of social protection in addressing poverty and inequality in Rwanda. In particular, Directors highlighted that the Support to the Social Protection series has been instrumental to the country’s capacity to achieve continued gains in strengthening their national social protection system and reducing poverty and extreme poverty. They noted the foundational support provided for policy reforms to establish a robust, coordinated social protection system able to provide effective and efficient targeted transfers, temporary employment, financial services and community capacity building. These are recognized as key ingredients to address poverty and boost shared prosperity in the medium term by protecting and building productive assets, notably human capital. While Directors appreciated the remarkable reduction in poverty over the past decade, there was some concern about progress towards the MDGs on poverty, hunger and environment; they noted that continued work will be needed in strengthening Rwanda’s social protection system. This will include a focus on expanding coverage of the poor and vulnerable and on strengthening core sub-systems used for ensuring effective service delivery such as poverty targeting, capacity building and performance monitoring. Directors also recognized that Rwanda has been vulnerable to fluctuations in external foreign assistance. Finding a way to address this challenge, as well as to safeguard important gains achieved under this program, was highlighted by Directors. Directors welcomed the collaboration among stakeholders, including development partners and civil society, and reinforced the need to strengthen coordination within intergovernmental agencies. Finally, they underscored learning from previous experiences particularly through impact evaluations. __________________________________ *This summary is not an approved record.