The assessment also highlighs that while the Saint Lucian Government provided a plethora of social programmes, the social protection landscape was highly fragmented across both governmental and non-governmental agencies, which created the enabling environment for inefficient and ineffective targeting of social programmes to those who need it most.

Specifically, the project will facilitate achievement of this through (i) strengthening the Social Protection Policy Framework and (ii) improved coverage and implementation of flagship social programmes. This is particularly important given the results of a Social Safety Net Assessment (2009) which identified high levels of leakage within the system resulting in substantial errors of inclusion and exclusion and estimated that only 25.0 percent of Saint Lucia’s poor were accessing any form of social assistance.

In 2015, Saint Lucia reached a major milestone with the approval of its National Social Protection Policy (NSPP) by the Cabinet of Ministers. This Policy, which aimed to strengthen the Social Protection System from a multidimensional approach, adopted a life-cycle, human development and rights-based approaches to addressing the needs of those living in poverty and vulnerable groups. However, it has been recognized that the policy is deficient in some critical aspects and is in need of updating to adequately reflect the critical issues of adaptability (ex-ante and ex-post) to shocks and climate change adaptation elements as well as issues around migration/displacement and gender-responsiveness as well as greater coordination, coherence and coverage. This also applies to a prepared Social Protection Bill, which had not yet been passed.

As mentioned earlier, Saint Lucia has a range of social protection programmes which are managed by various Ministries and Agencies – Governmental and Non-Governmental.  This, in part, accounts for evident fragmentation of the Social Protection System and the resulting inefficiencies, duplication of efforts land wastage.  The Project will however, focus on two flagship programmes which are administered through the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment: The Public Assistance Programme (PAP) and Koudmein Ste Lucie (KSL). The PAP is the largest Cash Transfer Programme in Saint Lucia providing approximately 2,613 households with direct cash benefits between XCD$215 – $465 monthly depending on household size. On the other hand, the KSL Programme, which is delivered through the Saint Lucia Social Development Fund covers one hundred (100) beneficiaries of the PAP with additional support along six (6) pillars: personal identification, health, education, family dynamics, housing and employment. As mentioned, the income pillar is provided through the PAP.