Francisca
MUJAWASE and Didas KAYITARE
Rwanda’s social protection floor is
established mainly on non-contributory schemes where the state is responsible
for financing programmes that benefit poor and vulnerable households. In Rwanda
social protection programmes and other developmental approaches target
households as a unit entity. Social security schemes exist for a small elite
population that directly contribute for their future income security. Only 10% of the population in Rwanda is covered by social insurance scheme. The
biggest share of the contributors is public servants followed by a small
portion of the private/individual contributors. In 2018, in an effort to extend
social security to the informal economy, the government of Rwanda introduced and
piloted a new social security scheme that responds to the needs of the informal
sector. The long term saving scheme known as “Ejo Heza” intends to guarantee a smooth income flow for the poor Rwandan
population in their old age and improving the quality of life during
retirement.
Poverty levels and levels of vulnerability in
Rwanda vary by region, age, gender and education background. Data shows that young
people under 21 years of age and adults beyond 60 years are prone to
poverty than any other population group. Gender differences in poverty levels
in Rwanda are significant where by female headed households experience poverty
more than male headed households. Factors that contribute to this
situation include women’s engagement in unpaid care and domestic work, low
levels of education which puts women at risk of being disadvantaged in the
labor market, sustained effects of Gender based violence, and limited access to
and use of productive resources etc. These factors and many others put women at a risk of
experiencing poverty compared to their counterparts. Despite the fact that poverty
levels in Rwanda tremendously declined in the last decade, a significant
segment of the population remains in poverty where majority are women. However, a positive trend in poverty reduction among female headed households was recorded as significant with 4.4 percentage points within a period of four years attributed from a reduction in poverty from 43.9 percent in 2013/14 to 39.5 percent in 2016/17. Similarly, a decline in extreme
poverty among female headed households was recorded from 19.5 percent in 2013/14 to
17.8 percent in 2016/17. On the other hand numbers of female headed households
categorized under moderate poor declined from 24.4 percent to 21.7 percent.
VUP is the vast non-contributory social
protection programme launched in 2008 to respond to worrying poverty trends
reported in the country at the time. The programme is a means tested and
financed through domestic taxation. VUP has three components that target
different categories of poor household’s depending on their levels of vulnerability.
Component (1) is Direct Support (DS) programme eligible for poor elderly
household heads with no capacity to work. Component (2) is a public works
programme. This is a short-term programme for identified poor households in
Ubudehe category 1 and 2 eligible to the household whose household head has the
capacity to work. Component (3) is financial services. The programme provides poor
households in Ubudehe category (1, 2 and 3) low interest loans to invest in
income generating activities.
Existing data shows that there are more female
beneficiaries of VUP than males. The number of beneficiaries increased over the
years under component 1 and 2 except for financial services which slightly
reported a decline on enrollments. Under VUP direct support, female
beneficiaries accounted for 60.4 percent in 2013/14. The programme reported an
increase in the number of beneficiaries to 64.4 percent in 2016/17. Under
public works programme, female beneficiaries accounted for 54.7 percent of VUP
beneficiaries in 2013/14 while the numbers increased slightly to 56.4 percent
in 2016/17. However, data shows a slight decreased in the proportion of female
participants of VUP financial services from 55.9 percent in 2013/14 to 51.2
percent.
Among other demographic variations in VUP
beneficiaries, 65.9 percent of recipients of VUP were female headed households
in 2013/14. The number slightly increased to 67.8 percent in 2016/17. However, disparities
in enrollment under public works remain unpleasant. The percentage of female household
head participating in VUP public works was reported as low as 24.7 percent in
2013/14. In 2016/17 however, the number of female headed households participating in
VUP public works almost doubled to 45.4 percent as a result of the newly
adopted gender inclusion guidelines on VUP programme. Further, data shows
gender disparities in VUP financial services. Only 16.6 percent of participants
of VUP financial services were females. The numbers were reported as constant
in the 2016/17.
In Rwanda, VUP has proved to have positive
impact on household material well-being in the short term. According to Integrated Households Conditions Survey 2017 (EICV5), VUP
beneficiaries reported that cash transfer enables them to acquire basic
household needs such as food, caters for household affiliation to health insurance and financing
education for their children. Social protection programmes also advance women’s
empowerment in managing resources directly given to them. The programme has
also contributed significantly to household asset accumulation such as
livestock specifically among VUP direct support beneficiaries. Studies shows
that provision of basic social assistance transfer to poor households with
young children and a modest pension to the elderly population could reduce poverty
incidence by 40%, and the programme was reported as a major contributor towards
achievement of the first round of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The EICV5 VUP report shows the breakdown
changes in the VUP status on household conditions and poverty transition. 38.9
percent of VUP participants enrolled on (DS) VUP in 2014 were poor. By 2017, only
20.6
percent of (DS) beneficiaries maintained their poverty status after enrolling on the programme for fours years. The results shows that 18.3 percent of (DS) beneficiaries dropped out of poverty within the period of
four years. The reported number of beneficiaries who graduated out of poverty
is not dis-aggregated by gender but the important aspect in the equation is that
64.4 percent of beneficiaries under VUP direct support programmes are females
which mean that female beneficiaries of VUP direct support benefited significantly
from the programme. Further analysis reveals change in household
consumption expenditure among (DS) beneficiaries. In 2014, 46.5 percent of beneficiaries
recorded an increase in welfare in 2014. The number had increased to 55.9 percent by 2017 for all those beneficiaries who enrolled on the programme until 2017.
Among
other livelihood indicators reported include acquisition of basic economic
necessities such as asset accumulation. 20.8 percent of beneficiaries of VUP
direct support owned a mobile phone, 30.8 percent owned a radio, 0.7 percent
owned a TV set, while 79.2 percent engaged in poultry farming and livestock
keeping and more than 90 percent owned a saving account. Through the
multi-sector integrated programmes, the EICV 5 reported that 36.6 percent of
female headed households received additional public income support excluding
(VUP). Given the description of (DS)
beneficiaries old and unable to work, only 0.8 percent engaged in productive
work while 0.1 percent engaged in off-farm jobs. Another appealing statistics
is that 57 percent of (DS) supported households maintained the number of their
household size between 2014 and 2017 which reduces the burden of spending on
family. In the previous section we saw that 18.3 percent of DS beneficiaries
dropped out of poverty. The EICV5 VUP report present reasons that justify
dropout of beneficiaries from the VUP programme. 43.2 percent of VUP
beneficiaries reported to have moved to
another (Upper level of Ubudehe group) as the leading cause. Meaning that the
beneficiaries of the programme are no longer poor or they graduated out of poverty.
VUP program
presents sound evidence not only for smoothing household income during
economic shocks but also presents future investments that tackles inter-generational poverty and inequalities. However, the programme has several challenges among
which sustaining poor households from falling back into poverty remains a
complex puzzle. In addition, immediate results achieved and reported could be weighed as
short term benefits and not sustained solutions to eradicate poverty. However the short term results achieved are so important to the extreme poor households because they gain minimum level of resources to meet their basic needs. In the
long run however livelihood support programmes such as education and health
may positively contribute to the graduation of poor households from
poverty. The good news is that
eradicating poverty in Rwanda is a government priority set out in the current
national strategy for transformation and the long term Vision2020 development
programme. A minimum package programme under VUP has also been piloted to test a defined package of assistance which is need to end poverty among the extreme poor households.
