Cabo Verde’s Social Safety Net: Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis through Temporary Cash Transfers to the Poorest Households
Format
As a response to the negative economic effects resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Cabo Verde rapidly provided temporary cash transfers from July-December 2020 to 5,450 households, using its existing social protection delivery systems. A further expansion is underway to reach a total of 20,000 households between January and June 2021, of which over 80 percent are female-headed households. These cash transfers will enable them to better cope with the crisis.
Challenge
Strict containment measures were adopted in March 2020, and a state of emergency was declared for the first time in the country to reinforce the COVID-19 containment measures. Cabo Verde was one of the hardest hit countries in the region in terms of the economic downturn. The economy was projected to contract by 11 percent in 2020, and the pandemic was expected to h