Academics have expressed concern about possible data manipulation and privacy in relation to a “Social Registry” the NDA government plans to create as a one-stop database of households’ economic status that will help identify potential beneficiaries of welfare schemes.
Officials have said the registry will replace the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), which contained both caste and financial data of families. Critics allege the government fears the SECC might spark unrest by showing, purportedly, that the disadvantaged castes are not getting their share of jobs.
Advertisement
Having conducted the lone SECC as far back as 2011-12, the rural development ministry has been looking for updated data to identify beneficiaries for its welfare schemes. In 2017, it proposed the Social Registry.
WFP Mauritania Country Brief, April 2021
Format
Operational Updates
• WFP completed the household targeting process for the lean season assistance in the region of Tagant (a predominantly pastoral area). Overall, 19,954 targeted beneficiaries will receive cash distributions complemented with blanket supplementary feeding in mid-May 2021 to meet their needs during the peak of the lean season and to prevent malnutrition for pregnant and lactating women and girls (PLW/Gs) and children. Lean season intervention is part of the adaptive social protection system that the Government is gradually putting in place nationwide with the support of WFP and other technical and financial partners.
• As part of food assistance for assets (FFA) activities, a bootcamp on water and soil conservation techniques and soil defence and restoration methods took place in the Hodh El Charghi region (7 to 9 April). Thirty-one actors among technical services, cooperating partners, and WFP staff are now eq
Mauritania: Supporting inclusion of refugees in the national social safety net
Format
OVERVIEW
Since 2012, Mauritania has been hosting Malian refugees on its territory following the outbreak of the security crisis in Mali. As of January 2021, there are some 63,600 Malian refugees in the arid south-east Bassikounou area, where Mbera refugee camp is located, and some 5,900 urban refugees and asylum-seekers in the cities of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou. While some refugees are on the path to self-reliance, others find it difficult to meet their basic needs.
Conscious of the likely prolonged nature of forced displacement in the country, the Government of Mauritania is strongly committed to ensuring the protection of refugees while promoting their increased self-reliance and the resilience of host communities.