Myanmar kicked off the new year by adopting a new strategy that attempts to provide a social safety net to all its citizens for the first time.
Created in consultation with various development partners, the Social Protection Strategic Plan aims to gradually phase in eight flagship social protection programs over the next 10 years: provide cash allowances to pregnant women and children up to age 2, gradually extend those allowances to older children, provide cash allowances to people with disabilities, administer school nutrition programs, implement public employment and vocational education programs, introduce social pensions, establish self-help groups for the elderly, and provide integrated social protection services.
The result of a yearlong process, the strategy was devised with input from a large number of government ministries, U.N. agencies, and international and local nongovernmental organizations. These include UNICEF, the World Food Program, International Labor Organization, the World Bank, Save the Children and HelpAge International.