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Rabat – Morocco and India are working on a joint social register to curtail inequalities and social disparities.
According to the World Bank, Morocco and India launched the India-Morocco Social Register cooperation on Monday, August 27.
Ferid Belhaj, the World Bank vice president for the MENA region, who is currently on a three-day visit to Morocco, attended the launch.
Promoting inclusive economic growth, improving education quality, facilitating access to health programs, and implementing more effective social protection programs are among the project’s top priorities, the World Bank noted.
Following his meeting yesterday with the new Moroccan minister of economy, Mohamed Benchaaboun, Belhaj also took part in the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Morocco’s Ministry of Interior and India’s Bangalore-based Institute of Technology.
The memorandum is expected to cement institutional ties between the two countries, with the goal of using common digital tools to identify and meet the needs of their respective populations.
Based on the World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) program, the joint Morocco-India social register initiative will have Bangalore’s Institute of Technology cooperate with Morocco’s interior ministry to identify the needs and aspirations of the countries’ most marginalized families and regions.
According to government sources from the two countries, the project is part of a World Bank-backed initiative to boost social equality and promote an inclusive growth model. The overall plan is to improve living conditions for traditionally marginalized populations.
The World Bank, which will help finance the $100 million project, has declared that the project will be a platform to “facilitate South-South cooperation,” especially in expertise sharing and poverty reduction.
The project will be operational in 2020, and according to Moroccan authorities, its implementation is a priority for the Moroccan government because it reflects the driving spirit of King Mohammed VI’s society and inclusive growth-oriented Throne Day speech.
“I view the new initiative to set up a ‘consolidated social register’ as a promising start for the gradual improvement of social welfare programs over the short and medium terms.
This is a national registration system to identify families that truly deserve to benefit from social assistance programs,” the King said.
The King added that new technology would be used to identify and cater to the needs of marginalized sections of Moroccan society.
