Rabat – The World Bank has announced approving a $70 million (more than MAD 696 million) loan to support Morocco’s ongoing social protection reform.
The project seeks to enable digital applications, reduce paperwork, and integrate advanced technologies to modernize the delivery of social service and improve targeting efficiency,
The financial institution said that the new initiative, “Morocco Second Identity and Targeting for Social Protection Project,” builds on the achievements of the first project, “which saw a successful design and implementation of the National Population Registry, Unified Social Registry, and enrollment of about half of the Kingdom’s population.”
It added that the new project aims to further support the “foundation of an innovative social protection system” and enable vulnerable communities’ access to social services.
The statement recalled King Mohammed’s call for an enhanced and more effective social protection system in 2018, which led to the creation of a unified social registry.
The World Bank noted that key achievements of this major reform include replacing the RAMED health insurance with AMO-Tadamon and the use of technology to better reach vulnerable communities.
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In late 2023, Morocco introduced the Direct Social Benefit program to cover more than half of the country’s population with an annual budget of nearly 1.6% of the Gross domestic product.
The new initiative, Morocco Second Identity and Targeting for Social Protection Project, seeks to strengthen the government’s social protection strategy through three components.
These include “reinforcing and extending coverage of the National Population Registry and operationalizing the National Register Agency, expanding and strengthening the Social Registry system, and focusing on project management, capacity building, and monitoring,” said the statement.
The project aims to extend coverage to rural and remote areas to streamline identification and authentication for social protection programs. This would allow locals to submit applications remotely and reduce paperwork.
The initiative is expected to impact at least five social programs by the end of 2024 and eight by 2028.
“The digitalization of the social protection delivery system will not only improve the targeting of social protection programs but will also help to guarantee that the most vulnerable populations have an increased access to modernized social services through better use of data and digital technologies,” said Moustapha Ndiaye, World Bank’s Country Director for the Maghreb and Malta.
