In 2020, the World Bank Group approved $70 million of funding for the Emergency Response and Nafa Program Support Project to support Guinea’s efforts to further strengthen the country’s social protection system. The foundations for Guinea’s social protection system were first established through the Bank’s productive safety nets project, which closed in December 2020. Generally, Guinea’s efforts to fight poverty have historically been hampered by a vulnerability to shocks, including the Ebola epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic. 

The overall project objective is to “develop the building blocks of a national shock-responsive social protection system and increase access to shock-responsive safety nets for poor and vulnerable households.” Project components include: (1) delivering emergency cash transfers as part of the COVID-19 response; (2) providing support to cash transfers and accompanying measures under the Nafa Program; (3) strengthening social protection institutions and delivery systems; (4) engaging in project management, monitoring, and evaluation; and (5) supporting contingent emergency response.

BIC and Monde Des Enfants (MDE), a Guinea-based civil society organization, monitored the project in 2021. As of June 2022, the project’s implementation was delayed due to the pandemic and other contextual and political factors. Moving forward, the Bank should consider using the project to strengthen child protection and social protection (CPSP) systems broadly (see BIC’s recommendations here).