Low and middle income countries are increasingly engaging in building complex social protection systems to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth in the medium and long term. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), despite the low budget allocation for social sectors (including social protection), progress has been made in recent years to establish a strategic framework for social protection. These efforts led to the adoption of a national social protection policy in 2017 covering many areas.

SPRI Global is supporting UNICEF DRC in building the capacity of members of the government of DRC, members of civil society, and of the private sector. The training builds on SPRI Global’s experiences in designing and implementing Master’s and Doctorate programs in the area of social policy and social protection, at the University of Maastricht, the University of Mauritius, the University of Rwanda, and Thammasat University. It is also based on experiences of carrying out regional and national trainings in social protection in the regions of Western and Central Africa, Indonesia, Mauritania, Sri Lanka, and for members of the Royal University of Bhutan, an international Master’s level course at the University of Yogyakarta.

The training will target an audience of social protection professionals in the DRC who wish to strengthen their general and specific knowledge. It is also based on experiences of carrying out regional and national trainings in social protection in the regions of Western and Central Africa, Indonesia, Mauritania, Sri Lanka, and for members of the Royal University of Bhutan, and an international Master’s level course at the University of Yogyakarta. The objectives of the training include:

• Assess the needs for social protection training within government structures of the DRC and other actors involved in social protection;
• Develop training modules adapted to the context of the DRC, for the establishment of social protection systems: 1) the main basic elements for the operationalization of social protection systems; 2) moving from a program-approach to implementation of systems; 3) costs, affordability and funding; 4) institutional frameworks, monitoring and evaluation, and operations;
• Contribute to the strengthening of existing coordination mechanisms for national social protection programs