Lesotho has made significant investments in developing social protection programs over the last 20 years. The country’s social protection programs tackle vulnerabilities throughout the life cycle from children to the elderly. However current programs are costly with social protection spending representing about 6.4%of gross domestic product (GDP) making Lesotho the highest spender among any African country.

The review found that while several social assistance programs in Lesotho are effective in reducing poverty, they have low cost-effectiveness and poor targeting with a large share of the support going to the non-poor.

The report suggests that the government reviews the allocation of spending across social protection programs with to the aim of improving value for money while enhancing their benefits for the recipients. It suggests scaling and re-allocating social protection spending towards poverty-targeted programs such as the child grant program whose total costs accounts for only 0.15%of GDP. It also suggests improving social protection systems by shifting payments from cash to digital payments and introducing “Cash Plus” measures to link beneficiaries to productive activities, and link child grants to better investments in human capital.