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Background

The Republic of Chad is a large, sparsely populated, landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is home to more than 180 different ethnic groups who speak over 100 languages, with the official languages being Arabic and French.

Of a population of 18.3 million, nearly half (44.8 percent as of 2022) live under the poverty line.?Twenty percent of Chadian children will not make it to their fifth birthday, and 40 percent of children suffer from stunting. On average, between the age of 4 and 18, children in Chad spend no more than 5 years in school.?The country also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in central Africa, with 856 deaths for every 100,000 live births.

Chad grapples with security challenges associated with conflicts in bordering countries. The influx of refugees has increased pressure on the country¡¯s limited resources and deepened existing vulnerabilities.?It is the largest refugee hosting country in West and Central Africa, with more than?1.24 million refugees as of November 2024, over 712,000 of whom arrived in the country after the eruption of the Sudanese conflict in April 2023. In addition, there are around 300,000 internally displaced people in the country.

Chad is estimated to be the most climate-vulnerable country in the world. It is highly exposed to climate and crises, including floods, droughts, and conflict, coupled with a highly vulnerable population and a low capacity to respond. In 2022 and 2024, more than 1.3 million and 1.9 million people in the country were affected by floods respectively. Chad has among the highest levels of food insecurity globally, with an estimated 16 percent of people expected to be severely food insecure during the 2024 lean season.

SASPP Activities

Current? SASPP activities are anchored?in the Adaptive and Productive Safety Nets Project, the objectives of which are to?increase access to social safety nets for poor and vulnerable populations and refugees, and to strengthen Chad¡¯s social protection system. The Project seeks to directly benefit more than 780,000 people through various interventions.

Supporting the National Productive Social Safety Net Program

The Project aims to support the government in establishing and rolling out a new national Productive Social Safety Net Program (PSSNP). The program will provide a three-year integrated productive package to extremely poor and vulnerable households, including refugee and host community households. This package will meet households¡¯ basic needs, build and protect their human capital, and strengthen their resilient and sustainable productive capacity through climate-smart activities. The Project will also finance shock-responsive emergency monetary transfers for a broad range of shocks, using the PSSNPs delivery infrastructure.

Strengthening the National Social Protection System

The Project aims to support the government in strengthening the Unified Social Registry, to enhance adaptive social protection in prioritized provinces. It will also support the development of a digital and scalable mobile payment module, to improve the payment process for recipients. In addition, the Project will build the capacity of the National Crisis Prevention and Management System (DNPGC), to reinforce linkages between adaptive social protection, food security, and climate shock response. In addition, the Project will focus on establishing and operationalizing social protection delivery and its governance structures for the PSSNP, including the integration of refugees.

Project duration:?FY25 ¨C FY29

Financing:

• Financing of US$100 million from IDA and US$20 million from SASPP MDTF

Note that an earlier project, the also benefitted from SASPP financing (US$6 million, FY21). 

In FY22, the Government of Chad delivered a COVID-19 response cash transfer in N¡¯Djamena with technical and financial support from the SASPP.?SASPP funding was used to provide emergency cash transfers to 22,000 vulnerable households, distributed through digital payments. SASPP also supported, both technically and financially, a new ASP response for 14,000 newly arrived Cameroonian refugees, as well as 9,000 households from within their host communities, in and around N¡¯Djamena.

The earlier also benefitted from SASPP financing (US$5 million, FY17).

Last Updated: November 27, 2024