A press conference on the ‘Projet d’amélioration de la couverture en protection sociale à Maurice’, was jointly hosted this morning by the Minister of Social Integration, Social Security and National Solidarity, Mrs Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo, and the Ambassador of the Republic of France to Mauritius, Mrs Florence Caussé-Tissier. The event was held at Le Sirius, Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel, Caudan, in Port-Louis.
The Director of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) for Mauritius and Seychelles, Mr André Pouillès-Duplaix, was present on the occasion.
The objective of the project is to enable Mauritius to have a more inclusive, adaptive, and shock responsive social protection system in place to better support poverty reduction, social inclusion and gender equality.
It is recalled that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Mauritius and Expertise France and the AFD for technical assistance regarding the improvement of the Social Protection System.
In her address, Minister Jeewa-Daureeawoo said that in 2020, an agreement was signed between the Government of Mauritius and the AFD for a contingency loan of 300 million euros, with the objective of enabling Mauritius to better manage the impact of the COVID-19 on public health, social resilience and the economy.
Subsequently, an MoU was signed with AFD and Expertise France to start the project and during its first phase an inventory was made which will be followed by recommendations for a more sustainable social protection system, she informed.
The Minister expressed gratitude to the French Government, and underlined that all the partners in this project share the same values, those of fostering an even more inclusive social protection system.
She observed that social protection is an effective instrument to protect the vulnerable ones, reduce inequalities, build an inclusive society and ensure sustainable development.
Social protection, she emphasised, is a key element of Government’s policy. She added that Government has revamped its measures and taken unprecedented measures in the face of the COVID-19. These include the provision of the Wage Assistance Scheme and the Self-Employed Assistance Scheme as well as the reviewing of the scale for the line of absolute poverty, which went from Rs 9,520 for a family of two adults and three children, to Rs 10,500.
Mrs Jeewa-Daureeawoo also announced that her Ministry is currently working on the implementation of the National Database for Vulnerable Groups.
As for the French Ambassador, she underlined that the key elements of the project are resiliency, social welfare and social protection. She underpinned the joint efforts of both France and Mauritius in this project.
Mrs Caussé-Tissier underlined that social protection is an important issue that affects the vulnerable population, which has been most impacted by the COVID 19. She stressed that in France, social protection is a pillar of the republican values.
As for Mr Pouillès-Duplaix, he highlighted that the AFD has mobilised resources to support countries facing health crisis and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have developed recovery and reconstruction operations in order to contribute to the objective achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 agenda, he said.
Speaking about the project, he pointed out that it provides for the mobilisation of technical assistance, and caters for health, social, financial and climate resilience. The loan, he added, has contributed to the economic and social recovery and resilience of Mauritius, following the pandemic.
