Kigali - On 29th February 2024, the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) officially launched the "Imibereho Social Registry System", replacing the previous "Ubudehe categorisation" that has been utilized by social protection and graduation programs and other government services in beneficiaries' targeting.

Background

Since 2008, social protection beneficiaries have been targeted using community-based approaches leveraging homegrown mechanisms of “Ubudehe categorization.”

In 2018, the Government of Rwanda introduced Household Profiling to gather more information characterizing the socio-economic status of households, reinforcing the Ubudehe database. These two systems have been operating in tandem.

While the Ubudehe initiative served its purpose in community engagement and accountability at the grassroots level, evidence suggests it was no longer accurately identifying the right beneficiaries for support and poverty graduation.

Informed by ground realities and international best practices, the Government of Rwanda transitioned to establishing a Social Registry to enhance targeting efficiency and adopt measurable proxies to gauge the effectiveness of Social Protection programs.

The launch of the "Imibereho Social Registry" comes at an opportune time when the government is implementing its Strategy for Sustainable Graduation out of Poverty.

Speaking at the launch of the system, Minister of Local Government Musabyimana Jean Claude expressed that the social registry will bolster the delivery of various government programs, including cash transfers, social services, and other livelihood programs.

“The system will improve the targeting of beneficiaries for social protection programs such as VUP, Community-based Health Insurance (CBHI), One Cow per Family, and other sectoral initiatives, while also minimizing citizen discontent.” Minister Musabyimana said.

The social registry will serve as a gateway for all social programs to set objectively measurable variables to identify the poor and vulnerable.

Household information registered in the system can be easily accessed by dialling *195#.

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