Social protection programs have had a slow roll out in Mon State, where only one-quarter of the planned projects have been implemented over the last three years according to the state’s head of social affairs.
In the time since the National Social Protection Strategic Plan was launched countrywide in December 2014, Mon State has just two of eight slated programs up and running: social pensions and cash allowances for disabled people, said U Ko Ko Naing, Mon State’s Department of Social Affairs' director.
Even thosee two programs are either partial or else reliant on outside funds, he added. The state wanted to provide pensions to every resident over the age of 65. Instead, it has been able to support 2,421 elderly people who are over the age of 90 with a modest K10,000 per month stipend.
For the disabled persons allowance, the state government has turned to civil society organizations for funding since it was not able to use the state or Union budget for the project, said U Ko Ko Naing.
“There is a strategic plan, but we can’t provide those programs,” he said. “We can only provided K10,000 per month to those above the age of 90. I think we were supposed to provide K 25,000 per month according to the plan.”
The remaining programs under the strategic plan include cash transfers for pregnant women and children up to age 2, child allowances for families with children aged 3-15, school feeding for children attending school, public employment and vocational education, Older Persons Self Help Groups (OPSHGs) and an Integrated Social Protection System (ISPS) to ensure the presence of social workers at every township level.
The rest of the nation has also struggled to get the full plan underway. According to U Ko Ko Naing, the program of cash transfers for pregnant women and children to age 2 is at least ongoing in Chin and Rakhine states, as well as the Naga Self-Administrative Zone – some of Myanmar’s poorest areas.
