HIV-related social protection in Benin: An evaluation of the system at the heart of a workshop

The village hall of the Administrative Towers served as a framework, the past week at the inception workshop of the assessment of the HIV social protection system in Benin. An activity initiated by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Microfinance, with the support of UNAIDS for the creation of a platform to promote the massive adhesion of the groups under study.

Promote contact between the evaluation team and the representatives of the target groups; share the evaluation methodology with all stakeholders ; collect general information that can allow the evaluation team to optimize the search ; discuss the different roles and responsibilities of the actors involved in this assessment and share the roadmap for the next steps. These are the objectives of this workshop to launch the evaluation of the HIV-related social protection system in Benin.. During this sitting, it was discussed among others, the delivery of the mission letter to the consultants but also several presentations in particular on "Social protection Tools of UNAIDS", “study protocol”, “presentation on the nature of the data to be collected and the available bibliography”. Group work by categories of actors was set up to identify the gaps in the data to be completed and the necessary bibliography.

The Steering Committee rapporteur, Therese Hessou Hontonou, Deputy Director General of Social Affairs, for several weeks, will say that the members of the Steering Committee have worked to improve the quality of the protocol proposed by the consultants as part of the realization of this study. This is why she did not fail to send them her sincere thanks for their availability and commitment to work to ensure that Benin has a quality document.. She recalled that they had to work with the privileged partner that is UNAIDS which was at their side with financial and technical support without forgetting its availability..

According to Yasmine Ibrahim Malkki, Country Advisor at UNAIDS-Benin, representing the Director, the new UNAIDS strategy 2021-2026 plans to end HIV/AIDS by ending inequalities. "To do this, recommends, among other things, fully funding and supporting effective responses to HIV and integrating them into health systems, of social protection, humanitarian aid and responses to pandemics”, she clarified. She pointed out that several approaches are proposed for HIV-sensitive social protection, namely financial protection through predictable cash transfers., food or other items for people affected by HIV and the most vulnerable ; access to affordable quality services, including processing services, health and education ; and policies, laws and regulations to meet the needs (and defend the rights), of the most vulnerable and excluded people. She added that above all, implementation of these approaches should go through Measures carrying out quality assessments of existing social protection programs and schemes.

For its part, Bamisso Yessoufou Yolou, Deputy Director of the Office, representing the Minister of Social Affairs and Microfinance indicated that this inaugural workshop marks the official start of the evaluation activities after the preparatory work carried out by the Steering Committee and the consultants. According to him, it will present to the participants, the methodological approach harmonized according to the context of Benin, the roles and responsibilities of the different actors involved in the process, start collecting data on certain topics, to present the next steps and to proceed with the delivery of the letter of recommendation to the consultants. That is why, he invited everyone for the success of the mission.

Patrice ADJAHO