Advisory Service in Social Transfers (ASiST)

Technical assistance to support partner countries and EC staff in addressing food security through the implementation of social transfer programmes - ASiST II

Following the fuel, food and financial crises and natural disasters that occurred between 2008 and early 2010, food and nutrition security become a high priority for the EU and the whole international development community. In March 2010, the EU adopted an EU policy framework to assist developing countries in addressing food security challenges  which –among others - makes it a priority for the EU and its Member States to provide support to help countries establish and operate targeted and flexible social transfer policies.

In line with this priority, the Commission developed a Reference Document on Social Transfers in the fight against Hunger  to be used by development practitioners and facilitate the implementation of programmes using the social transfer instrument. Since 2012 the Commission has made technical assistance available through a service contract –ASiST aimed at raising and strengthening awareness among public authorities and civil society in the most vulnerable partner countries and within the donor community of the factors that contribute to increased impact, quality, sustainability and coverage of social transfers. Three regional seminars were also organised, one each in Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Cambodia to raise awareness of the social transfer tool and to inform Delegations about the type of assistance that could expect when developing programmes. Criteria have been drawn up to determine how best to support individual countries and this has already been disseminated to EU Delegations.

As the initial service contract will expire shortly and given the high level of interest in social transfers, DEVCO concluded in July 2013 a further contract for the provision of “Technical assistance to support partner countries and EC staff in addressing food security through the implementation of social transfer programmes”.

With a duration of 12 months, starting from 1 August 2013, the contract aims to increase the impact, quality, sustainability and coverage of social transfer schemes in addressing food and nutrition insecurity in partner countries. A team of external experts will be available to support EU Delegations who wish to prepare social transfer programmes, through on-site missions or advice on relevant policy issues, thematic papers and working documents.

It should be noted that this complements the work on social protection being carried out by DEVCO B3 following the EC Communication on Social Protection , which provides advisory services to EU Delegations and beneficiary countries to develop and strengthen social protection systems at an institutional level (SOCIEUX).

Contact person: Andrea Massarelli – andrea.massarelli@ec.europa.eu

ASiST I

EuropeAid launched in January 2012 an Advisory Service in Social Transfers (ASiST) to support partner countries and EC staff (in headquarters and delegations) in the use of social transfers as a response to food and nutrition insecurity. ASiST technical support is expected to:

• raise awareness of the factors that contribute to increased impact, quality, coverage and sustainability of social transfers.
• promote quality by providing practical guidance in terms of design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to strengthen and promote sustainable national social transfer schemes for food and nutrition security.
• share lessons learnt among development partners and support the EC in actively participating in discussions on social transfers at the international level.