The Cape Verdean government plans to spend almost 1.2 million euros this year on the MAIS program, which aims to eradicate extreme poverty in Cape Verde by 2026, according to a government resolution.
According to the resolution approved by the Council of Ministers on March 28 and which takes effect on January 1, 2023, 80% of the almost 140 million escudos (1.2 million euros) allocated to the MAIS program will fund this year the transfer of Social Inclusion Income (RSI) to families in extreme poverty, with a total sum of 111,950,000 escudos (one million euros).
The remaining 20%, equivalent to almost 28 million escudos (200 thousand euros) will be used to subsidize access to day-care centers and pre-school for families in situations of extreme poverty or social vulnerability and, among others, to finance projects by non-governmental organizations and municipalities for the operation of day-care centers and youth spaces.
In the resolution that approves the distribution of this allocation, the Cape Verdean government recalls that extreme poverty, “according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, affects 13% of the Cape Verdean population,” and that “the elimination of extreme poverty and reduction of absolute poverty is the top priority to achieve sustainable development” by 2026.
The resolution defines that the selection criteria for projects to be financed by the Social Fund MAIS – under the program with the same name – must “be guided by the principles of transparency, legality and impartiality.
It provides for the “implementation of care measures through subsidization for the attendance of day-care centers and pre-school” for children up to five years old, “with priority for the municipalities of Praia and São Vicente”, as well as the “total or partial financing of projects or actions of civil society organizations and municipal councils “that aim to strengthen the social protection of the most vulnerable groups and eliminate extreme poverty, namely day-care centers and youth spaces, with priority for the islands of Santiago and São Vicente”.
It reported last January that the goal of eliminating extreme poverty in Cape Verde by 2026, set by the government, will be financed with part of the tourism tax and revenues from privatizations, as provided in the decree-law that created the Social Fund MAIS.
In the diploma, of January 12, it is recalled that the situation of extreme poverty in Cape Verde has been aggravated since 2020 by the economic crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic, the severe drought affecting the archipelago and the inflationary crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
The MAIS Social Fund, announced in December 2021 by the Cape Verdean government, approved by the Council of Ministers a year later and which will now be operationalized, aims to “eliminate extreme poverty” by strengthening “social policies to protect vulnerable groups.
The fund’s activity will be financed, according to the decree-law, with 55 escudos (50 euro cents) of the fee paid by tourists for each night’s stay in Cape Verde, through transfer from the Tourism Fund.