[{"bbox": [96, 153, 1154, 286], "category": "Text", "text": "households have a 10 percentage-point higher poverty rate than male-headed households. Concerning age, children, who make up 39% of the population, are the group most at risk of living in poverty. Among children, aged 6-14 year the poverty rate is 60.9% and 48% for children aged 15-17. According to the 2021 Multidimensional Child Poverty Report, children between 0-23 months are most deprived. 68.8% in the age bracket are identified as multidimensional poor. In the next older age bracket 24-59 months 44.2% experience multidimensional poverty."}, {"bbox": [96, 297, 1154, 511], "category": "Text", "text": "The government of Lesotho has established a variety of social support programmes with some specifically targeting children (e.g. Child Grant Programme). However, birth registration is a prerequisite to benefit from these programmes. The majority of children under the age of six years do not have birth certificates. In addition, one third of children are estimated to be stunted and 40.2% of children under the age of two do not have adequate meal frequency. 1 in 10 children have some form of disability, estimated by UNICEF¹⁰. According to the World Bank, less than half of the households in Lesotho have access to electricity. The lack of access to electricity disproportionally affects children. Around 60% of children under the age of six years live in households lacking electricity connectivity¹¹."}, {"bbox": [96, 521, 1154, 682], "category": "Text", "text": "Over the past years the EU and UNICEF have funded social protection interventions supporting the development of the National Information System for Social Assistance (NISSA). The database is used to identify beneficiaries for social protection programmes. However, to ensure this continues to be a relevant tool to target social assistance in a progressive and effective way, the database needs 1) to be updated in a sustainable manner; 2) to integrate both rural and urban beneficiaries and 3) to foresee an online access to the NISSA database for the Disaster Management Authority (DMA) and relevant partners providing support."}, {"bbox": [96, 736, 1072, 791], "category": "Text", "text": "Identification of main stakeholders and corresponding institutional and/or organisational issues (mandates, potential roles, and capacities) to be covered by the action:"}, {"bbox": [134, 815, 1149, 895], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The **Ministry of Social Development** (duty bearer) manages a variety of social protection programmes. It is the Ministry that benefitted from support in the past. Additionally, the Ministry manages National Information System on Social Assistance (NISSA), a comprehensive social registry."}, {"bbox": [134, 896, 1149, 949], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The **Ministry of Home Affairs** (duty bearer) can take the lead in a partnership to develop user-friendly, digital methods for birth registration."}, {"bbox": [134, 949, 1149, 1003], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The **Ministry of Health** (duty bearer) can lead in the area of nutrition and coordinate with other social protection programmes (e.g. Community Kitchens funded by the World Bank)."}, {"bbox": [134, 1003, 1149, 1054], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The **Ministry of Water** (duty bearer) is responsible for water and sanitation policy and for the provision of direction on water resources management and utilization."}, {"bbox": [134, 1055, 1149, 1108], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The **Ministry of Energy and Meteorology** (duty bearer), and particularly the Rural Electrification Unit responsible for improving access to energy services."}, {"bbox": [134, 1108, 1149, 1162], "category": "List-item", "text": "- **Civil Society Organisations** as representatives of rights-holders (persons), social enterprises, and private sector operators that are involved in the provision of services in marginalised areas."}, {"bbox": [96, 1188, 511, 1215], "category": "Text", "text": "Short problem analysis (Statistical capacity):"}, {"bbox": [96, 1240, 1150, 1481], "category": "Text", "text": "First, while the Bureau of Statistics (BoS) has the central role and mandate in the National Statistics System (NSS), it is currently not well positioned to deliver on its mandate, partially due to the absence of an updated legal framework. There is also a lack of established coordination, consultation and collaboration systems between the BoS and other stakeholders. Second, the NSS, in form of the BoS, lacks adequate infrastructure and human resources to produce quality statistics. Third, the NSS in Lesotho is marked by significant data gaps. These data gaps are shown in the effort to report on progress and the status of the National Strategic Development Plan II (NSDP II) and the Agenda 2030. Out of the 180 indicators of the NSDP II, data is only available for 113 (63%). Out of the 152 SDG indicators, to which Lesotho has committed to report on, only 101 (66%) are available. Fourth, the Government of Lesotho identifies gender equality as a development priority. Nevertheless, recognition and appreciation of gender"}, {"bbox": [86, 1509, 1105, 1536], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁰ https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/fact-sheet-worlds-nearly-240-million-children-living-disabilities-are-being-denied"}, {"bbox": [86, 1537, 1141, 1618], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹¹https://mics-surveys\nprod.s3.amazonaws.com/MICS6/Eastern%20and%20Southern%20Africa/Lesotho/2018/Snapshots/Lesotho%202018%20MICS%20Statistical%20Snapshots_English.pdf"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1681, 1144, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 6 of 23"}]