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The number of recipients under the Ministry of Women, Children, and Poverty Alleviation’s social protection programme is unsustainable.

This was highlighted at an Adaptive Social Protection Workshop today.

Assistant Minister Sashi Kiran acknowledged this, saying that recipients should be supported and graduated from the programme but this has not happened over the last decade.

Kiran says they are trying to identify recipients who can graduate from the programme.

“So, we have accumulated huge numbers. What we are looking to right now, where are the resources and where can we graduate some of these people.”

Kiran says an effective way is to assist recipients with microenterprises, as they will be able to make much more money than they would get from the social protection programme.

The Assistant Minister says they are working with other ministries and stakeholders to provide a range of options to support people.

The Ministry has a total of 96,000 people under its social protection programme.