Cash+ pilot programme in Kyrgyzstan: Improving food security, boosting productivity and diversifying livelihoods

Abstract

There is increased evidence of the positive incremental impacts on food security and nutrition, as well as poverty reduction and other dimensions, when social protection and agriculture policies and programmes are combined. In this context, the Government of Kyrgyzstan is developing and implementing the concept of a “social contract” as an umbrella programmatic framework to provide additional and more intensive support to poor and vulnerable households. Based on the latest available evidence and the specific expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Kyrgyz Government and FAO have collaborated in order to pilot test an approach linking social protection benefits with agricultural support, with the aim of boosting food production, generating income opportunities and improving food security and nutrition.