Social Protection Systems and Programme Management Training Course

Social protection has moved from the margins to the centre of African development policy, as governments build cash transfers, safety nets and insurance to protect people from poverty and shocks. This programme builds the capability to design and manage social protection systems and programmes that actually reach those who need them. Participants work through the foundations of social protection, the design of programmes and instruments, the delivery systems that make them work, and the management of performance and shocks, grounded in the African context where coverage is expanding but targeting, delivery and financing remain real challenges.

A social protection programme can be generous on paper and fail in practice if the wrong people are enrolled, payments do not arrive, or the system cannot scale when a drought or crisis hits. The difference between a safety net that protects and one that disappoints lies in design and delivery: how beneficiaries are identified, how payments reach them, how the programme is financed, and how it responds when shocks strike.

This course equips government, agency and partner staff to get that design and delivery right. It moves from the rationale and instruments of social protection through targeting, delivery systems and financing to performance management and shock responsiveness, with attention to African experience. The aim is practical capability to build and run social protection that reaches the right people, reliably, and holds up under pressure.

• Distinguish major social protection instruments and explain their purposes and trade-offs.
• Develop programme logic linking risks, target groups, benefits, services and intended outcomes.
• Compare targeting and beneficiary-identification approaches and assess exclusion and inclusion risks.
• Map the delivery chain, including registration, enrolment, payments, complaints and case management.
• Assess financing, operational costs, fiscal sustainability and programme integrity.
• Develop performance indicators and use monitoring information to address delivery bottlenecks.
• Design options for adapting or scaling programmes in response to covariate shocks and crises.

This course is suitable for:

• Social protection and safety-net programme teams
• Government and county social development officials
• Programme, operations and service-delivery managers
• Development partners and NGO programme staff
• Monitoring, evaluation, finance and policy professionals
• Officials involved in registries, payments, grievance systems or programme oversight

Case-based facilitation, systems mapping, beneficiary-journey analysis, targeting comparisons, delivery-chain diagnosis and performance-review exercises. Participants work with realistic operational scenarios and develop
recommendations they can adapt to their own systems.

• Programme objectives, eligibility criteria, benefits and delivery arrangements are more coherently aligned.
• Targeting and enrolment processes are reviewed more systematically for exclusion and access barriers.
• Operational bottlenecks and payment exceptions are easier to identify and resolve.
• Grievance mechanisms have clearer workflows, escalation routes and performance measures.
• Management decisions draw more consistently on delivery data and beneficiary feedback.
• Coordination between policy, finance, operations and service providers is strengthened.
• Programme costs, capacity constraints and sustainability risks are more visible during planning.
• Institutions are better equipped to adapt delivery arrangements during shocks or changing needs.

Upon completing this programme, participants will be able to:

• Assess how programme objectives, eligibility criteria and benefit design align with identified social risks.
• Compare targeting approaches and explain their implications for coverage, adequacy and exclusion.
• Map delivery processes to identify administrative bottlenecks and barriers faced by eligible beneficiaries.
• Interpret core indicators covering enrolment, payments, grievances, timeliness and programme performance.
• Review grievance-redress arrangements and propose practical improvements to case resolution.
• Evaluate how financing, operational capacity and institutional coordination affect delivery sustainability.
• Apply beneficiary feedback and operational evidence to diagnose service-delivery problems.
• Develop actionable recommendations to improve programme performance, accountability and resilience.

At Strategic Revenue Africa, our certification goes beyond proof of attendance—it represents practical competence and measurable capability. Upon successful completion of our training programs, participants are awarded a Certificate of Completion from Strategic Revenue Africa, recognizing their ability to apply acquired knowledge in real-world settings. As an organization focused on architecting sustainable revenue and strengthening organizational performance, our certifications signal that participants are equipped with skills that drive results, not just theory.

Suitable for professionals involved in social protection policy, financing, administration or delivery. No specialist technical background is required. Participants may bring an existing programme design, operational challenge or performance report for discussion.