Mozambique Families Turn Social Protection Into Jobs, Food Security and Climate Resilience

Launched in 2012, PASP has supported more than 300,000 people across Mozambique’s 11 provinces by combining cash transfers with skills development, productive grants and community-based employment.

At sunrise on Zalala Beach in central Mozambique, 52-year-old grandmother Inácia Laquareta Abraão plants rows of casuarina trees along a coastline increasingly threatened by erosion, turning community work into a source of income that has helped her family move away from repeated food shortages. After losing her daughter, Inácia became responsible for three grandchildren and depended largely on subsistence farming and irregular earnings, but income received through Mozambique's Productive Social Action Program, known as PASP, allowed her to establish a small machamba, where she now grows tomatoes, rice and beans to feed her household and strengthen its financial security.

Cash Support Becomes a Pathway to Skills and Livelihoods

Launched in 2012, PASP has supported more than 300,000 people across Mozambique's 11 provinces by combining cash transfers with skills development, productive grants and community-based employment. Most participants are women living in communities facing serious economic hardship and exposure to climate-related risks, making the programme an important source of both immediate income and practical experience that can continue producing benefits after direct support finishes.

The programme is implemented by the Government of Mozambique with World Bank support through the Social Protection for Economic Resilience Project and contributions from other development partners. Participants earn income by taking part in coastal protection, riverbank restoration, erosion control and rural infrastructure activities, giving households money for essential expenses at the same time as communities gain stronger environmental protection.

At Zalala Beach near Quelimane, beneficiaries including Inácia and Rosa Soalê Alte learned how to plant casuarina trees, which can help stabilize coastal areas exposed to advancing erosion. Rosa said her earnings helped her purchase roofing sheets and chairs and cover everyday family needs such as flour, notebooks and pens for her grandchildren, showing how small but reliable income opportunities can translate directly into improved living conditions.

Climate Protection Creates Work and Strengthens Communities

The same approach is being applied in Maquival Sede, where participants plant willows along the Mugogoda River to reduce erosion threatening farmland and surrounding settlements. Carlota Benjamin, Head of the Development Program Department at Mozambique's National Institute of Social Action, says beneficiaries should be seen as people capable of working, building skills and contributing directly to the development of their communities.

Financial inclusion has become another important part of the programme, with beneficiaries increasingly receiving payments through mobile money instead of travelling long distances to collect cash. More than 200,000 electronic money accounts have been opened through PASP, giving many participants access to formal financial services for the first time and allowing families to receive and manage their money more safely and conveniently.

Evidence from Sofala Province also suggests that some benefits continue years after participation ends. Families in Chueza have used brick-making skills gained through PASP to construct stronger houses that can better withstand extreme weather, including Ernestina Fernando Paulo, who replaced her thatched home with a brick house using techniques learned during the programme.

Families Keep Building Income After Support Ends

In the Unidade Africana neighbourhood, farming groups created during PASP continue working together after completing the programme. During 2025, these groups produced around 14 tonnes of cassava, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, onions and cabbage for household consumption and local markets, giving families better access to food and additional income from surplus produce. Some former participants have invested earnings in practical assets such as bicycles, making it easier to transport crops to markets and expand small-scale commercial activity.

World Bank specialists say international evidence shows that combining cash transfers with savings programmes, entrepreneurship support and access to finance can produce lasting improvements in household income, assets, savings and women's economic empowerment. PASP follows this broader model by linking vulnerable households with opportunities that can gradually support employment, self-employment and more stable livelihoods in an economy where informal work remains widespread.

With climate shocks becoming more frequent and damaging across Mozambique, the government and the World Bank are working to expand PASP and apply lessons learned from former beneficiaries. The next phase focuses on strengthening connections to jobs, small businesses, farming and other sustainable income sources so more families can move from temporary assistance toward greater economic security and resilience.