The social pension in Lesotho started in 2004. Everyone over the age of 70, except those people already receiving a government pension, receive M150 (US$22) each month.

Photo identification is needed to register for the pension. The pension is paid at post offices throughout the country.

Cost

The scheme is administered by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning and financed out of the state budget. The social pension makes up 2.4% of the national budget (or 1.43% of GDP) and 44% of all government spending on pensions, both social and contributory.

Coverage

Around 3.6% of the population is eligible for the pension. In 2006 about 72,000 people, 96% of those eligible, were receiving the pension. More than half of these were women.

Impact

HelpAge International is funding a research project by the National University of Lesotho on the impact of the pension on household poverty. Researchers interviewed 215 older people from the Roma Valley area in Manonyane.

Two thirds of those questioned were the head of their household. The research found that:

• 61% spend money on food.
• 50% spend money on children, for example school uniforms, books.
• 50% lend or give money to other members of the family.

Overall, the research shows that poor older people spend the pension wisely on their own and their families’ immediate needs, to generate livelihoods, and on investments which support national economic growth.

Ntate's story

Ntate Selame, 93, is partially sighted and lost his wife a ten years ago. His children had moved away and he felt lonely. Ntate's only income came from small amounts of cash his family occassionally sent. His social pension helped turn his life around.

Ntate invested the money in a small catering business and is now contracted by the government to provide free school lunches for the local primary school.

The pension gave Ntate enough money to cover his expenses for the first three months. He now employs three women as cooks and someone to collect wood for the cooking fire.

“I wanted to use my money to feel useful and gain respect in the community,” he says. Ntate plans on using profits from the school dinners business to grow his own vegetables to use in the lunches.