Lisungi Safety Net Project — Gender-Responsive Cash Transfers and Refugee Women's Economic Inclusion in the Republic of Congo

Lisungi ('help' in Lingala) launched in 2014 by the Government of the Republic of Congo with World Bank support ($34 million IDA financing, later topped up with $22 million for refugees), combining conditional cash transfers, business grants, apprenticeships and gender-based-violence awareness training, paid directly to women.

Between 2015 and 2023 the project reached 76,000 individuals with cash transfers and 95,000 with business grants, then expanded to cover more than 60,000 refugees and asylum seekers from CAR, DRC and Rwanda. In the Likouala region alone, 71,000 people gained access to free healthcare, 900 young people received apprenticeship grants, and 4,830 indigenous children received school kits.

The project closed on 29 February 2024; its delivery systems and 852,149-household beneficiary registry were institutionalised as the National Safety Net Program. No independent randomised impact evaluation or cost-effectiveness analysis was located, so figures reflect official monitoring data rather than rigorous causal evidence.