Thread by @IPC_IG

1 In #Tunisia there were 1025 confirmed cases of #COVID19 as of 7 May. The country has responded to the threat of #COVID19 with a strong lockdown from 22 March to 3 May, with an Oxford Stringency Index of 90.61. The lockdown had a strong negative effect on employment and income.

2 As a compensation measure #CashTranfers of max TND 200 (USD70) were established for both #FormalWorkers and registered #SelfEmployed with suspended or reduced work activity and for poor and vulnerable hhs in the social registry. See the decrees: bit.ly/3bbo9MB

3 Application for #FormalWorkers had to be done online helpentreprise.social.tn by their employers as long as they fulfilled these criteria: bit.ly/3bePmOy. Registered #SelfEmployed could also apply online through the platform batinda.gov.tn.

4 By 20 April, 4k employers had demanded the benefit for a total of 150k employees. See page 5: bit.ly/2WcikKA. By 23 April, 176k #SelfEmployed had applied and 40k had their application approved.

bit.ly/2SHVVCM

5 #Poor hhs that receive a regular monthly #CashTranfers of TND 180 got a top-up of TND 50 while #vulnerable hhs received the full TND 200 as well as some foster families with vulnerable children, elderly and disabled persons.

bit.ly/2xJMvzv

6 As only the 260k #poor hhs regularly received cash transfers (PNAFN), it was necessary to identify #vulnerable hhs based on the subsidized health insurance card (AMG2). Out of 623k beneficiaries 470k were approved after cross-checking databases. See bit.ly/2Ln6qaN.

7 #Tunisia faced implementation challenges: long lines for payments and protests from #InformalWorkers affected by the lockdown that were not on the social registry. For this reason, open registration was allowed and the gov. sped up electronic payments.

bit.ly/2LaNID0

8 A new wave of #CashTransfers was announced on April 19: 260K poor hhs will receive two top-ups of 60 TND whereas 464k vulnerable hhs and some foster families will get another TND200 and 140 retired persons with a low pension will receive TND 100.

bit.ly/2YHLKSq

9 To avoid crowds in pay points, the government has developed a “digital wallet” to pay social benefits, which can be used in 4,000 cash points, including post-office, bank agencies and ATMs.

bit.ly/2WdxVK1

10 The open registration process for #InformalWorkers affected by the lockdown that were not in the social registry led 1.2M people to apply (almost 10% of the pop.) but their requests are still being assessed.

bit.ly/3bgobmk

11 Vulnerable families with #children have suffered under the lockdown. Lack of access to school meals threatens child food security. There are different ways to ensure children’s nutrition during confinement as seen in bit.ly/3drz2eQ, including #CashTransfers top-up.

12 One important issue with respect to social registries in the #SPresponses to #COVID19 is their capacity to identify impacted #families. How would #Tunisia’s social registry be expected to perform in that regard? Read our next thread.

13 We would like to thank @Unicef_Tunisie for its collaboration in the preparation of this twitter thread.

*Errata: we meant "140k retired persons" and not "140", as it was informed in tweet #8.

bit.ly/2YLbH3F