LIFT II Success Story: Tackling Extreme Poverty through Linking Health and Economic Strengthening Services in Lesotho

This following story documents the successful development of a pilot project to advance the Partnership for HIV Free Survival (PHFS) through the use of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) to reduce perinatal transmission of HIV and improve the immunization of children under five years of age in Lesotho. The USAID-funded LIFT II (Livelihoods and Food Security II) project provided technical assistance to the Ministries of Health (MOH) and Social Development (MOSD) to refine their grants program into a CCT program and provided trainings on best practices in the design and implementation of social and economic strengthening programs.

The pilot project, expected to start in 2014, places mother and baby pairs at the center of the program and establishes the importance of collaboration between the MOSD and the MOH to tackle the multifaceted challenges facing Lesotho.