SEED Programme (Support for Education, Empowerment and Development)
The SEED Programme is Grenada's national conditional cash transfer scheme, run by the Ministry of Social and Community Development, Housing and Gender Affairs, that provides monthly cash assistance to the country's poorest and most vulnerable households, including families with school-aged children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and the chronically ill. It was created around 2012-2014 by consolidating three older safety-net schemes (the Public Assistance Programme, Necessitous Funds, and the School Transportation Allowance Scheme) with technical and financial support from the World Bank's Safety Net Advancement Project. The programme is government-funded and conditions payments on behaviors such as school attendance, health clinic visits, and attendance at parenting/awareness sessions. As of late 2024 it supported roughly 7,700-7,900 beneficiaries and remains under periodic recertification and reform by the government.
Conditional cash transfer, Caribbean, Small Island Developing State, World Bank-supported, Poverty alleviation, Elderly, Disability, Children, Proxy means test
Headquarters
- Organization Name
- Government of Grenada - Ministry of Social and Community Development, Housing and Gender Affairs
- City
- St. George's
- State / Province
- Saint George Parish
- Country
- Grenada
Contact
- Phone
- +1 473 440 7952
- Social media links
Status & Funding
- Organization status
- Active
- Program status
- Active
- Application status
- Rolling
- Number of recipients
- 7,745
- Funding type
- Government
Benefits
- Currency Type
- Fiat
- Payment frequency
- Monthly
- Ongoing / unconditional
- Yes
- Distribution Type
- Cash, direct bank transfer, ATM/debit cards piloted for a subset of recipients starting 2023 with plans to expand
- Benefit details
Monthly household payments have historically ranged from about EC$50 to EC$700, with the exact amount determined by household composition and need under a Proxy Means Test. Payment levels have been raised periodically (e.g., a roughly 30% increase in 2018 and a nearly 50% increase in 2022) to keep pace with the cost of living and post-pandemic/post-disaster needs. In 2023 the government began piloting ATM/debit cards for about 60 recipients to replace manual cash disbursement, with plans to expand this to all beneficiaries. The government has also periodically expanded the programme with one-off stimulus top-ups (e.g., an EC$5.3 million SEED expansion within a 2021 EC$36 million COVID-19 relief package).
Eligibility
Overview
- Eligibility details
SEED targets Grenada's poorest and most vulnerable households, determined through a Proxy Means Test administered by the Ministry, and specifically includes low-income students/children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and the indigent poor. Continued receipt is conditioned on co-responsibilities: school attendance for children ages 5-18 in public schools, health clinic visits for children 0-5 and other household members, parental registration at public health facilities, and attendance by parents/young adults at Developmental Awareness Sessions (workshops on health, nutrition, and reproductive health). The Ministry conducts periodic recertification exercises, which have both added and removed beneficiaries; a 2025 policy review aims to further reconfigure qualifying criteria to capture eligible households currently excluded by data/system issues.
Health
- Disability status
- Yes
Citizenship
- Citizenship / immigration status
- Citizen
Geography
- Countries covered
- Grenada
- Residency of Target Geography
- Yes
Application Process
- How to apply
Applicants apply through the Ministry of Social and Community Development, Housing and Gender Affairs (Ministerial Complex, Botanical Gardens, Tanteen, St. George's), where household data is collected and run through a Proxy Means Test to determine eligibility. No dedicated online application portal for SEED was identified; the Ministry has acknowledged that some eligible households have been unable to get through the intake/data-entry system, prompting a planned overhaul of the registration process.
- Selection process
Eligibility and benefit levels are determined via a Proxy Means Test administered by the Ministry, which assesses household socioeconomic characteristics (e.g., composition, age, employment, education) to rank and select the poorest and most vulnerable households within available fiscal resources. The Ministry conducts annual/periodic reviews and recertification exercises that can add or remove beneficiaries; a formal reconfiguration of the qualifying criteria was announced in January 2025 to broaden and streamline inclusion.
