Lacja: Over 386,000 Widows and 152,000 Divorced Women Benefit from Direct Social Support Program
The Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance in charge of Budget, Fouzi Lekjaa, revealed that the number of widows benefiting from the direct social support program reached 386,214 by the end of October.
Lekjaa, responding to a written question from MP Mohamed Ouzine of the Haraka group regarding what he described as the “exclusion of widows and divorced women from the direct support system and health coverage,” noted that the average number of beneficiaries during the period from July 2024 to October 2025 is about 404,575 per month.
The government official indicated that these figures represent double the number of beneficiaries compared to previous programs aimed at vulnerable widows caring for orphaned children. He emphasized that this reflects the success of the direct social support program and its surpassing the results of previous support mechanisms, especially those targeting widows and divorced women.
Lekjaa attributed this improvement to the adoption of an electronic process for submitting and tracking applications, in addition to a transparent targeting system based on the national population register and the unified social register, alongside communication campaigns that contributed to expanding the base of beneficiaries.
Regarding divorced women, the minister stated that the number of beneficiaries from the direct social support program exceeded by more than fourteen times the number of beneficiaries from the “Family Solidarity Fund,” reaching 152,951 by the end of October 2025, while the monthly average during the same period was about 152,443.
In contrast, Lekjaa reviewed the results of the Family Solidarity Fund, established in 2011, modified in 2018, and subsequently abolished under Article 19 of Law No. 58.23 concerning the direct social support system. He explained that this fund was limited to providing financial advances in cases where court rulings regarding alimony could not be enforced.
The minister noted that the number of women benefiting from the Family Solidarity Fund between 2020 and 2022 amounted to 27,548, including 10,170 in 2022.
As for the direct support program for widows in vulnerable situations caring for their orphaned children, the number of beneficiaries reached 132,649 widows, in addition to approximately 220,000 children, by November 2023, which marks the conclusion of this program.
