^{Photo: St Kitts & Nevis Government}

The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis through the Ministry of Community Development, Gender Affairs & Social Services (MoCDGASS) hired Ayala Consulting Corporation on the 10^th of September 2014 for the operationalisation of the National Household Registry (NHR). The NHR was conceived as a dynamic Social Protection tool with the objectives to contain up-to-date socio-economic HH information; serve as a common targeting mechanism to identify the poor and vulnerable; guide social assistance and budget allocation; increase Social Protection program coverage and reduce inclusion and exclusion errors; as well as improve efficiency and effectiveness by reducing overlaps in administrative systems.

However, in order to not only meet but surpass the abovementioned objectives, the HHs registered in the NHR need to receive assistance from this Social Protection tool to access existing social services. On that basis, the MoCDGASS hired Ayala Consulting for an eight-month consultancy, starting on December 22, 2016 until August 22 of the same year, to provide technical assistance in designing a Linkages and Referrals (L&R) Model and assisting in its implementation in two Parishes to be selected in conjunction with the client.

The L&R component aims to serve as a system by which household members registered in the NHR can be referred and linked to different available services and programs upon their needs. Thus, it serves as a key component to further assist households, increasing the potential and impact of the NHR.

The scope of the consultancy covers the production of operational documentation describing the L&R processes and protocols, addition of functionalities in the NHR MIS (Management Information System) to support the operationalization of L&R, as well as technical support in the field for implementation of L&R in two Parishes. In addition to the aforementioned eight months of technical assistance, maintenance of the NHR MIS will be provided from the official date of delivery of the system until November 22, 2017.