The UN Joint Programme on Social Protection was designed to provide technical assistance to different line ministries in implementing the policy so as to ensure effective delivery of social protection programmes in Zambia. The participating institutions of the UNJPSP were UNICEF, ILO, IOM, WFP, FAO and Ministries of Community Development and Social Services, Labour and Social Security, Home Affairs, Health, Youth, Sports and Child Development, General Education, Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock, Finance and the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities. The aim of the programmme was to reduce the number of households and individuals living in poverty, suffering from deprivation and/or vulnerable to shocks of different nature.

Its ultimate goal was to increase the demand and utilization of social protection services within the country through expanding social protection coverage, strengthening integrated delivery system and enhancing communication to raise awareness and create political climate willing to support social protection programmes. The Joint Programme brought together different actors within the social protection sector and implementation was overseen by the Steering Committee chaired by Government and the UN, and comprising Cooperating Partners and national implementing partners. The programme began implementation in December 2015 and ended in March 2019 with funding from Cooperating Partners amounting to $11,495,397.94.