Social protection in sub-Saharan Africa tends not to be very developed and yet the growth of some of the region's economies and concerted attempts to tackle poverty mean that this situation may change considerably in the future.
Countries across Africa are at different stages of creating comprehensive and inclusive social security systems. [1] Although some are further along this journey than others, most have introduced some form of arrangement for pension provision or have social security as a strategic goal.
Similar to global trends, the vast majority of retirement income in Africa is funded by governments, derived from taxes or other forms of government revenue (essentially a pay-as-you-go system or PAYG). With a large proportion of formal sector workers concentrated in the civil service, pension funds for public sector workers are well established and benefits are often more substantial compared to the private sector. Defined Benefit (DB) schemes dominate across the continent although regional differences are notable. While DB schemes are common in many Francophone West African countries, the Maghreb region as well as Egypt & Sudan, Defined Contribution (DC) schemes (often provident schemes) are prevalent in English-speaking parts of Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa. [2]
Coverage on the continent however, is much lower compared to the rest of the world. Data from the International Labour Office’s 2014/15 World Social Protection Report [3] estimates that currently only 16.9% of older people in sub-Saharan Africa receive an old age pension. Although this number is higher in North Africa at 36.7%, it is still considerably lower than much of the developed world (90% in North America and Europe). A recent report on the pension sector in the East African Community estimates that between 80-90% of the population is not reached via public or private pension fund schemes.
In part, this is due to the unique circumstances in Africa including demographics (young population), a large informal employment sector, migration with limited pension portability, and dependency on government finances. The pace of regulatory reform has also led to divergent coverage trends between countries and regions.
To meet this challenge, Africa has been on a journey to design, finance and deliver social security to the continent. Many countries have transitioned in line with the multi-pillar model proposed by the World Bank in their 2005 report[1] and subsequent refinements. While each country has forged its own distinctive path, two main areas of focus have emerged. The first is the introduction of a basic safety net or non-contributory pension for those who have no other income. Pension systems provide a way of securing long-term savings but also an indirect way to alleviate poverty, which affects many on the continent. A number of African countries including South Africa, Namibia, Mauritius and Lesotho [4] have used non-contributory universal pensions as a foundation for broad social security coverage. Many pensioners spend their pension income on books, school fees and health care for grandchildren. Research suggests transmission via a basic retirement income has the ability to significantly alleviate poverty and directly impact socioeconomic factors.
The second trend has been a move from unfunded to funded solutions, and DB to DC schemes, albeit at a slower pace than in developed countries. This is a broad reflection of the increased pressure on government budgets, and the unsustainable fiscal burden that PAYG pension systems create.
African economies have made great strides to shape their social security systems. Importantly, the continent has been building institutions that account for African priorities and their unique challenges. Regulators have looked beyond the developed world experience to regions such as Latin America and Eastern Europe for their learnings. Nigeria for example was the first on the continent to explore the Chilean-style individual-funded accounts [5] and also cites Mexico as a country they examined as part of their reform journey. Extending and ensuring an adequate level of social security remains a continually evolving process as governments and regulators across the world adapt to changes in the environment and financial markets, no less so in Africa. [6]
Many countries across Africa have incorporated school feeding programs, to varying extents, into their school systems. As of 2017/18, an estimated 60 million children of all ages received food through school meal programs in Africa. [7] In aggregate, that is 21% of school-age children (and 30% of primary school-age children) who benefit in some way from school meal programs, including those that serve hot cooked meals, snacks, or take-home rations. The largest programs are found in Egypt (reaching 11.52 million children), Nigeria (9.83 million), and South Africa (8.95 million). As of 2017/18, eight countries reached at least half of their school age children with school food, including Namibia (50%), Burkina Faso (52%), São Tomé and Príncipe (53%), Lesotho (56%), Botswana (62%), Zimbabwe (67%), South Africa (72%), and eSwatini (85%). [7]
As of 2017/18, at least US$1.3 billion was allocated to school meal programs on the African continent. [7] The budgets and budgets per beneficiary child vary across countries, usually rising with wealth. Sources of funding also vary across countries, with lower income countries more likely to draw a large share of funding from external sources, such as the World Food Programme. Nevertheless, when aggregating across countries, an estimated 80% of the summed budget for school feeding on the continent comes from African governments. [7]
In Africa, there has recently been a trend in favor of home-grown school feeding, or school meal programs that purposively source their foods from local or domestic production in order to support smallholder farmers and the local agricultural economy. [8] In 2003, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) orchestrated pledges to implement home-grown school feeding from 11 countries. [9]
Equatorial Guinea has enjoyed some of the highest growth rates in the world (37% a year on average in the past 10 years), based largely on its oil sector. With an economy 20 times bigger than it was in the mid-90s, the government can now afford to start expanding its social programs, especially as tremendous inequality means that despite a $14,941 average GDP per capita ($30,000 according to UN population estimates), over 75% of the population live below the poverty line and over 40% in extreme poverty. [10]
One particularly vulnerable group in Equatorial Guinea are the under-18s, who make up 50% of the population and whose poor levels of nutrition and education risk the country's future stability and economic growth. [10] The country's under-five child mortality rate is the fourth highest in the world, and maternal mortality is also very high. Costs remain a key barrier to access to key public services and, despite few waivers for the particularly vulnerable, confusion prevents many from taking advantage. Low demand, as well as poor supply, of public services is also important in understanding the limits to social protection and poverty relief in Equatorial Guinea. [10]
Despite the free provision of primary education and enrollment being relatively high, net primary school attendance rates are low, at 61% for boys and 60% for girls in 2000–2007, according to UNICEF data. Drop-out rates are high and only 33% reach the last grade of primary school, while at secondary school net attendance rates are even lower, at 23% for boys and 22% for girls. A key cause is that children are involved in child labor, in 2001, a UNICEF study showed that 51% of boys and 58% of girls worked during school hours. [10] Youth migration (over 50% of have moved to urban areas and do not live with their parents) and sexual exploitation risk their development and Equatorial Guinea's. [10]
A small formal social security system does exist but reaches only a small proportion of the employed (or formerly employed) in the urban formal sector and social protection coverage for the poor is very limited. One promising recent initiative is the establishment of the Social Needs Fund, financed by the Government and administered by USAID, and is designed to bring in international technical expertise to support institutional capacity building in the social sectors and to support social sector service delivery. [10]
Mali has made significant economic progress (on average 5% a year between 1994 and 2006) considering a series of adverse economic shocks (such as drought) and has made some progress on reducing poverty and poverty related indicators, yet poverty remains high at 59.2% in 2006 and as in many sub-Saharan African countries, children make up a high proportion of the population - 54% in the case of Mali [11]
Mali’s National Social Protection Policy recognises the multiple dimensions of social protection that correspond to a range of social, economic, health and environmental risks. Its main focus is health-related risks and interventions, with areas of the strategy that relate to the social and economic risks of the poor classified as ‘social development’, including ‘social action and social assistance’, e.g. ‘vulnerable’ children (defined as those living without parental care or in households where the head has disabilities or is ill) qualify for some forms of social assistance. [11]
There are also movements towards expanding social security. Two new health-related social protection programmes, the Compulsory Medical Insurance (AMO) and the Medical Assistance Regime (RAMED) are to start operating in 2010. [11] AMO’s beneficiaries will be active or retired functionaries, formal sector employees, and members of parliament. [11] RAMED aims to provide free health care to the destitute (those proven to have no sources of income). Mali's social protection programmes are addressed in one of the three pillars of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (GPRSP), which refers to strengthening the social sector through risk mitigation and social protection for the poorest and most marginalised groups, extending better social protection coverage for the whole population. [11]
However, criticisms remain that the main focus of the GPRSP 2007–2011 is the other two pillars: ‘development of infrastructure in the productive sector’ and ‘consolidation of structural reforms’. Financial limits remain a major barrier to the extension of social protection. Other criticisms relate to the need to address to the demand for public services, as well as the supply side. [11]
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South Africa has one of the most extensive social welfare systems among developing countries in the world. [12] In 2019, an estimated 18 million people received some form of social grant provided by the government. [13]
Social welfare programmes have a long history in South Africa. [14] The earliest form of social welfare programme in South Africa is the poor relief distributed by the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) in 1657. [15] The institutionalised social welfare system was established after the British occupied the Cape Colony in 1806. [16]
However, the social welfare system focused mainly on poor whites and excluded blacks. [16] Under apartheid, the social welfare services for Africans, Indians and Coloreds were separated from that for whites. [15] The allocation of social welfare resources favoured whites. [16] The post-apartheid government launched the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) in 1994 and published the White Paper for Social Welfare in 1997 to establish the framework of social welfare system in post-apartheid South Africa. [15] [17] They were aimed to address racial disparity in the delivery of social welfare services. [15] Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) was launched in 1996 in response to the 1996 currency crisis. [16] GEAR reduces government's spending, leading to the shrinkage of social grants. [16] Social assistance, including grants and public works, is funded through tax revenue, unlike statutory and voluntary funds that are funded by employers and employees. [18]
Social welfare programmes in South Africa include cash assistance, unemployment insurance, medical provisions, and housing subsidies. Cash assistance is distributed by the South African Social Security Agency on behalf of the Department of Social Development of South Africa (DSD). The cash assistance programmes that are currently available include the Child support Grant, the Foster child Grant, old-age pension, disability grant, care dependency grant, and war veterans grant. [19]
There are both support and criticism regarding the social welfare programmes in South Africa. Supporters argue that grants such as the Child Support Grant and the old-age pension improve the nutrition status and school enrolment rates of poor children. [20] [21] However, critics points out corruption and maladministration in the social welfare system and the poor quality of RDP housing. [22] [23]A welfare state is a form of government in which the state protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for citizens unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life.
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance programs which provide support only to those who have previously contributed, as opposed to social assistance programs which provide support on the basis of need alone. The International Labour Organization defines social security as covering support for those in old age, support for the maintenance of children, medical treatment, parental and sick leave, unemployment and disability benefits, and support for sufferers of occupational injury.
Welfare reforms are changes in the operation of a given welfare system, with the goals of reducing the number of individuals dependent on government assistance, keeping the welfare systems affordable, and assisting recipients to become self-sufficient. Classical liberals, libertarians, and conservatives generally argue that welfare and other tax-funded services reduce incentives to work, exacerbate the free-rider problem, and intensify poverty. On the other hand, socialists generally criticize welfare reform because it usually minimizes the public safety net and strengthens the capitalist economic system. Welfare reform is constantly debated because of the varying opinions on the government's determined balance of providing guaranteed welfare benefits and promoting self-sufficiency.
Guaranteed minimum income (GMI), also called minimum income, is a social-welfare system that guarantees all citizens or families an income sufficient to live on, provided that certain eligibility conditions are met, typically: citizenship; a means test; and either availability to participate in the labor market, or willingness to perform community services.
A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for government assistance or welfare, based upon whether the individual or family possesses the means to do without that help.
Social welfare, assistance for the ill or otherwise disabled and the old, has long been provided in Japan by both the government and private companies. Beginning in the 1920s, the Japanese government enacted a series of welfare programs, based mainly on European models, to provide medical care and financial support. During the post-war period, a comprehensive system of social security was gradually established.
Child labour in Botswana is defined as the exploitation of children through any form of work which is harmful to their physical, mental, social and moral development. Child labour in Botswana is characterised by the type of forced work at an associated age, as a result of reasons such as poverty and household-resource allocations. child labour in Botswana is not of higher percentage according to studies. The United States Department of Labor states that due to the gaps in the national frameworks, scarce economy, and lack of initiatives, “children in Botswana engage in the worst forms of child labour”. The International Labour Organization is a body of the United Nations which engages to develop labour policies and promote social justice issues. The International Labour Organization (ILO) in convention 138 states the minimum required age for employment to act as the method for "effective abolition of child labour" through establishing minimum age requirements and policies for countries when ratified. Botswana ratified the Minimum Age Convention in 1995, establishing a national policy allowing children at least fourteen-years old to work in specified conditions. Botswana further ratified the ILO's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, convention 182, in 2000.
Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs aim to reduce poverty by making welfare programs conditional upon the receivers' actions. The government only transfers the money to persons who meet certain criteria. These criteria may include enrolling children into public schools, getting regular check-ups at the doctor's office, receiving vaccinations, or the like. CCTs seek to help the current generation in poverty, as well as breaking the cycle of poverty for the next through the development of human capital. Conditional cash transfers could help reduce feminization of poverty.
Social programs in Canada include all Canadian government programs designed to give assistance to citizens outside of what the market provides. The Canadian social safety net includes a broad spectrum of programs, many of which are run by the provinces and territories. Canada also has a wide range of government transfer payments to individuals, which totaled $176.6 billion in 2009—this cost only includes social programs that administer funds to individuals; programs such as medicare and public education are additional costs.
Social security in India includes a variety of statutory insurances and social grant schemes bundled into a formerly complex and fragmented system run by the Indian government at the federal and the state level and is divided into three categories: non-contributory and tax-payer-funded, employer-funded and lastly, joint-funded. The system has since been universalised with the passing of The Code on Social Security, 2020. These cover most of the Indian population with adequate social protection in various situations in their lives. The Indian social security system is considered to be one of the most generous in the world amongst developing countries. The Central Government of India's social security and welfare expenditures are a substantial portion of the official budget and as well as the budgets of social security bodies, and state and local governments play roles in developing and implementing social security policies. Additional welfare measure systems are also uniquely operated by various state governments. The government uses the unique identity number (Aadhar) that every Indian possesses to distribute welfare measures in India. The comprehensive social protection system of India can be categorised as the follows: social assistance and mandatory social security contributory schemes mostly related to employment. The Code on Social Security, 2020 is part of the Indian labor code that deals with employees' social security and have provisions on retirement pension and provident fund, healthcare insurance and medical benefits, sick pay and leaves, unemployment benefits and paid parental leaves. The largest social security programs backed by The Code on Social Security, 2020 are the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation for retirement pension, provident fund, life and disability insurance and the Employees' State Insurance for healthcare and unemployment benefits along with sick pays. There is also the National Pension System which is increasingly gaining popularity. These are funded through social insurance contributions on the payroll. While the National Food Security Act, 2013, that assures food security to all Indians, is funded through the general taxation. With the passing of the social security code by the Indian Parliament, the fragmented social security system was universalised, resembling the social security systems of most developed countries.
Welfare in France includes all systems whose purpose is to protect people against the financial consequences of social risks.
Social programs in the United States are programs designed to ensure that the basic needs of the American population are met. Federal and state social programs include cash assistance, health insurance, food assistance, housing subsidies, energy and utilities subsidies, and education and childcare assistance. Similar benefits are sometimes provided by the private sector either through policy mandates or on a voluntary basis. Employer-sponsored health insurance is an example of this.
Social protection, as defined by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, is concerned with preventing, managing, and overcoming situations that adversely affect people's well-being. Social protection consists of policies and programs designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labour markets, diminishing people's exposure to risks, and enhancing their capacity to manage economic and social risks, such as unemployment, exclusion, sickness, disability, and old age. It is one of the targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10 aimed at promoting greater equality.
The social protection floor (SPF) is the first level of protection in a national social protection system. It is a basic set of social rights derived from human right treaties, including access to essential services and social transfers, in cash or in kind, to guarantee economic security, food security, adequate nutrition and access to essential services.
The poverty alleviation programs in India can be categorized based on whether it is targeted either for rural areas or urban areas in the country.
India operates a complex pension system. There are however three major pillars to the Indian pension system: the solidarity social assistance called the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) for the elderly poor, the civil servants pension and the mandatory defined contribution pension programs run by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation of India for private sector employees and employees of state owned companies, and several voluntary plans.
Armenia was admitted into the United Nations on 2 March 1992, following its independence from the Soviet Union. In December 1992, the UN opened its first office in Yerevan. Since then, Armenia has signed and ratified several international treaties. There are 20 specialized agencies, programs, and funds operating in the country under the supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator. Armenia strengthened its relations with the UN by cooperating with various UN agencies and bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Food Programme, and with the financial institutions of the UN. Armenia is a candidate to preside as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2031.
The Department of Social Development (DSD) of South Africa is a government department responsible for providing social development, protection, and welfare services to the public. Previously called the Department of Welfare, it was renamed in July 2000. The current Minister of Social Development is Lindiwe Zulu.
Mexico offers social welfare assistance designed to meet needs of the Mexican population including assistance for low-income populations, young people, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Mexico has been offering social welfare since 1999. Despite the fact that Mexico offers welfare to its citizens through various programs, the poverty level in Mexico is currently at 46.2%. More than 10% of those living in poverty are living in extreme poverty, earning $1.25/ day or less.
South Africa has one of the most extensive social welfare systems among developing countries in the world. In 2019, an estimated 18 million people received some form of social grant provided by the government.