frank ellis - evolving social protection in africa

Evolving Social Protection in Africa

• Informal insurance

• Safety nets

• Poverty targeted transfers

• Categorical (‘universal’) transfers

4 Main Strands

Directions of Change

1980s 1990s 2000s1980s 1990s

Summary Key Strands

4

1) Diminishing capacity of informal insurance

2) Safety nets: transient, no entitlement

3) Poverty targeted transfers: focus on chronic extreme poverty; externally driven But, difficulty moving beyond pilots

4) Categorical transfers: social pensions and child grants; legislated rights

Achievements to Date

5

o chronic rather than transient extreme poverty

o shift emergency response to routine transfers

o shift food to cash transferso local food sourcing when food

unavoidableo large-scale programmes in specific

countrieso pensions and child grants, some

countrieso OVC frameworks and programmeso pilots and lessons from themo innovative and secure means of

delivering cash

Limitations to Dateo ‘social protection’ term confuses

governmentso confusion SP as outcome vs SP as specific

responsibility towards the weakesto lack of political traction poverty-targeted

SCTs may even have adverse political fallout divisiveness in contexts of prevalent

poverty o donor failures:

to support categorical provision to address concerns about dependency addiction to pilot schemes bypassing government structures