Report highlights progress in social security coverage
6th December 2011
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Significant
progress in the extension of social security coverage to some of
Africa’s most vulnerable population groups continues to be made, notably
through innovative cash transfer and health-care programmes, according
to a new report published by the International Social Security
Association (ISSA).
The report, entitled ‘Africa: A new
balance for social security, analyses important recent developments and
trends in social security across the continent,’ highlights good
practices on social security programmes.
The report, which was to be presented at
the Regional Social Security Forum for Africa in Arusha yesterday,
documents on successful projects attributed to the extended coverage,
including those on previously unprotected workers, the elderly and
families.
“New evidence confirms significant and
rapid progress in extending social security coverage in a number of
countries in Africa,” said Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, the ISSA
secretary-general.
“A reinvigorated policy focus on the
extension of coverage, combined with improved governance and
administration, and a greater emphasis on forward-looking and earlier
interventions, means that African social security institutions are
contributing to social cohesion and economic development in new ways,”
he noted.
The report also highlights African
dimensions of an emerging global trend - a “new balance” - that
witnesses social security systems according to a greater role to
proactive and preventive policy approaches.
“The aim of these is to support
improvements in the quality and adequacy of benefits and services, as
well as in governance and administration,” said Konkolewsky.
However, with levels of social security
coverage on the continent often inadequate, the report recognises that
extending coverage further remains Africa’s major social policy
challenge.
In spite of multiple external challenges,
including widespread informal employment, inadequate basic social
infrastructure, and a high burden of infectious and chronic disease, the
report’s conclusions offer ground for optimism for the stronger
development of social security in the continent.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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