Gender and Social Security Reform in Africa

As a result of pressures from structural adjustment policies, persistent poverty and slow economic growth in most African countries, there is widespread reform of formal social security systems in the region. The designs for reform have ignored gender concerns and non-formal social security systems, yet it is widely known that women and men have different experiences in the labour market and that non-formal systems are currently the main source of social security for most women and men, especially in rural communities. The paper points out the efficiency and equity costs of ignoring gender and non-formal social security systems and proposes action for policymakers.     

Pan‐European pension funds: Current situation and future prospects

The competitive pressures arising from European economic integration increasingly challenge the territorial sovereignty of national welfare states. This generates the need to situate domestic social security schemes amid the European Union's national and supranational as well as economic and social spaces. At the trans‐national level, the European Commission's 2003 Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) Directive created the illusion that a single market for occupational pensions would shortly be within reach. This did not happen, however, as IORPs — being at one and the same time financial vehicles and social insurance institutions — embody the constitutional asymmetry between policies promoting market efficiency and policies promoting social protection. Whereas the elimination of financial and tax barriers has proceeded smoothly, harmonization of the social and labour components within the occupational pension domain did not occur, slowing down the development of pan‐European pension plans. Nonetheless the road towards a single occupational pension market is still open, with first positive results emerging from the greater involvement of corporate and supranational actors.     

A comparative analysis of pension reforms and challenges in Ghana and Nigeria

Ghana and Nigeria recently joined a number of countries that have incorporated fully‐funded defined contribution pension programmes into their national social security arrangements. Contemporary analyses of pension reforms, however, continue to focus on middle‐income countries in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as on Member States of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development, thereby marginalizing recent pension policy reforms in sub‐Saharan African countries. This article examines the complete and partial shifts to defined contribution pension programmes in Nigeria and Ghana respectively, and points to a number of contextual and contingency factors that challenge the use of defined contribution schemes as a means to address problems of benefit adequacy in the sub‐Saharan African context.     

Denmark: Universal or Not So Universal Welfare State

This article questions whether or not Denmark is still a universal welfare state. It does so by first offering a comparative‐based analysis of the Nordic countries on central welfare state parameters. Second, the article utilizes a case‐based analysis in respect of three core areas of the Danish welfare state—pensions, unemployment and early retirement benefit—to assess the distinctiveness of the Danish model. The article concludes that, notwithstanding the Danish model is more mixed today than it used to be, it continues to be distinct in areas such as equality, full employment, a high level of spending on social security and an active labour market policy.     

Conceptualising dignity in the context of social security: Bottom-up and top-down perspectives

Dignity and social security have been closely associated since at least the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, but there is a lack of clarity around what dignity means in this context. This article explores how two key stakeholders—out-of-work benefit recipients and policymakers—understand dignity in the context of social security, drawing on qualitative research with each group. The evidence presented notes a relative absence of direct references to dignity among policymakers, although related issues are nonetheless discussed, whereas benefit recipients commonly articulate experiences of undignified treatment and the negative impact this has on their lives. This article's exploration of dignity is of particular relevance to Scotland, where recent framework legislation includes the principle that their security system should be underpinned by “respect for the dignity of individuals.” The authors propose that a social security system that protects dignity must take account of distributional, relational, and intrinsic aspects of dignity—providing sufficient income, treating users with respect, and avoiding interventions or discourses that are disrespectful and dehumanizing. Further, the authors question whether it is possible for dignity to enjoy meaningful protection within highly disciplinary conditional welfare regimes.     

Trends in Social Security in East Africa: Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda

As elsewhere in the world and in Africa in particular, social security in the member countries of the East African Community (Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania, and Uganda) has long been provided through voluntary assistance under the traditional extended family system. Later, and more specifically after independence in the early 1960s, when the region had a major increase in the number of employees in the formal sector — both public and private — who were mainly located in urban centres, formal social security schemes started to gain recognition among employed workers. Thus over the years, the urban population became increasingly detached from rural communities where the traditional extended family system was most effective. In addition, their general standards of living rose to such levels that if they ceased to earn employment income for one reason or another their livelihood could not be sustained through the extended family system. The above social security development trends have resulted even today in societies examining and determining ways to improve social protection beyond the formal sector so as to ensure arrangements are put in place for a large part of the working population to be provided with social security insurance during their working life and after retirement.     

Pension system generosity and reform in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia

Pension systems in the North African countries of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are facing a certain number of difficulties. Presenting the characteristics and organizational structure of each, this article identifies the specificities of, as well as the common problems confronting, these countries' pension systems. With reference to authorizing legislation and case simulations, the high level of generosity of the different pension systems is discussed and an analysis presented. In a context of population ageing, it is argued that current levels of generosity cannot be maintained; reform is needed. The article discusses different reform options, the challenges of implementation and the possible macroeconomic impacts of reform.     

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): What's in it for Social Security?

This article explores the implications of the World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) for social security. It examines what bearing the GATS has, or will have, on social security policy and administration and what the effects might be. These questions are explored through a review of legal, political and policy issues relating to the status of social security within the GATS and the consequences of applying the Agreement's provisions to social security. The discussion distinguishes between the supply of social security services on the one hand and access to and use of social security services on the other hand. It also distinguishes between substantive questions regarding the scope of the GATS and procedural issues regarding governments' scheduling practices. I argue that although the GATS does not yet have a direct material bearing on social security policy and provision, it may do so in the future. However, it is too early to ascertain what the nature or magnitude of the effects might be. More generally, the discussion highlights the difficulties of securing multilateral cooperation among countries with different levels of "development", strategic interests and priorities, and social security systems.     

Extending social security coverage: Concepts, global trends and policy issues

This article reviews the experience of some key low-, middle- and high-income countries that have successfully extended social security coverage or are in the process of doing so. It shows that a strong and competent State is a first requirement for the extension of social security. It also examines a variety of coverage indicators that can help national and international policymakers to focus their efforts on the extension of social security. Finally, it documents the growing use of tax-financed social pensions, and discusses some policy issues with regard to the link between tax-financed and contributory social security schemes.     

The role of tax-financed social security

This article provides a reassessment of the role of tax-financed social security. It outlines the relevant trends in developed and developing countries and discusses qualitative changes in the role and approach to tax-financed social security. It then assesses emergent forms of tax-financed social security in developing countries. It considers in particular their focus, scope, design and dynamics. It concludes that emergent tax-financed social security in developing countries holds the promise to make an impact on global poverty and vulnerability, and the main challenge is to ensure this contributes to the development of comprehensive social security systems.     

The use of replacement rates in international comparisons of benefit systems

Comparative studies of social security systems have increasingly turned towards the use of replacement rates as measures of the level of benefits in different countries and therefore of the degree of social protection afforded by different welfare systems. The rationale for this is that replacement rates provide consistent measures of the relative generosity of payments and therefore indicate the "quality" of social security systems. This article reviews the use of replacement rates in comparisons of the generosity of retirement pensions and argues that they are not necessarily reliable as such measures. This reflects a number of factors, including incomplete measurement of benefit packages and differences in what must be bought out of disposable incomes. Most importantly, the article suggests that the levels of earnings in different countries are not independent of the processes of redistribution. In particular, countries which rely on social security contributions from employers appear to provide more generous benefits than those which rely on income taxes or employee contributions. This is a consequence of the fact that employer contributions do not figure specifically in the calculation of replacement rates. The relative generosity of benefit systems is overstated in countries which rely on employer social security contributions to fund benefits. The article concludes that a range of complementary indicators of social security systems should be used in future analysis of these issues.     

Has Social Security Become Irrelevant?

In recent years, it has often been asserted that social security has become irrelevant to contemporary economic and social realities. This claim has been accompanied by proposals for the abolition of social security and its replacement with commercial provision. In some countries, social security has already been extensively privatized. Instead of dismissing the claim that social security has become irrelevant, this article examines the views of social security's critics. It suggests that steps need to be taken to address their challenge and ensure social security's long-term survival.     

Mapping social work education in the West Africa region: Movements toward indigenization in 12 countries’ training programs

This article presents the results of a systematic mapping of social work training programs in countries throughout West Africa, a region historically under‐represented in global discussions of the social welfare workforce. The research illuminates how social workers and related professionals are trained to engage in social work practice in a number of West African countries. The research was conducted in two phases. In the initial phase, the research team collected documents from 12 West African countries and conducted phone interviews with relevant individuals. The second phase included field research in five West African countries ? Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal ? where the research team conducted semi‐structured interviews and group discussions with 253 individuals. Framed by indigenization theory, this study describes social service training institutes in West Africa and highlights the varying degrees to which programs have been adapted to indigenous and endogenous realities in the postcolonial era.     

Informal Economic and Social Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Most people think that there is no social security in sub-Saharan Africa, whereas a theoretical statutory social security is foreseen in quite a few African States. Since the 1960s, the first formal social security provision in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa was established mainly in the field of health services. Nevertheless, the situation is different in reality. The coverage rate is less than 10 per cent of the workforce. The majority of the population are excluded because they work in the informal sector. Formal social security systems are usually based on a labour-centred view, which is founded on formal employment and thus employment contracts. Legal restrictions, such as the exclusion of several categories of employees, and administrative and financial problems are primarily responsible for the low coverage rate. This situation has induced informal sector workers to create their own "safety nets". The integration of these existing informal social security schemes in a broader, pluralist approach to sub-Saharan social security seems necessary.     

Social security: Indispensable solidarity

Social security must be considered not as an economic burden, but as a collection of mechanisms for collective solidarity based on the principle of income redistribution. The economic and social transformations that the various regions of the world are going through, in particular the globalization of the economy, are making social security increasingly necessary. Instead of yielding to proposals for the privatization of schemes — a formula that is less efficient and more expensive — we should be protecting and improving social security; developing it in those countries where its position is still weak; and stressing that, while its objectives are humane and social, it brings economic benefits too.     

Changing the development policy paradigm: Investing in Social security floor for all

The Paper briefly reviews social security coverage that the world has achieved and summarizes economic and social benefits of a national social security system. It then goes on to argue that social security systems are a necessary part of the institutional framework of any effective market economy, creating—among other things—societal cohesion that is needed for long-term economic development. It makes the case that the introduction of basic social protection in developing countries is both a desirable and an affordable investment in their social and economic development. It estimates the global minimum investment cost to provide basic social security and finally suggests international instruments to introduce a global social security floor.     

The welfare state in liquidation?

This paper is about the most recent reforms of cash benefit systems and the sociopolitical debate in eight European countries. The welfare state and the social security system rank high on the political agenda. After many years of economic crisis, with increasingly widespread unemployment and changed family patterns, the welfare system that developed in most western European countries since the end of the Second World War is the focus of attention. In a world of increasing international trade, with competition from countries — in eastern Europe and Asia as well as the United States — which have not developed such comprehensive systems of social security, one of the main issues in the debate is whether western Europe can afford to maintain welfare at the existing level, or whether it is necessary to make fundamental changes. But the discussion also centres on what can be called the welfare state's own internal problems.     

New Horizons of Economic Relations

The consistent policy of socialist countries that is directed toward improving relations with all countries irrespective of their social system and the obvious turn toward realism and the relaxation of tensions characteristic of the present policy of a number of Western powers have led to an improvement in the international political climate in recent years. The peace initiatives of the Soviet Union, the successful development of Soviet-French collaboration, the Soviet-West German and Polish-West German treaties, the quadrilateral agreement on West Berlin, the important results of Soviet-American negotiations, real prospects for convening an all-European conference on security and collaboration — all these things create favorable prerequisites for new and positive change in international relations.     

社区照顾在残疾人社会保障中的运用

社区照顾最早产生于英国,自诞生以来,便以其新型的理念与模式日益受到各国学者和政府的重视。社区照顾作为一种专业化的照顾模式,在残疾人社会保障方面具有广阔的发展空间。本文试图将社区照顾的制度安排应用于我国残疾人社会保障事业,并探析我国残疾人社区照顾的模式,以推动我国残疾人社会保障事业向人性化、社会化、专业化方向发展。