Social protection in sub-Saharan Africa: will the green shoots blossom?

Interest in social protection has grown rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa over the last decade. This paper provides an overview of the recent extension of social protection in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper identifies two main ‘models’ of social protection in the region- the Southern Africa and Middle Africa models- and examines major challenges they face as regards financing, institutional capacity and political support.

The document argues that Middle Africa programmes constitute a different model of social programme from the grant-based schemes in Southern Africa. Indeed, they represent a move from the delivery of emergency humanitarian relief towards regular and predictable programmes providing income transfers and ensuring access to, and utilisation of, basic services.

The authors draw these conclusions:

• compared to the extension of social protection in the Southern Africa model, the programmes under the Middle Africa model have significantly weaker domestic political embedding and institutionalisation
• it is highly unlikely that social protection will become a significant instrument of poverty reduction unless the state is centrally involved in rolling out major, long-term programmes of assistance
• donors should align their efforts more skillfully in support of forms of social protection that are likely to foster the growth of political constituencies that will support long-term social protection policies
• for an effective institutional framework for social protection, the present focus on the technical design of social protection programmes needs to be accompanied by analyses that contribute to also ‘getting the politics right’

Yet, the paper indicates that the still unanswered questions about financial and capacity constrains show that important challenges lie ahead.