Social Protection in Africa: Can Evidence, Rights and Politics Converge?

Abstract

A growing number and diversity of social protection initiatives in Africa aim to institutionalise systems that guarantee assistance for the very poor and protect the vulnerable from livelihood risks and social discrimination. Much of the impetus has come from international development actors, with some notable exceptions. Three overlapping agendas appear to be shaping these developments: a technocratic concern with evidence of efficacy and cost-effectiveness, a political concern with the realities of constituencies, interests and institutions, and a rights-based concern with universal principles and standards. It is the articulation between these agendas and the different actors promoting them that determines what specific social protection instruments are adopted, how they are designed and implemented, and their outcomes – what gets taken forward, what goes to scale, what succeeds and what fails. We define ‘success’ here in terms not of immediate benefits for target groups, but of progress towards social protection systems that have nationwide coverage, can be sustained into the long term, have broad political support and institutional buy-in, and can ultimately make a significant impact on deprivation and vulnerability. Based on a selective review of social transfer programmes and policy processes in several African countries, we argue that initiatives that emerge out of domestic political agendas and respond to local conceptualisations and prioritisations of need are more likely to succeed than those based on imported ‘projectised’ models, but that ‘success’ depends on a convergence of all three agendas.