Social protection
Encyclopedia
Social protection, as defined by the United Nations Research Institute For Social Development
United Nations Research Institute For Social Development
The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development is "an autonomous United Nations agency that carries out research on the social dimensions of contemporary problems affecting development"...

, is concerned with preventing, managing, and overcoming situations that adversely affect people’s well being. Social protection consists of policies and programs designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labor markets, diminishing people's exposure to risks, and enhancing their capacity to manage economic and social risks, such as unemployment, exclusion, sickness, disability and old age.

Most common types of social protection:
  • Labor market interventions are policies and programs designed to promote employment, the efficient operation of labor markets and the protection of workers.
  • Social Insurance
    Social insurance
    Social insurance is any government-sponsored program with the following four characteristics:* the benefits, eligibility requirements and other aspects of the program are defined by statute;...

    mitigates risks associated with unemployment, ill health, disability, work-related injury and old age, such as health insurance or unemployment insurance.
  • Social Assistance is when resources, either cash or in-kind, are transferred to vulnerable individuals or households with no other means of adequate support, including single mothers, the homeless, or the physically or mentally challenged.

History of social protection


Traditionally, social protection has been used in the European welfare state and other parts of the developed world to maintain a certain living standard, and address transient poverty. One of the first examples of state-provided social protection can be tracked to the Roman Emperor Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...

, who expanded program for free grain to include more poor citizens of the empire. In addition, he instituted public funds to support poor children. Organized welfare
Welfare
Welfare refers to a broad discourse which may hold certain implications regarding the provision of a minimal level of wellbeing and social support for all citizens without the stigma of charity. This is termed "social solidarity"...

 was not common until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was during this period that in both Germany and Great Britain, welfare systems were established to target the working classes (see National Insurance
National Insurance
National Insurance in the United Kingdom was initially a contributory system of insurance against illness and unemployment, and later also provided retirement pensions and other benefits...

). The United States followed several years later, during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, with emergency relief for those struck the hardest. However, modern social protection has grown to envelop a much broader range of issues and purposes; it is now being used as a policy approach in developing nations, to address issues of persistent poverty and target structural causes. Moreover, it is designed to lift recipients out of poverty, rather than providing passive protection against contingencies .

Labor market Interventions

Labor market interventions, consisting of both active and passive policies, provide protection for the poor who are capable of gaining employment. Passive programs, such as unemployment insurance, income support and changes in labor legislation, allieviate the financial needs of the unemployed but are not designed to improve their employability.

On the other hand, active programs focus on directly increasing the access of unemployed workers. Active labor market programs (ALMPs) are used to reduce the risk of unemployment and to increase the earnings capacity of workers. ALMPs have two basic objectives: (1) economic, by increasing the ability of the unemployed to find jobs, and increase productivity and earnings; and (2) social, by improving the inclusion and participation of productive employment. These programs have the ability to increase employment opportunities and address the social problems that often accompany high unemployment. Active policies are a way of reversing the negative effects of industrial restructuring in transition economies and to help integrate vulnerable people furthest from the labor markets. ALMPs are often targeted to the long-term unemployed, workers in poor families, and particular groups with labor market disadvantages. These programs have important social, as well as economic, objectives. Active labor market programs include a wide range of activities to stimulate employment and productivity such as:
  • Employment services. These services include counseling, placement assistance, job matching, labor exchanges, and other related services to improve the functioning of the labor market.
  • Job Training. This includes training/retraining for the unemployed, workers in mass layoffs and youth to increase the quantity of work supply.
  • Direct employment generation The promotion of small and medium enterprises (e.g., public works projects, subsides) to increase labor demand.

A common issue in implementing successful labor market interventions is how to incorporate the informal economy, which comprises a significant portion of the workforce in developing countries. Informal employment comprises between half and three quarters of non-agricultural employment in the majority of these countries. The proportion of informal employment increases when agriculture is taken into account. Most informal workers are not covered by social security schemes, occupational safety and health measures, working conditions regulations and have limited access to health services and work-related measures of social protection. Labor market interventions work to integrate the different strategies to prevent and compensate occupational and social risks in the informal economy.  The strategies that include measures to prevent and mitigate the impact of risks are the most effective.

Social insurance

Social insurance schemes are contributory programs that protect beneficiaries from catastrophic expenses in exchange for regular payments of premiums. Health costs can be very high, so health insurance schemes are a popular way reducing risk in the event of shock. However, an individual with low income may not be able to afford insurance. Some argue that insurance schemes should be complemented with social assistance. Community-based health insurance allows pooling in settings where institutional capacity is too weak to organize nationwide risk-pooling, especially in low-income countries, making insurance more affordable. In risk-sharing schemes, the insurance premium is unrelated to the likelihood that the beneficiary will fall ill and benefits are provided on the basis of need.

Social assistance

Social assistance schemes comprise programs designed to help the most vulnerable individuals ( i.e., those with no other means of support such as single parent households, victims of natural disasters or civil conflict, handicapped people, or the destitute poor), households and communities to meet a Social floor
Social floor
A is a basic set of social rights, services and facilities that every person should enjoy. The United Nations suggests that a SPF could consist of two main elements that help to realize human rights:...

 and improve living standards. These programs consist of all forms of public action, government and non-government, that are designed to transfer resources, either cash or in-kind (e.g. food transfers), to eligible vulnerable and deprived persons. Social assistance interventions may include:
  • Welfare
    Welfare
    Welfare refers to a broad discourse which may hold certain implications regarding the provision of a minimal level of wellbeing and social support for all citizens without the stigma of charity. This is termed "social solidarity"...

     and social services
     to highly vulnerable groups such as the physically or mentally disabled, orphans, or substance abusers.
  • Cash or in-kind transfers such as food stamps and family allowances.
  • Temporary subsidies such as life-line tariffs, housing subsidies, or support of lower prices of staple food in times of crisis.

Universalism vs. Targeting

There are two main schools of thought concerning scope of social protection. Universalism argues that each person, by merit of simply being a citizen should receive benefits from social protection programs. Such a policy would avoid means-testing and any work requirement. One of the greatest benefits to this policy perspective is social solidarity, since everyone contributes collaboratively to a system that everyone also benefits from. Social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...

 is one such example. Moreover, economists have argued that universalism is an investment in human capital that aids the development of a nation as a whole.
Opponents would argue that universalism is cost-ineffective and unfairly distorts individual efforts. Such an argument points toward targeting as a better solution. In such a case, the question arises of who should be the target population that receives benefits from social programs.

Targeting income vs. capabilities

Net income is the simplest method of determining a needy population. Some states use a Guaranteed Minimum Income
Guaranteed minimum income
Guaranteed minimum income is a system of social welfare provision that guarantees that all citizens or families have an income sufficient to live on, provided they meet certain conditions. Eligibility is typically determined by citizenship, a means test and either availability for the labour...

 system, in which all members of a state receive sufficient income to live on, so long as they meet certain conditions. However, proponents of the capabilities approach argue that income is easier to misrepresent, and moreover, fails to target the root causal factors of poverty. Hence, they recommend targeting a minimum level of basic capabilities that will impact quality of life, such as institutional improvements like health and education. Policy examples might include a social floor
Social floor
A is a basic set of social rights, services and facilities that every person should enjoy. The United Nations suggests that a SPF could consist of two main elements that help to realize human rights:...

.

Means of provision

Social protection is an expensive and difficult endeavor, by any means; the question remains how best to implement programs that effectively aid the people who need it the most. Currently, there are a number of mechanisms that provide social protection in various nations. In some nations, governments are strongly involved in the provision of social protection, following a developmentalism
Developmentalism
Developmentalism is an economic theory which states that the best way for Third World countries to develop is through fostering a strong and varied internal market and to impose high tariffs on imported goods....

 model, in which social protection is seen as a tool to promote economic growth. There are also nations which suffer from dualism
Dualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...

, in which there is state-provided protection for those who work in the formal sector, but little to no protection for those who work in the informal sector. Finally, there are nations in which the economy is largely agrarian, and a great majority of the population works in the informal economy. In such states, corruption and inefficient bureaucracy tends to interfere with state provision of social protection; instead, there are non-governmental means such as kin, NGOs, and individual philanthropic donations.

Developmentalism

In South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, the government provides extensive support for public programs, following the developmentalism
Developmentalism
Developmentalism is an economic theory which states that the best way for Third World countries to develop is through fostering a strong and varied internal market and to impose high tariffs on imported goods....

 model, in which social protection is seen as a tool to promote economic growth.

Dualism

In Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, there exists a dualist balance of protected formal sector workers and marginalized informal sector workers. ,

Agrarian-Informal

In nations such as India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

, governments struggle to provide adequate social protection, and citizens must instead depend on non-state actors.

Donor approaches

International donors and organizations have influenced social protection approaches both at the level of policy discourse and program design and implementation. Even though The World Bank and International Labor Organization (ILO) are the major donors and the lead organizations in the field, other organizations are also concerned with social protection.

The World Bank is a source of financial and technical assistance for developing countries. In order to identify social risks and potential responses, The World Bank developed a tool called “Social Risk Management
Social risk management
Social risk management is a new conceptual framework assigned and designed by the World Bank. The objective of SRM is to extend the traditional framework of social policy to the non-market based social protection of which its three primary strategies include prevention, mitigation, and coping. ...

” (SRM). The SRM framework includes interventions that focus on managing risks before shocks occur. It is based on two assessments: (1) the poor are most exposed to diverse risks, and (2) the poor have the fewest tools to deal with these risks. The main elements of the SRM framework are:
  • Risk reduction measures that focus on reducing risks in the labor market.
  • Risk mitigation measures to deal with anticipated shock.
  • Risk coping mechanisms to relieve the impact of risk after its occurred.


The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) brings 30 democratic countries together to seek answers to common problems and coordinate domestic and international policies. The Development Assistance Committee
Development Assistance Committee
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Development Assistance Committee is a forum for selected OECD member states to discuss issues surrounding aid, development and poverty reduction in developing countries...

 (DAC) of the OECD is responsible for the Poverty Network (POVNET) that has become very influential on policy development. The DAC-POVNET focuses on the following areas:

The International Labor Organization, which covers both issues of social security and labor protection, has been the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

agency responsible for setting norms and standards at work. Currently the ILO focuses on three sets of strategies: *Extending formal social security to 80% of the world
  • Promoting decent working conditions
  • Providing programs for informal and migrant workers
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