1. The Right to Social Protection Course A402565 “Employment & Informal Economy”
Ginette Forgues
Manager, Social protection Programme
International Training Centre of the ILO
Turin, Italy, March 23, 2010

2. What is social protection?
The vision in Year 2000
“Protection organised by society for its members through a set of public measures”*
The vision ten years later
See the staircase later in the presentation
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*World Labour Report 2000 “ Income security and social protection in a changing world”

3. Social protection in the ILO
One of the four strategic objectives of the Decent Work agenda
ILO actively
- promotes social protection policies
- provides its members states with tools and assistance aimed at improving & expanding the coverage of social protection to all

4. ILO Strategic Objective
Enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all

5. Thematic components of social protection in the ILO
Social Security
Safety and Health at Work
Working Conditions
International Labour Migration
HIV/AIDS

6. Why is social protection important?
A human right - UN Declaration on Human Rights, Declaration of Philadelphia, ILO standards, national constitutions, international frameworks
Poverty alleviation & prevention (MDGs) – i.e social transfers

7. Why is social protection important?
3. Essential part of economic growth & performance – Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation – 2008, response to the financial crisis
4. Income security - G8 statement
5. Solidarity, social justice , social consensus

8. What is the global situation?
20% of world population = adequate coverage
50% + of world population = no coverage
Less than 10% covered in least developed countries
20 to 60% covered in middle-income countries
Close to 100% covered in most industrialised countries

9. Options to extend coverage
1) Extending formal statutory schemes
2) Introducing community based social protection schemes
3) Extending tax financed schemes (conditional &unconditional transfers, means-tested, universal)
4) Basic social services for all

10. The formal social security component
1) Convention 102 is key instrument, though there are other instruments also
2) Nine contingencies
3) Social partners play a strong role in the management of social security funds

11. Nine contingencies in C102
Health care/insurance
Sickness
Old age
Invalidity
Unemployment
Employment injury
Maternity
Family responsibilities
Death/survivors

12. Benefits ILO Convention 102 Maternity Sickness Unemployment Survivors
Medical care
Employment
injury benefits
Pensions
Invalidity
Family allowances
ILO Convention 102

13. Option 1: Enlarging coverage by extending formal schemes
Does everyone benefit from schemes developed according to C102?
No cross subsidisation for the non covered part of population (i.e informal)
Primarily designed for formal economy - reaches that part of the population (employer-employee contributions)
Could be extended to informal economy via premium subsidization, i.e. Ghana for its health coverage

14. Who is excluded? Self-employed & informal economy
Workers in micro and small enterprises
Temporary workers
Domestic and home workers
Migrant workers
Agriculture, services, transport, construction, etc
Indigents

15. Option 2: Enlarging coverage by creating schemes for the informal economy
Offers possibility for increasing financial resource base, i.e. health care
Offers a chance to empower demand side
Some possibility to tax the informal economy, a step towards formalisation
Not a stand alone solution: requires links to national agencies

16. The community social protection schemes
Examples for access to health acre
Pre-payments
Cooperative social programmes
Welfare Funds
Traditional solidarity
Community social protection

17. Who runs these schemes?
Associations, CBOs, NGOs, cooperatives, health care providers, villages, trade unions
West Africa – “mutuelles” managed by members, moving towards universal coverage
Asia – NGOs, health providers, etc
Note: organised by private organisations, with many variations in size, benefits & approaches

18. What kind of schemes? Mainly access to health care
Also, life (i.e with micro-finance)
Assets
Combined schemes (i.e VimoSEWA)
+/- 90 million people access some social protection via community schemes

19. 3) Enlarging coverage by extending tax financed schemes
Can reach out to entire population sub-groups
Require basic logistical capacity
Some level of social security can be afforded by all
Probably the biggest potential at the moment

20. Cash/social transfers – some key programmes

21. Social Protection Floor
A new instrument based on access to social services: health, education, food security, sanitation, social security, income security, etc
Universal basic essential health care for all, through a set of sub-systems linked together: basically a public health service funded by taxes, social and private insurance and micro-insurance systems
Basic child benefits – family/child benefits aimed at facilitating access to basic social services – food security, nutrition, education, housing

22. Social Protection Floor
3) Income support – access to social assistance for the poor and the unemployed in active age groups
4) Income security- for people in old age, invalidity and survivors through basic pensions

23. Objective of Social Protection Floor
Enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all
Does NOT replace C102 package but creates a minimum floor on which a country can build comprehensive social protection

24. Is the Floor affordable?
The Social Security Dept of the ILO has conducted 22 simulations of basic social packages
Results
Most countries can afford some elements
Institutional, political and economic environment need to be organised
Capacity building increased to manage adequately

25. Examples of studies
Africa – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania
Senegal – can reduce poverty by 40% with old age, disability and child benefits
Tanzania – can reduce poverty by 9% with universal old age pension

26. Examples of studies Asia – Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam
Latin America – study of 10 countries, modest package of conditional cash transfers, universal pensions and basic health care can be kept under 5%, while poverty can be reduced by 50%

27. The case of Nepal

28. The productivity argument
Social Protection Floor can pay for itself eventually with the productivity increases it triggers
If productivity increases due to basic transfers, this would translate into an increase of GDP, then transfers would pay for themselves as tax revenues increase with GDP levels

29. Other examples
Universal pension schemes in Botswana, Brazil, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Nepal, and South Africa cost between 0.2 and 2% of GDP
Pilot cash targeted transfer programme in Zambia shows that scaling it to national level costs 0.5% of GDP (GTZ study)

30. Success factors Political will
National social protection policies and strategies, integrating Social Protection in broader economic development frameworks & comprising sequential and step by step approach with immediate, medium term and long term benefits
Active role of social partners
Capacity building of main actors

31. The vision in Year 2010
Basic coverage for all, universal but not necessarily uniform coverage (accepting pluralism)
Overall responsibility rests with the state but delivery can be shared w/ private sector and communities in states

32. The Vision Year in 2010
3. Rights based – “Everyone has the right to social security”, Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
4. Social outcomes in terms of adequate benefit levels have to be reached, independent of the type of organisation. ILO conventions are important as global safeguards and benefit benchmarks.

33. The vision in Year 2010
5. Good tripartite and financial governance is essential – capacity building increased with that objective in mind

34. The social security staircase
Voluntary Insurance
Contributory Social Security
Semi-Contributory Social Security
Income and Food Security
Children Benefit
Assistance
Unemployed & Poor
Income Security
Elderly & Disabled
The Social Protection Floor
Access to Social Services
Health, Sanitation, Education

35. Capacity building in social protection
ITC-Turin OPEN courses on pensions, social health insurance, employment injury, good governance, financing social security, extension of social protection to excluded populations
Courses specifically designed for projects, organisations and institutions

36. Some key conventions on social security/protection
Which of your countries have ratified?
C102 – Convention on social security (minimum standards
C121 – Employment injury
C128 – Invalidity, old age and survivors
C130 – Medical care
C168 – Employment promotion
C183 – Maternity protection

37. What is needed?
Existing social security Conventions, and in particular C. 102
embody an internationally accepted definition of social security,
have substantial influence at international, regional and national level
But:
fall short of providing universal access to defined basic and priority benefit package

38. What is coming? A new mechanism is being worked on :
achieving universal access to defined priority benefits to combat poverty as fast as possible,
as first step towards more comprehensive social security as defined by C. 102

39. Thank you!