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Farming communities confronted with climate change adopt formal and informal adaptation strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change. While the environmental and social effects of climate change are well documented, there is still a dearth of literature on girl-child marriage (formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child) as a response to the effects of climate change. In this research, we ask if girl-child marriage is promoted as a social protection mechanism first, rather than as simply a response to climate-induced poverty. We use qualitative semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions to explore this question in a rural farming community in Northern Ghana. Our findings reveal that climate change shocks result in poverty and compel farmers to marry off their young daughters. The unmarried girl-child is perceived as an ‘extra mouth to feed’, a liability whose marriage becomes a strategy for protecting the family, the family’s reputation, and the girl child. The emphasis in girl-child marriage is not on the girl-child as an individual but on the family as a group. Hence, what is good for the family is assumed to be in the best interest of the girl-child. We place our analysis at the intersection of climate change, social protection, and the incidence of girl-child marriages. We argue that understanding this link is crucial and can contribute significantly to our knowledge of girl-child marriage as well as our ability to address this in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Introduction: The paper analyses – basing itself on reports and other documents created by different parts of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) – the process which led to the adoption of Social Protection Floor Recommendation No. 202 and the shift in focus of social policy advice towards basic protection and to the Global South countries. We look at the actions of different actors which shape the standard setting and policy stand of the organisation. Objective: To provide a comprehensive analysis of the historical trajectory of ILO social security standards, examining the evolution of principles, conventions, and the global dynamics that have shaped the organization's approach to social protection over time. Materials and methods: The methods include examining ILO documents, relevant subject literature, and the author's participant observations from over twenty-years of service in the ILO's Social Security Department, aiming to provide insights into the decision-making processes within the organization. Conclusion: We conclude that change was brought by: 1) shift in the membership of the ILO and of its decision-making bodies towards the increased presence and powers of representatives from countries of the Global South, 2) the shift in the global development community policy priorities towards poverty reduction, 3) emergence of experimental social assistance schemes in Global South countries, with designs often ignoring principles embedded in the ILO standards. The Social Protection Floor Recommendation complements previous standards in response to the challenges of widespread poverty and informality and spreading atypical forms of employment. It provides two directions of policy responses: 1) formalizing informal employment relationships and 2) expanding universal or targeted rights-based social assistance schemes. Assistance provided by ILO to member states focuses now more on building the non-contributory schemes and on identifying the fiscal space necessary to close the coverage gaps. Nowadays, the ILO must collaborate more than before with other development partners and the main challenge is to build among them awareness and acceptance of the principles of the ILO social security standards.
This paper presents the preliminary results of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam country case study conducted as part of the research project Sustainable Labour Migration implemented by the University of Applied Science Bonn-Rhein-Sieg. The project focuses on stakeholder perspectives on countries of origin benefits and the sustainability of different transnational skill partnership schemes. Existing and ongoing small-scale initiatives indicate that opportunities exist for all three types of labour mobility pathways, from recruiting youth for apprenticeships and subsequent skilled work to recruitment and recognition of skilled 'professionals' certificates for direct work contracts to initial vocational education and training programs in a dual-track approach. While the latter has the highest potential to be more beneficial than other approaches, pursuing and supporting the scaling up of all three pathways in parallel will have additional, mutually reinforcing and supporting effects. The potential for benefits over and above those already realised by existing skill partnerships appears high, especially considering the favourable framework conditions specific to the long-standing German-Vietnamese relationship. If the potential of well-managed skill partnerships was realised, such sustainable models of skilled labour migration could serve as a unique selling point in the international competition for skilled labour.
What does ‘desirable’ or ‘sustainable’ mean in the context of labour migration? And what should programmes geared towards making migration more compatible with development look like? These questions provided the starting point for the ‘Sustainable Labour Migration’ research project implemented by Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences between December 2020 and August 2022. The project looked at how sustainability in different transnational skills partnership schemes was perceived by different stakeholders in three countries chosen as case studies: Georgia, Kosovo and Vietnam. Embracing the notion of a ‘triple win’, many transnational skills partnership schemes aim to deliver benefits for their main stakeholder groups. As well as reflecting critically on this triple-win narrative, this paper also argues for a more nuanced approach in order to grasp the complexity of skilled labour migration. The paper introduces one such approach, namely the sustainable labour migration framework, and highlights the key elements of the research project. It details the methodology used in the study (systematic literature review – employer survey – semi-structured, in-depth interviews – focus group interviews) and explores the perception of sustainability in skilled labour migration with a focus on the cost/benefit ratio, the relationship between vocational education and training and labour migration, and the various arrangements for the partnerships employed in the schemes. In introducing the key findings from the three countries selected for the case studies, the paper highlights that the perception of sustainability is not underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of the term amongst most stakeholders. Within all the schemes, however, some stakeholders identified elements which make a positive contribution to development in the respective countries of origin and thus identify elements of sustainable labour migration with room for improvement in multiple areas. The paper concludes with a presentation of overall policy recommendations: The ongoing reform of Germany’s labour migration policy should be accompanied by more development-oriented activities. As part of this, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) should stand up more forcefully for the needs of migrants and potential partner countries in order to reduce existing inequalities
Introduction: As historically verified, countries with comprehensive, well designed social protection systems in place are better prepared to cope with large scale catastrophes of all kinds, always in such situation there is still a need for government interventions other than social protection and larger scale discretionary social protection or related interventions. Objective: The article presents the actions of countries to minimize the negative social effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The text is an attempt to answer how social security systems should be adapted to aforementioned crisis? Materials and methods: The text uses research methods such as: literature criticism and statistical analysis of data and revision of implemented state intervention policies based on reports of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Labour Organizaton, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and International Monetary Fund. Results: 1) For social security institutions of key importance to ensure continuity of operations of all services – of contributory social insurance as well of social assistance - was to ensure continuous payment of all benefits due and quick response to the new entitlement emerging. It is also necessary to ensure that all citizens are fully insured, regardless of the form of contract under which they perform work. 2) In many countries, special emergency measures that extended coverage and increased benefits were taken by governments without clearly identifying the sources of funding and very often burdening social security funds with non-statutory expenses and affecting their long-term financial sustainability. 3) In the longer run, there is a need to ensure universal health care coverage of the adequate quality, there is a need to develop policies which will secure at least minimum income security to all – independently of their labour market status, forms of employment, sex, ethnicity or nationality.
Discarded news
(2022)
When important news fail to reach their recipients, namely, the politically interested, socially open-minded public, we sometimes refer to this process as agenda cutting. This article presents the key theoretical positions on this under-researched phenomenon, presenting important study results as well as our own empirical findings on internal editorial decision-making processes whereby topics are removed from the agenda. Last, we will critically examine the role of the audience as an actor in agenda cutting, which could be described as »news ignorance«.[1]
The top story showcased by Initiative Nachrichtenaufklärung (INA) e.V. in 2022 was the creeping abolition of free textbooks in German schools. In a public radio broadcast, the head of TV news magazine Tagesthemen and deputy editor-in-chief of ARD-Aktuell, Helge Fuhst, conceded that he considered this topic highly relevant, yet it had indeed not been covered in his TV news program. »Leaving out topics is, in fact, the most difficult challenge,« Fuhst said. »Having to drop topics hurts every day. There are only a few days a year when we have absolutely no idea what to put on the air.« (WDR 2022)
The process of news selection is editorial routine, which includes omitting, discarding, or abandoning topics. When this negative process is intentional, it can also be referred to as agenda cutting. This term from the field of communications science describes a distinct form of editorial routine that has been little studied to date and whose mechanisms, with their considerable influence on the formation of public opinion, are in urgent need of media research scrutiny.
This study intends to contribute to the discourse on social protection and crime. The study assessed social protection as a tool for crime prevention, with bias to Owerri municipal local government area of Imo state, Nigeria as a case study. The study employed a qualitative approach which allowed the researcher to explore experiences and perspectives of selected participants. Purposive sampling was considered appropriate for the defined population. In-depth interview and focus group discussion (FGD) served as data collection instruments. A review of available literature, reports, newspaper publications, reports, and various internet sources were exhaustively utilised to gather secondary data.
The study revealed that social protection possesses the potential to prevent crime. The study informed that certain intervention programmes established by the government helped in decreasing crime incidences in the area under study. In addition, the study revealed that social protection enhances wellbeing, empowers people, promotes better living conditions, imbues a sense of belonging and inclusiveness, promotes social stability and does not lead to dependency. However, the study revealed that social protection alone is incapable of eradicating crime.
We analyze short-term effects of free hospitalization insurance for the poorest quintile of the population in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. First, we exploit that eligibility is based on an exogenous poverty score threshold and apply a regression discontinuity design. Second, we exploit imperfect rollout and compare insured and uninsured households using propensity score matching. With both methods we fail to detect significant effects on the incidence of hospitalization. Whereas the program did not meaningfully increase the quantity of health care consumed, insured households more often choose private hospitals, indicating a shift towards higher perceived quality of care.
The future of work
(2021)
Driven by the exponential increase in the computational power of machines, data digitalization and scientific advancement in robotics and automation, the current wave of technological change is seemingly unprecedented in speed and scale. It transforms manufacturing and businesses making them more flexible, decentralized and efficient (Lasi et al. 2014). Even though technological change is nothing new, some argue that it is different this time. The new technologies have not only the potential to substitute labor (Nomaler and Verspagen 2018), they also change the way people work. The trend towards new forms of employment is no longer a marginal phenomenon.
The changing world poses many challenges to public policies, including social policies – among them social protection policies, which are the main focus of this handbook. Here, in this part of the handbook, we take on a number of these challenges: demographic changes and their interaction with social protection policies; roles of social protection in coping with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic (both topics discussed in Chapter 39 and 43 by Woodall); the challenges of globalisation (discussed in Chapter 40 by Betz) and the limitations it imposes on state sovereignty and its ability to decide on the size of publicly funded programmes, in particular social protection; challenges to labour markets and social effective protection coverage posed by automation and digitalisation of businesses (discussed in Chapter 41 by Gassmann) and, last but not least, potential roles of social protection in facilitating population’s adjustments to climate change (discussed in Chapter 42 by Malerba).
Policy analysis is the cornerstone of evidence-based policy making.1 It identifies the problems, informs programme design, supports the monitoring of policy implementation and is needed to evaluate programme impacts (Scott 2005). Rigorous and credible policy evidence is necessary to ensure the transparency and accountability of policy decisions, to secure political and public support and, hence, the allocation of financial resources. Sound policy analysis helps design effective and efficient programmes, thereby maximizing programme impact.
In recent years, the basic income grant (BIG) discourse has gained attention worldwide as a potential policy option in social protection as testified by recent public debates, ongoing pilot projects, campaigning efforts,1 policy measures during Covid-19 and the surge in academic research. A BIG refers to regular cash transfers paid to all members of society irrespective of their socio-economic status, their capacity or willingness to participate in the labour market or having to meet pre-determined conditions (Offe 2008; Van Parijs 1995, 2003; Wright 2004, 2006). Despite the recent hype around BIG, Iran is the only country worldwide with a scaled-up BIG (Tabatabai 2011, 2012). Other programmes have never gone beyond pilot programmes. This raises the question why this is the case.
Designing a social protection system is of course not only a technical exercise but a very political affair. A systems approach to social protection is shaped by the political elites and the respective coalitions of change, the political institutions as well as the political system of a country. This explains why also seemingly similar countries in terms of their risk profile, poverty situation and economic situation can adopt very different social protection systems or make very different progress with respect to social protection expansion. Not only are the established welfare states of the Global North but also the nascent social protection systems in the Global South a testimony of this variety.
While there is a standard set of instruments that can be used in social protection systems, this needs to be adapted and combined in different ways in order to serve different groups in society best. The needs of a young person who is just starting life and should not be trapped from birth in unfavourable socio-economic conditions are different from the social protection requirements of a retired person who has finished the active part of life and requires income and care security for an indefinite time period.
Social budgeting
(2021)
At the beginning of 2020 with the globally spreading pandemic of COVID-19 and all its social and economic consequences, the importance of having comprehensive, universal and effective social protection systems became once again – like during all the major economic and social crises before – very clear (Gentilini et al. 2020; Chapter 43 of this volume). Countries with strong social protection systems, although needing to enhance many benefit provisions and extend coverage to reach those in non-standard forms of employment, still were coping better with the pandemic and had better chances of cushioning the resulting economic downturn. However, we know from past experience that after the crisis is over, austerity measures may focus again on limiting social expenditure under all kinds of excuses.
Actors
(2021)
Social protection is for many international organizations a state’s affair.1 While the state definitely plays an important role, the state is by far not the only actor and there is no predefined institutional arrangement of how social protection should be implemented. An exclusive focus on the state would therefore be short-sighted when assessing and comparing the performance of social protection systems. It is hence important to understand the mix of actors involved, the type of contribution they can make to social protection and their modes of cooperation. This contribution will therefore first sketch out the role and interplay of the main actors in social protection and then challenge some of the common assumptions made around how roles are best allocated in the social protection system concerning the providers of informal social protection, the private sector, civil society organizations (CSO) as well as international actors.
The idea of a basic income grant (BIG) is not new and there are ongoing debates internationally as well as nationally in low- and middle-income countries just like in high-income countries of a BIG as a social protection policy option. The challenge is that there are different conceptualisations, which conflates and muddles the understanding. In the context of social assistance provision, a universal basic income grant (UBIG) is often compared and contrasted against targeted cash transfers (CTs). This case study systematically presents the arguments for targeted CTs and UBIGs. The value of the case study is that it systematically brings together these arguments, highlighting the variations in UBIG applications, including the evidence and actual impact of UBIG experiments. The structure of the case study is as follows: Section 2 simultaneously contrasts and compares the arguments for targeted CTs and UBIG. Section 3 discusses UBIG experiments, as well as presenting the evidence on the application of the UBIG idea, and Section 4 concludes.
Social transfers
(2021)
Social transfers are on the rise in the Global South but they have also been in the centre of discussion in the Global North as an attractive instrument to buffer new risks and uncertainties in a changing world. They have experienced a dramatic change since the beginning of the new century, starting off as a revolutionary programmatic intervention in countries such as Mexico and Brazil or as a fledgling pilot programme in countries such as Zambia, Kenya and Malawi. They have now become a standard intervention across the globe, a truly global social policy as Hickey and Seekings (2019, 249) coined it. This global trend has been facilitated by donors’ strive to move away from ever recurring humanitarian actions, by increased pressure on donors to show aid effectiveness with the money finally reaching the most vulnerable as well as by international concerted actions such as the United Nations initiative of a global social protection floor.
While social protection has become an important policy field in many low- and middle-income countries (LICs and MICs), 55 per cent of the world’s population are still not even covered by one social protection benefit, with 87 per cent of people uncovered in Sub-Saharan Africa and 61 per cent in Asia and the Pacific (ILO 2017). Next to undercoverage, there are other factors that lower the efficiency, effectiveness and social justice of social protection in many countries, such as the lack of a joint vision and policy strategy, fragmented social protection programmes, duplication of administrative systems and efforts and irrational prioritisation in spending. These all call for a stronger systems approach to social protection. This handbook is therefore dedicated to social protection systems, highlighting the relevance but also the challenges that are related to a harmonised and coordinated approach across different social protection instruments, institutions, actors and delivery mechanisms. It takes the reader through all possible aspects of social protection systems.
The article contributes to understanding the political economy of implementation of social protection programmes at local level. Current debates are dominated by technocratic arguments, emphasizing the lack of financial resources, technology or skills as major barriers for effective implementation. Describing how chiefs, assistant-chiefs and community elders are routinely at the centre stage of core implementation processes, including targeting, enrolment, delivery, monitoring, awareness and information, data collection or grievance and redress, this study on Kenya argues for the need to look more closely into the local political economy as an important mediating arena for implementing social policies. Implementation is heavily contingent upon the local social, political and institutional context that influences and shapes its outcomes. These processes are ambivalent involving multiple forms of interactions between ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ institutional structures, which may support initial policy objectives or induce policy outcomes substantially diverging from intended policy objectives.