360 Soziale Probleme und Sozialdienste; Verbände
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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.
Over the past two decades many low and middle income countries worldwide have started to extend the coverage and improve the functioning of public social protection systems. The research program on international policy diffusion provides empirical evidence that apart from domestic factors international interdependencies matter as well for national policy change in social protection. However, little is known about the governance structures mediating international policy diffusion in social protection.
Over the past two decades many governments of low and middle income countries have started to introduce social protection measures or to extend the coverage and improve the functioning of public social protection systems. These reforms are a "global phenomenon" and can be observed in many African, Asian and Latin American countries. This paper focuses on international determinants for policy change within social protection by assessing the state of the art of both policy diffusion and policy transfer studies. Empirical studies of policy transfer and diffusion in the field of social protection are furthermore assessed in light of the theoretical background.
The Participation Act, introduced in the Netherlands in 2015, puts into practice the idea that every individual has to make a contribution in a participatory society. The Act includes aspects of income support, compulsory activities in return for benefits, and labour market reintegration. Drawing on 45 interviews, we provide insights into interactions between the individual financial and social situation, an individual’s position in society, and reintegration activities. The narratives show the fundamental need for individual freedom and societal meaning, recognition, and appreciation, as well as the complex circumstances in which social assistance recipients make decisions. Conflicts between those needs and the Act lead to the question of how personal and societal objectives can be reconciled.
This paper seeks to explore the framework within which the International Labour Office should promote a principled, practical approach to social security policy in the new millennium. Integration has to be built around a joint coherent policy vision and building such a policy vision requires debate. This paper is a product of a joint effort of members of the ILO Social Security Department and social security specialists working in the ILO field offices.
In this thesis, unique administrative data, a relevant time of follow-up and advanced statistical measures to handle confounding have been utilized in order to provide new and informative evidence on the effects of vocational rehabilitation programs on work participation outcomes in Germany. While re-affirming the important role of micro-level determinants, the present study provides an extensive example of the individual and fiscal effects that are possible through meaningful vocational rehabilitation measures. The analysis showed that the principal objective, namely, to improve participation in employment, was generally achieved. Contrary to the common misconception that “off-the-job training” is relatively ineffective, this thesis has provided an empirical example of the positive impact of the programs.
Argentina substantially contributes to the global organic agriculture and food sector due to its large areas of organically managed agricultural land. However, most of the organic production is foreseen for export. Overall, food supply for the domestic organic market is hardly tapped. This study investigates the current importance of organic agriculture and food production as well as its consumption within the country. The novelty of the study also lies in the observation, documentation and analysis of latest stakeholder-driven developments towards organic agriculture and food. The publication allows to make the Argentinian organic market significantly more visible for the international audience.
Social Assistance
(2018)
If the first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to “End poverty in all its forms everywhere” is to be taken seriously, most low- and middle-income countries face a huge challenge. An estimated 1 billion people have indeed escaped extreme poverty since the early 1990s, and the global poverty rate fell from 35% in 1990 to 10.7% in 2013, but the absolute number of people living below the international poverty line of $1.90 at purchasing power parity has hardly changed. Countries in Asia contributed greatly to the overall decline in poverty rates: from 2012 to 2013, over 100 million people in Asia left extreme poverty behind, notably in India, Indonesia, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) (World Bank 2016). Yet the living standards of those still below that line have hardly improved (Ravallion 2016). The achievement of the first SDG requires additional efforts at global and national levels, particularly on policies that address chronic poverty traps and that improve the outcomes of poor and vulnerable populations.
Social Insurance
(2018)
Extending coverage through contributory social insurance or other contributory programs is tempting for governments as a potential avenue for mobilizing new resources and creating new fiscal space. Such extension has clear limits, however: it applies only to those in the labor market who have employment status with high degree of formality and whose incomes are significantly above subsistence level and received regularly. It also requires administrative structures with capacity to regularly register incomes of those covered, and to collect contributions.
This chapter analyzes the potential of social insurance (also called contributory social protection) in the 16 Asian countries reviewed in this publication to fill the protection and coverage gaps in income security. It focuses on pensions, but also reviews other benefits temporarily replacing lost labor income due to events such as sickness, maternity, and unemployment. As current labor market structures largely determine the chances of extending coverage through these means, this chapter also examines their characteristics and analyzes coverage by the different forms of social insurance and assesses the potential for extension.
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.
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.
Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as one of the leading threats to public health. AMR possesses a multidimensional challenge that has social, economic, and environmental dimensions that encompass the food production system, influencing human and animal health. The One Health approach highlights the inextricable linkage and interdependence between the health of people, animals, agriculture, and the environment. Antibiotic use in any of these One Health areas can potentially impact the health of other areas. There is a dearth of evidence on AMR from the natural environment, such as the plant-based agriculture sector. Antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), and related AMR genes (ARGs) are assumed to present in the natural environment and disseminate resistance to fresh produce/vegetables and thus to human health upon consumption. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the role of vegetables in the spread of AMR through an agroecosystem exploration from a One Health perspective in Ahmedabad, India.
Protocol: The present study will be executed in Ahmedabad, located in Gujarat state in the Western part of India, by adopting a mixed-method approach. First, a systematic review will be conducted to document the prevalence of ARB and ARGs on fresh produce in South Asia. Second, agriculture farmland surveys will be used to collect the general farming practices and the data on common vegetables consumed raw by the households in Ahmedabad. Third, vegetable and soil samples will be collected from the selected agriculture farms and analyzed for the presence or absence of ARB and ARGs using standard microbiological and molecular methods.
Discussion: The analysis will help to understand the spread of ARB/ARGs through the agroecosystem. This is anticipated to provide an insight into the current state of ARB/ARGs contamination of fresh produce/vegetables and will assist in identifying the relevant strategies for effectively controlling and preventing the spread of AMR.
Using a life-cycle approach, we identify key gaps for social reform in Georgia. The reduction of informal work is the most pressing of these, since formal employment is the backbone of any robust and reliable social insurance scheme. At the same time, greater financial resources are required through taxation in order to enable systematic social reform in Georgia. Both interventions are needed in order to fill the gaps in the current social protection system, which include the limited scope of pension and health insurance, as well as the lack of permanent unemployment insurance and universal child benefits.
Against the background of Germany’s long experience with social protection, we outline the main principles of the German welfare state and present the design of three main social insurance branches (pensions, health and unemployment). Based on the mixed experience that has emerged in Germany, in particular due to path dependencies and political deadlock, we derive lessons that inform a clear and coherent vision for social reform in Georgia.
In her recent article, Bender discusses several aspects of research–practice–collaborations (RPCs). In this commentary, we apply Bender's arguments to experiences in engineering research and development (R&D). We investigate the influence of interaction with practice partners on relevance, credibility, and legitimacy in the special engineering field of product development and analyze which methodological approaches are already being pursued for dealing with diverging interests and asymmetries and which steps will be necessary to include interests of civil society beyond traditional customer relations.
Food losses occur for many reasons at all stages of supply chains for fruits, vegetables and potatoes. They cause immense economic, environmental and social costs – not only in developing countries but also in developed countries. According to the European Commission, about 90 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in Europe alone. However, particularly for the early stages of supply chains for fruits, vegetables and potatoes there is still a lack of reliable data. Thus, one objective of this study is to contribute to the quantification of food losses between field and retail, where the main focus is set on potatoes, apples, carrots, strawberries and asparagus. Furthermore, neither reasons why products are removed from the supply chains nor their alternative uses are fully examined yet. This is why, the study takes a look on those issues, too. Results are based on data from an online survey among producers of fruits, vegetables and potatoes in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany and on interviews with producers and other supply chain experts. Findings suggest that the products’ size and form, their storage capabilities and food safety issues have big impacts on food losses. Despite a small sample size, these findings are in line with recent studies.