International Council on Social Welfare

ICSW

Global Cooperation Newsletter

September 2016

The September edition of the Global Cooperation Newsletter draws
attention to the existing gender challenges in Africa. The feature article,
written by Christopher Dapaah, addresses the situation with childmarriage, and the reasons that perpetuate the prevalence of thistroublesome social phenomenon in many African communities. The
author also presents his vision regarding some possible policy measuresthat could be introduced to reduce, and eventually to end, child marriage.
The article written by Julie Newton illustrates the importance of a genderlens in social protection, highlighting how gender-blind social protection
policies risk entrenching gender inequalities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The
author demonstrates how attention to gender in the design of social
protection programmes can improve their effectiveness in achieving more
inclusive development. The article also presents a useful overview of key
gender and social protection concepts as well as national experiences.
In this issue of the Newsletter we are also publishing information
regarding the recent launch of the Global Partnership for Universal Social
Protection in New York.
Sergei Zelenev, ICSW Executive Director and Editor of the Newsletter

INSIDE

Ending child marriage in Africa – What could be done?

2

Making Social Protection Gender Sensitive for Inclusive
Development in Sub Saharan Africa

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September 2016

ENDING CHILD MARRIAGE IN AFRICAWHAT COULD BE DONE?
By Christopher Dapaah
In many African countries communities haveincreasingly recognized child marriage as aserious challenge. Child marriage
disproportionately affects young girls, who
are much more likely to be married as
children compared to young boys. For manyof these girls marriage before the age of 18
or younger is a personal, life-changing
tragedy having a devastating and longlasting impact.
Evidence exists that worldwide more than
700 million women alive today were married
as children. 17% of them, or 125 million, livein Africa (UNICEF, 2016).
Approximately 39% of girls in sub-SaharanAfrica are married before the age of 18, and
12% before the age of 15. All Africancountries are faced with the challenge of childmarriage, whether they experience high childmarriage prevalence, such as Niger (76%) or
lower rates like Algeria (3%). Child marriage
is widespread in West and Central Africa(42%), as well as in Eastern and Southern
Africa. There are 17 African countries on thelist of 20 countries with the highest rates ofchild marriage (UNICEF, 2016). But it is not
only an African problem—countries like
Bangladesh, India and Nicaragua are also on
the list, and many other developing countries
are also facing this major challenge. Apartfrom the above mentioned countries, Brazil,
Indonesia and Mexico are among the 10
countries with the highest absolute numberof child brides (UNICEF, 2016).
The sheer scale of the problem has generated
a range of policy interventions to address it.
Many programs recognize the multitude offactors driving the persistence of childmarriage, and are trying integrated

Christopher Dapaah
President, ICSW- West and Central Africa Region
Resource Link Foundation, Ghana

approaches that engage communities,
families and policymakers, while attempting
to improve girls’ education and skills, andtherefore their opportunities andempowerment.
Several international human rights
agreements condemn child marriage,
beginning with the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (1948). All call for thedesignation of child marriage as a harmful
practice, and protection for the rights ofchildren from all forms of child abuse.
Early marriage leads to early childbearing,with significantly higher maternal mortality
and morbidity rates, as well as higher infantmortality rates. Having many pregnancies at
an early age is dangerous for both motherand child, as young mothers bodies areusually not mature enough to carry a baby.
Moreover, child marriage has negative effects
on girls’ education and life opportunities;

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September 2016often such marriage virtually puts an end to agirl’s education.
Child marriage passes the cycle of poverty,
poor health, and low education from one
generation to the next. Girls from poorfamilies are more likely than girls fromwealthier families to become child brides. The
girls who marry young are usually notempowered to make important healthdecisions, such as practicing modern
contraception to avoid unwanted
pregnancies. Lack of education limits a girl’svision and understanding of the trade-offs,
and without skills, mobility, and connections,she is constrained in her ability to overcome
poverty for herself, her children, or her
family. Young girls married to older men withreckless sexual behavior are also at greaterrisk of STIs, including HIV infection, having
no power to change anything for the better.
National and international indicators onmaternal health, education, food security,
poverty eradication, HIV/AIDS, and genderinequality are all negatively linked with highchild marriage rates. In fact, child marriage
undermines global targets to reduce poverty
worldwide.
DRIVERSThe causes of child marriage are common
across Africa. “Parents may marry off theirdaughter owing to poverty or out of fear for
their safety. Tradition and the stigma ofstraying from traditions perpetuate childmarriage in many communities. Crucially,
gender inequality and the low value placed on
girls underlie the practice.” (See:
http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/where-does-ithappen)
The specifics and the gravity of the situation
often differ within the country. For example,
the rate of child marriage in Upper East
Region of Ghana currently stands at 38%,
Upper West region recorded 39%, Northern
region- 36%, Western region-37%, Brong

Global Cooperation Newsletter
Ahafo region recorded 32%, Volta region33%, Central region has 26%, and Ashanti
region recorded 19%. The urban areas andmajor cities are in better shape: Greater
Accra region and Eastern regions recorded
the lowest rate of child marriage, each with11%. This clearly shows that moresensitization and awareness needs to be
carried out, most especially in the regionswith the highest rate of child marriage
prevalence, and solutions need to belocalised. In rural areas, the situation
remains worrisome—at least a third of
women in Ghana villages were married as
children.
Despite most African countries setting thelegal age for marriage at 18 years, laws are
rarely enforced, since the practice ofmarrying young children is upheld bytradition and social norms. As mentioned
above, child marriage is deeply rooted inpoverty, gender inequality, persistentgender-based violence and gender
discrimination. Unfortunately, it is upheld bysome traditions and culture. The practice ismost common in rural areas, where prospects
for girls can be limited. In many cases,
parents arrange these marriages, and young
girls have no choice. Consequently, somesocieties believe that early marriage willprotect young girls from sexual attacks andviolence and they see it as a way to insure
that, their daughters will not become
pregnant out of wedlock and bring “dishonour
to the family”.
Among African countries, Niger — a least
developed country — presents a vivid
example of the detrimental impact of childmarriage, having the highest rate of childmarriage in the world, where 3 in 4 girls
marry before their 18th birthday. Poverty is amajor driver of child marriage in Niger, whenpoor parents seek economic improvements
and an increase in social status at theexpense of their girl brides.
In some areas of the country, the rates areeven higher: in the region of Diffa, 89% of

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girls marry as children. The link between thelack of education and the prevalence of childmarriage is particularly evident in Niger: 81%
of women aged 20-24 with no education and
63% of those with only primary education
were married or in union at age 18,
compared to only 17% of women withsecondary education or higher (UNICEF,
2016).
Given these exceptionally high rates, recent
research from the International Centre for
Research on Women (ICRW) and the WorldBank suggests that ending child marriage in
Niger could save the country more than $25
billion in the next 15 years. (See:
http://www.icrw.org/events/early-findingseconomic-impacts-child-marriage-studynovember-19)
Child marriage not only increases social
isolation but also traps girls into a cycle ofpoverty and gender inequality, apart from thesevere health complications. High maternalmortality and morbidity are prevalent amongchild brides. Child brides have a higher risk ofdying from complication of pregnancy such as
haemorrhage or they may develop obstetricfistula, which, in turn, has a significant
negative health, social and psychologicalimpact on their lives.
Child brides often face a higher risk ofcontracting HIV, because they often marry anolder man with unclear sexual history andpromiscuous behaviour. Child brides often
show signs symptomatic of sexual abuse andpost-traumatic stress, such as feelings ofhopelessness, helplessness and severe
depression.
LEGAL STEPS
In many African countries governments
recognize the detrimental consequences ofexisting practices and norms in this area.
Child marriage is seen as a human rights
violation and has been included in a numberof legal instruments at the national,
continental and international levels. The
African Union (AU) specifically promotes
policies related to young peoples’ rights; for

September 2016
example, a recent 5th Strategic Priority ofAU’s Strategic Plan 2014 –2017 has a bearing
on the rights of children and youth inpromoting common standards by supporting
adaptation and implementation of the
instruments at the regional and national
levels, as well as the monitoring of
implementation progress by Member Statesand ensuring accountability. The launch of
the African Union Campaign to End Child
Marriage in Africa on 29 May 2014 was animportant step. The campaign is focused on
accelerating change across the continent byencouraging African governments to develop
strategies to raise awareness of and address
the harmful impact of child marriage, as well
as expediting and invigorating the movement
to end child marriage
Laws Proscribing Early Marriage in
Ghana.
Ghana was the first country to ratify the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, whichcalled for the abolishment of traditional
practices prejudicial to the health of children.
The level of the penalty is usually a jail term;a minimum of five years imprisonment
without the option of a fine. In accordancewith international norms, the 1992
Constitution and the Children’s Act (Act 560)
both define a child as a person below the ageof 18. Section 14 of the Act provides that aperson shall not force a child to be betrothed,
to be subject of a dowry transaction or to be
married.
The Criminal Code Amendment Act (Act 554)
prohibits compulsion in marriage and thegiving out of a girl in marriage without her
consent. Section 100 of the Act provides that,
if a female is compelled to marry anotherperson by duress, this makes the marriage
void or voidable, the marriage is of no effect.
Under Section 109 it is also provided that
“whoever by duress causes any person to
marry against his or her will shall be guilty ofa misdemeanor”. The Children’s Act further

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September 2016
pegs the minimum marriage age in Ghana at
18 and discourages withdrawing children
from school for marriage. Section 14 of the
Act provides that a person shall not force achild to be betrothed, to be subject of adowry transaction or to be married. The
Criminal Code Amendment Act (Act 554)
prohibits compulsion in marriage and giving agirl out in marriage without her consent.
Section 92 states that a person is guilty of
the abduction of a female if, with intent tocause her to be married to any person, he
unlawfully takes her from lawful possession
and care and detains her. Section 109 also
states clearly that forcing a person to marryagainst their will is illegal, while theChildren’s Act also stipulates that forced childmarriage is illegal (Sec. 13 and 14). The
Domestic Violence Act, (Act 732) 2007,
Section 1(b), defines domestic violence toinclude” the forcible confinement anddetention of another person”.
OBSTACLES
It is a truism that the bedrock of progress inany society is the education of the citizenry.
Education is important for every child,whether a boy or girl. Educated and healthy
women are empowered, and are moreproductive, thereby contributing to greater
national productivity and higher GDP. They
spend more money on food, housing,education and income-generating activities,
all of which reduce poverty levels.
Unfortunately, many females are deprived offormal education owing to many factors.
First of all, there is the cost of education -preference in families often goes to boys ifthey cannot afford to educate all of theirchildren. One way the government isalleviating the financial burden of education
on families is through the social protection
interventions such as school meals
programmes and providing scholarships as
incentives to girls to attend school.
There is also a problem with prevalent socialand cultural norms, admittedly, deep-seated

Global Cooperation Newsletterand particularly difficult to address. Cultural
predispositions towards gender inequality
evident in some African communities
represent strong hindrances to female
education; these obstacles are addressed bysocial development practitioners and social
workers at various forums and platforms, but
the outcomes are not always positive. For
example, traditional Ghanaian culture doesn’t
always have a positive view of females who
advance into higher educational levels,
especially those living in rural areas.
In many rural communities of Africa, girls arestill not able to match up with their malecounterparts owing to heavy house chores,
which makes their school attendance low andis reflected in their academic performance.
One way of resolving this is to emphasize thepractical value of female education, so that
gradually culture attitudes change to accept
females as a vital part of the economy,
thereby eradicating some tradition-based
resistance surrounding female education.
Teenage pregnancy, early marriage andHIV/AIDS also have a detrimental effect on
female education, particularly in higher levelsof education. Unfortunately, many girls who
get pregnant or get married early or have
HIV/AIDs do not stay in school owing tostigmatization. Social workers discouragethese unfortunate practices and promote
girls’ attendance, encouraging them toremain in school as long as boys, if possible.
However, results often vary from one region
to another.
Another barrier to female education in some
African countries is the insecurity of the girlchild in the classroom owing to the rampant
sexual harassment suffered at the hands ofclassmates as well as teachers. Female
children should feel safe and enjoy fair

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treatment in the classroom, but often they donot. One of the key lessons learned is thatteachers and students need to be trained tobe gender sensitive.
In some cases also, parents neglect theirduties towards their female children by not
for providing their basic needs. Many of thede facto abandoned children, even when they
have the desire to complete school, become
drop-outs owing to a combination of negative
circumstances, such as moving out of town orvillage to make ends meet or finding different
and not always legal ways to earn alivelihood, including prostitution.
ENDING CHILD MARRIAGE
Finding solutions in the quest to end childmarriage requires work across all sectors,
working through all levels, and making
decisions that take into consideration local
specifics. At the same time, there are someobvious steps that are required.
As is well known, poverty is more than thelack of income and resources to ensure
livelihoods. Its manifestations include hunger
and malnutrition, limited access to educationand other basic services, social discriminationand exclusion, as well as the lack ofparticipation in decision-making. Economic
growth must be inclusive in order to provide
sustainable jobs and promote equality.
Poverty can be addressed through education
to gain employment, a voice in decisionmaking and knowledge about human rights
issues regarding child marriage.
Female education, particularly girls’
education, has become a concern worldwide,
and African countries are not exception. It is
obvious that, when girls are properly
educated, they can make immense
contributions to society. Dr. Kwegyir Aggrey,a Ghanaian scholar, once noted: “If weeducate a boy, we educate one person, but if

September 2016
we educate a girl, we educate a family and awhole society”.
Education—of both parents and the girlchild—remains a powerful way to preventchild marriage, facilitating schooling andliteracy, and paving the road to further
education. According to a study done in Egypt
in 2012, educated parents were more likely
to keep their daughters in school and lesslikely to marry them off at a young age,compared to parents who had little or no
education.
In their advocacy campaigns, many civilsociety organizations in Africa stress thatapart from the prevention of early marriages,
the advantages of sending girls to school
include increased literacy to push forward
economic development, the reduction ofhuman trafficking (women are mostvulnerable when they are uneducated andpoor); reduction in family size owing toawareness of contemporary family planning
methods, the boosting of woman’s earning
capabilities through their participation inbusiness and economic activity, and manyother positives for individuals and for society
at large.
Nationally, government agencies andnongovernmental organizations need tocollaborate more effectively with internationaland regional organizations to ensure efficientuse of scarce resources to tackle the causesof child marriage. Understanding the complex
drivers behind these practices could help infinding the most appropriate solutions.
First and foremost, enforcing the minimum
legal age for marriage is necessary so as toprotect girls’ rights. Judges and law
enforcement agencies must therefore beproperly trained, and a well-functioning
system of universal birth registrations should
be in place so as to ensure that girls have aproper document certifying their age.
Addressing religious concerns and educating
religious leaders on the hazards of early

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September 2016
marriage should be a major component ofsuch efforts.
Families and communities must become
important partners in developing curriculum
and managing children’s education. Parents,
especially fathers, apart from providing someof the basic needs of the girl child, should
desist from arranging child marriages.
Parents should not hesitate to lodge acomplaint to the relevant authorities when
they are subjected to traditions at thecommunity level. Establishment of girls’
advisory groups in communities to raise theself-esteem of female students and decreaseharassment has proved its importance.
Media could play a more effective role ineducating citizens on the negative effects ofearly marriage, and helping to avoid thesepractices.
CONCLUSIONSChild marriage takes a toll on individuals,
families and societies, perpetuating agenerational cycle of poverty, low education,
early child bearing, and poor health.

Global Cooperation Newsletter
girls under age 18 attend school and stay outof the “marriage market”, and the existinglaws aimed at preventing guardians fromallowing underage girls to marry need to be
enforced.
Ending child marriage would protect girls’
rights to education and protection, save thelives of young mothers and their newborns,
and improve family health and well-being.
Since families have tremendous influence intheir daughters’ marriages, they need to beclosely involved in the solutions, and they are
key to ensuring a healthy transition toadulthood for all girls.
References:
UNICEF State of the World’s Children, 2016.
New York, 2016
‘Girls not brides’ platform—
http://www.girlsnotbrides.org
International Center for Research on Women(ICRW) platform-- http://www.icrw.org/

A collective regional political commitment isneeded in order to address this challenge,
facilitating collaboration between
governmental bodies and non-governmentalorganizations in raising community
awareness about sexual and reproductive
health, as well as the harmful consequencesof child marriage. Ending child marriage
requires collective efforts on all fronts:
political, socio-economic, judicial andreligious. Education is a key protective factor
against child marriage. Being in school builds
a girl's knowledge and skills so that she isbetter able to organize her own life and delay
marriage until a proper age. It is vital
therefore that education plans integrate
raising awareness of these issues, especiallythe goal of ending child marriage. Universal
policies and programs are needed to help all

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September 2016

Making Social Protection Gender
Sensitive for Inclusive Development in
Sub-Saharan Africa
By Julie Newton

1.
Introduction

In recent years, social protection has climbed
up the policy agenda as a major policy
response to chronic poverty and vulnerability
with positive impacts on food security,
income and access to basic services. In SubSaharan Africa, persistent levels of poverty
and inequality, unemployment andunderemployment, and a high degree oflabour market informality have encouraged
governments to adopt social protection as a
key instrument for achieving inclusive
development. Its ability to achieve inclusive
development is largely due to its catalyticrole in redistribution and potential to reachthe poorest. Inclusive development1 here isdefined as a ‘pattern and pace in which thepoor and most vulnerable groups participate
and which is characterised by income growth,
increase of productive employment as well as
decreasing inequality in both income andnon-income dimensions of wellbeing’.
Although cited as one of the great successstories of development reaching large groupsof the poor, social protection has been
critiqued as gender-blind. This is despite
decades of experience showing that thefeminization of poverty and gender inequality
is a major driver of poverty and that women’s
empowerment contributes to poverty
alleviation. This article will illustrate theimportance of a gender lens in social
protection and highlight how gender-blindsocial protection policies risk entrenchinggender inequalities. Furthermore, it will

Dr Julie Newton
Senior Advisor at the Royal Tropical Institute in
Amsterdam

demonstrate how attention to gender in thedesign of social protection programmes canimprove its effectiveness in achieving more
inclusive development.
2. Coneptualizing social protection andgender‘Social protection’ refers to policies that
protect ‘poor households’ from risk, reducepoverty and vulnerability, and smooth out
consumption (see Box 1). State-provided
social protection2 can be grouped into three
categories: 1) social assistance (cash/in kindtransfers, subsidies and fee waivers targeting
1. The building blocks of inclusive development are economictransformation, productive employment creation and social
protection (INCLUDE platform).

2. Non-state social protection includes all forms of informal

community and family safety nets such as cooperatives, social
welfare associations, burial associations, rotating savings andcredit associations, and traditional solidarity networks. Whilenon-state social protection is more prevalent than stateprovided social protection, there is growing evidence that direct,
regular and more predictable transfers by the state are more
effective in the long run. The state remains the main actor able
to mobilize sufficient resources to enable distributive andredistributive policies (Holmes & Jones, 2013)

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September 2016vulnerable and poor households), 2) social
insurance (ranging from contributory or
subsidized insurance including old-age
insurance, health insurance and weatherbased crop insurance) and 3) legal andregulatory approaches (legislation focused on
improving employment opportunities andstandards usually within the formal sector,
such as the minimum wage).
Here, we argue that social protection that
includes design features that tackle thestructural causes of poverty and vulnerability
resonates with gender and development
approaches that look at these in the context
of unequal gender power relations. Attention
to gender recognizes how socially constituted
roles, relations and relative power assigned
by a particular society to men and women
influence their ability to access and benefit
from social protection (see Box 2). Genderaware programming involves looking at theconditions and position of women relative tomen in the context of social protection andhighlights inequalities in gender relations
within the household and how theyinterrelate with power relations at thecommunity, market and state levels. A
gender lens helps illustrate how some social
protection programming, although addressing
women’s practical gender needs, canreinforce traditional gender stereotypes (i.e.
women as mothers and care givers). A
gender lens can support the design of gendertransformative social protection that tackles
strategic gender interests from the very
beginning. For example, social protection can
include training initiatives for women thatchallenge stereotypical ideas of ‘traditional
forms’ of work.
To discuss this in more detail, we need totake a closer look at social protection in
relation to inclusive development and its
potentially transformative agenda. For this, it
is useful to look at the conceptual frameworkfor social protection, which distinguishes
between the protective, preventative,

Global Cooperation Newsletter

promotive and transformative agenda ofsocial protection (Box 3). This classification
illustrates a spectrum of different objectives,
including traditional forms of social
protection, which focus on risk management
and social assistance (safety nets), towards
more development trajectory schemes, whichtackle the root causes of vulnerability so thathouseholds graduate from poverty into
‘sustainable livelihoods’.
In practice, different social protection
programmes have multiple overlapping
objectives that combine different
instruments. As a result, they have different
impacts on women and men, which can be
simultaneously preventive as well as
promotive depending on the design andobjectives of the programme. Many
programmes use multiple instruments as wellas linkages to complementary social services,such as to Ghana’s Livelihoods Empowerment
Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, which
combines social health insurance with cashtransfers.
3. Applying a gender lens to social
protection: why ‘gender matters’?
The argument for a gender lens in the design,
implementation, monitoring and governanceof social protection can be made on both
instrumental and ethical grounds. Not only
does it enhance the overall impact of aprogramme and reduce unintended negative
impacts, it is important ethically from a rights
perspective. If social protection is to have atransformative impact at a more systemiclevel that begins to address the structures ofinequality, it needs to be supported byinterventions that improve women’s accessand control over resources in relation to men;enhance their capabilities, voice, productiveroles beyond traditional ideas of ‘appropriate
work’, decision making and agency (e.g.
through education and building theirentrepreneurial skills, voice and confidence);

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Box 3. Conceptual framework for social protection
Objectives of social protection

Examples of instruments

PROTECTIVE (risk coping): Ex-post social
assistance instruments to assist with existingsocioeconomic problems

Cash transfers: Child support grants, foster care grants,social pensions, unconditional cash transfers
Food transfers: Supplementary feeding, therapeutic
feedingServices: Health fee waivers, home-based care
Humanitarian: Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC)
reception centres, internally displace persons(IDPs)/refugee camps
Typical examples: Cash/in kind transfers, school
feeding, emergency relief
Government: Social security systems, strategic grain
reserves, pan-seasonal food prices
Livelihood diversification: Programmes that include
skill training on alternative livelihood options
Private: Weather-indexed insurance, commercial
property insurance, remittances
Community: Rotating savings and credit groups,
burial/funeral societies, village grain banks, communitybased health insurance schemes
Agriculture: Agricultural input subsidies, seed fairs,
inputs-for-work, starter packs, public works programmes
Access to credit transfers/protection
Common property resources
Education: Educational material fairs, school fee waivers,
school feeding programmes, conditional cash transfers
Infrastructure: Public works programme

Immediate protection and relief from poverty
and deprivation

PREVENTATIVE (risk mitigation): Ex-antesocial insurance instruments to build the ability
to respond to future shocks and encourage
moderate risk taking through innovative
insurance instruments for the poor
Prevents deprivation and damage to coping
strategies
PROMOTIVE (risk reduction): Moves beyond
the traditional safety net agenda tomechanisms for reducing poverty andvulnerability, reducing dependency andenabling productive poor to achieve sustainable
livelihoods
Promotes resilience through livelihood
diversification and improves security
Recognizes that you need more than a transfer
of resources or particular forms of social
support to respond to problems
Has stronger emphasis on pro-poor access to
education and health services; emphasizes
long-term investment in human capitalformation
TRANSFORMATIVE (risk reduction):
Reverses social exclusion and economic
marginalization and focuses on addressing
underlying causes of social vulnerability
Transforms social relations to address concerns
about social and gender equity, social justiceand exclusion

Legal: Legislation on economic, social and cultural rights;
anti-corruption measures; citizen juries;
sensitization/anti-discrimination campaigns; living wage
legislation and decent work legislation; worker’s rights(e.g. maternity leave); child rights, eradication of childlabourCash transfers on their own are not transformative
without linkages to programme components that reinforce
legislation on equal rights, raise awareness on social
issues or promote social mobilization. Efforts would beneeded to reinforce awareness raising on equal rights
among all members of households and the wider
community.
Typical examples: Other social protection instruments,
such as cash transfers, which combine awareness raisingon equal rights and address stigmatization.

Sources: Adapted from Davies & McGregor (2009); Devereux & Sabates-Wheeler (2004); Sabates-Wheeler & Devereux (2008)

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and support them to move beyond theirnormative roles as mothers and caretakers.
Key dimensions of a gender lensThose working in the field of gender and social
protection have distilled the following key
features as integral to adopting a gender lensin the design, implementation, monitoring,
governance and evaluation of social protection
Lifecycle approach: Many social protection
schemes are gender unaware and tend to
focus on economic risk. To address theunderlying causes of exclusion, social
protection schemes must address how
different risks affect women and men
differently at different points in their life
(childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age)
(Stuckelberger, 2010; Tessier et al., 2013;
Sabates-Wheeler & Kabeer, 2003; Holmes &Slater, 2012) (see Figure 1). For social
protection to achieve its transformative
potential and address inequality, it has totake account of all forms of discriminationand how they intersect with other social
dimensions, apart from gender, which
prevent women from achieving the samelevel of socioeconomic rights as men acrosstheir lifecycle. For instance, women’s role inunpaid care and domestic work is wellacknowledged as an obstacle to their ability
to enjoy rights to work, rest, leisure,
education and health. A wealthier woman
living in a polygamous household may bevulnerable to different types of risk than anolder widow or a woman living with
HIV/AIDS. Therefore, it is important that thedesign of social protection recognizes thedifferences between women (heterogeneity)
and the fact that individuals have different
social relations that affect their vulnerability
to different types of risk, particularly tostereotypes, stigma and violence at different
stages of their lifecycle. Hence, a thoroughsituation analysis at the programme design
stage is needed to understand the underlying
causes of exclusion or marginalization so as

Global Cooperation Newsletterto better inform the design. Regular gendersensitive monitoring and evaluation andstrong accountability mechanisms can ensurethat the social protection programme remains
responsive and adaptive to these risks. The
broad shift within the social protection
discourse towards lifecycle approaches (forexample, in work on child-sensitive andnutrition-sensitive social protection) is
promising.
Understanding of the gender dynamics
within the household and community:
Attention must be paid to gender roles andrelations between women and men, inparticular, how they affect intra-household
decision making and bargaining, time poverty
and women’s reproductive unpaid care work.
Households are not homogenous units, but
are sites of ‘bargaining’, in which women andmen have different abilities to decide andcontrol how the transfers are pooled backinto the household. Understanding gender as‘relational’ is key, as women and men
negotiate how social protection resources areused for consumption, production andinvestment.
Recognition of the structures: The
structures (e.g. norms, values andinstitutions) underpinning the imbalance ofpower between men and women must berecognized and taken into account. For social
protection to address the strategic interestsof men and women as citizens it is crucial toframe social protection as a socioeconomic
right.
Centrality of a gender lens
The centrality of a gender lens to social
protection is illustrated in discussions about
targeting, conditionality, unintended
impacts and empowerment, which arebriefly summarized here:
Targeting: Women are often targetedbecause they are more likely to spend the

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September 2016

Figure 1. Gendered risks across the lifecycle
Source: Luttrel & Moser (2004); Sabates-Wheeler & Kabeer (2003)

resources to benefit their children. Latin
American experiences with conditional cashtransfers (CCTs) from Brazil’s Bolsa Familia
and Mexico’s Progresa/Oportunidades havereinforced instrumental arguments fortargeting women and attaching‘conditionalities’, by demonstrating how thiscan improve other development outcomes,
such as those related to education and health(Box 5). However, the extent to whichtargeting women translates into equal
decision making within the household about
how these transfers are invested is less clear
and varies according to the context (World
Bank, 2014a). Gender and development
advocates have challenged simplistic
assumptions that merely targeting women
equates to empowerment as it ignores thecomplex bargaining process within thehousehold (Holmes & Jones, 2013, 2010a,

2010b; de la O Campos, 2015). Recent
research in Burkina Faso demonstrates that,as long as a transfer is ‘conditional’, giving itto the father or the mother makes nodifference to the impact on the demand forpreventative health care services (Akresh etal., 2012). However, there is consensus that,within Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a need formore research, particularly on whether
targeting mothers or fathers, conditionality orother factors influence impact.
Conditionality: The extent to which
conditionalities have benefited women
and whether they are necessary ismuch debated (Samson, 2013).
Conditionalities related to school
attendance for girls can changeparent’s behaviour in sending andkeeping girls in school. In Malawi, the

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September 2016
Zomba cash transfer programme led
to greater school attendance by girls
as well as reduced rates of earlymarriage and adolescent pregnancy(Baird et al., 2009). Recent research
in Burkina Faso found thatconditionality did increase theenrolment of more marginalized
children (e.g. girls, less abled children,
younger children), who are rarelyprioritized by parents when allocating
resources to education (Akresh et al.,2013). While conditional cashtransfers can improve health seeking
behaviour and the uptake of healthservices, particularly those related toantenatal and postnatal care, as in the
Latin American experience, there isconcern within Sub-Saharan Africa
about service quality.
Conditionalities have been criticized for theburden they place on women regarding
compliance. The imposition of conditions
overlooks the fact that women and girls
might not be able to comply because social
services are too distant, there are genderbased risks involved in accessing services, ortransport costs are too high. Mothers may
not want to attend certain social care services
because of discriminatory attitudes by service
providers or may not be able to if consent
from their husband is required. Conditionality
has also been criticized for its paternalistic
view of welfare, particularly how it reinforces
the role of mothers as ‘agents of the state’
responsible for securing important goals forthe next generation without any support for
their own life options. More importantly,
conditionality marginalizes men from care
responsibilities and ignores women’s potential
productive roles.
Unintended negative impacts: Many social
protection programmes assume ahomogenous household, ignoring intrahousehold relations and the often unequalbargaining position of women in the

Global Cooperation Newsletterhousehold. As recipients, not all women areable to control how income is distributed
within the household. At worst, without
appropriate complementary measures in asocial protection programme (e.g. awarenessraising sessions with men), there can be abacklash from men and other community
members against women as social protection
recipients. For example, there were reports ofviolence in some beneficiary households in
Mexico’s Oportunidades programme (Bell,2015). Similarly, in public works schemes
there is the danger of reinforcing gender bias
and stigmas about ‘women’s work’, asillustrated in early experiences in South
Africa’s Expanded Public Works Programme,
where women’s wages were set below theminimum wage and varied across the region.
Social protection interventions that target
women also run the risk of men withdrawing
from household responsibilities, as
demonstrated in some cases in South Africa’s
Pension and Child Grants programmes. It is
recognized that there is a need for more
research on the effect of cash transfers
targeting women on domestic violence (World
Bank, 2015).
Empowerment: While the many positive
impacts of social protection on women are
undisputed, the extent to which it is‘empowering’ is debatable, particularly if it
does not address the unequal gender
relations underpinning women’s disadvantage(de la O Campos, 2015; World Bank, 2014a).
Empowerment can be defined as ‘theprocesses by which those who have beendenied the ability to make choices acquire
such an ability’ (Kabeer, 1999, p. 2). It
includes the ‘ability to make strategic life
choices in the context where this ability has
previously been denied’ (Kabeer, 2001, p.
19). Central to this, is the recognition thatexercising choice is dependent on resources(material and immaterial), agency (ability todefine ones’ own goals and act upon them)and achievements (actual outcomes). Thisrefers to the ability of women to achieve

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Global Cooperation Newsletter
autonomy over decisions that affect theirlives, control over resources and assets,
mobility, and self-esteem and confidence(Fultz & Francis, 2013).
This interpretation of empowerment
illustrates how access to resources (in thiscase, cash or food transfers) alone andtargeting does not equate to empowerment.
For example, while conditional cash transfers
can bring positive benefits ranging fromimmediate relief to families and particularly
children (school and health care, increasedenrolment of girls), there are also costs,
namely, the time burden in fulfilling theconditionalities and the reinforcement of
women’s reproductive role as guardians ofchildren and ‘channels for child-centred
policies’. In public works programmes, suchas Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net
Programme, women recipients reported thatthe requirements of work interfered withchildcare and domestic responsibilities,
adding an extra burden to their busy lives(Molyneux & Thomson, 2011). In more
extreme instances, there were damaging
knock-on effects on other household
activities, resulting in older children being
withdrawn from school to fulfil the role ofcarer while their mothers were engaged inpublic works programmes (Sabates-Wheeler& Roelen, 2011). Some critics also say thatpublic works programmes invoke selftargeting due to heavy workloads, meaningthat only those who are most in need choose
to participate. In practice, many of these
programmes ‘empower’ women in theirpractical gender roles (as caretakers ofchildren) rather than fulfilling their strategic
gender interests in roles that enhance anddevelop their productive capacity. In terms ofwomen’s control over decision making,evidence shows that it tends to be restricted
to certain domains of expenditure (e.g. family
health, food purchases, clothing,
contraception) (De Brauw et al., 2014; World
Bank, 2014a).

September 2016
This is not to disregard the positive reports
about greater knowledge/awareness (e.g.
nutrition, maternal health), optimism, selfesteem and confidence arising from social
recognition from communities of women’s
reproductive roles (Fultz & Francis, 2013).
Rather, it highlights the need to explore andexperiment with the design of transformativesocial protection to push these boundaries
from the start so that programmes can leadto more meaningful empowerment, including
the dimensions identified by Kabeer (1999)
regarding resources, agency andachievements.
Initial learning from the piloting of conditional
cash transfers in Egypt is an example of how
this can be done (Box 6). This pilot was cocreated by policy-makers, women activists
and academics and explicitly sought tochallenge traditional gender dynamics thatemphasize women’s roles as mothers, while
ignoring their productive roles and agency.
4. Gender lens in practice: examples ofsocial protection across the lifecycle
To illustrate the importance of a gender lensin practice, this section looks at different
social protection instruments that can beused across the lifecycle, e.g. cash transfers,
public works programmes and social
assistance (pensions).
Transfers for families with children andadolescents
Positive analyses of social transfers highlightthe multiple benefits of social protection for
women, such as reduced poverty, improved
nutrition for women and their families,
improved girls’ education, improved access tohealth care, and better nutrition outcomes for
pregnant and lactating mothers. Newer cashtransfers are framed around improving thecapacity of children living in extreme poverty,
in recognition of the intergenerational cycle

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September 2016of poverty. The impact of transfers onhousehold and children’s food security andnutrition is well documented (Kaplan & Jones,
2013; Adato & Basset, 2008).
In Sub-Saharan Africa, there are a range ofdifferent cash transfers framed around thewellbeing of children, particularly thoseaffected by HIV/AIDs, such as South Africa’s
Child Grant and Kenya’s Cash Transfer for
Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC). A
recent evaluation of the latter showed that the
programme had a positive impact on children’s
education and the local economy (i.e.
increased diversification) and increased
femaledecisionmakinginrecipienthouseholds, but it did not challenge gendernorms rooted in patriarchal structures. Of
great concern was early indications that it
might be undermining informal social
protection
mechanisms(e.g.
informalfostering, kinship and community care) due tojealousy from non-recipients (Ward et al.,2010; FAO, 2014).
Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against
Poverty (LEAP) programme is an example ofa scheme that has combined economic
strengthening with child protection objectives
with conditionalities attached to birth
registration and the avoidance of child labour
and trafficking. LEAP takes a lifecycle
approach that recognizes the different
gendered risks across the lifecycle anddisplays the value of linking health insurance
to cash transfers (Box 7). However, thetransformative potential of this programme
was restricted due to weak implementation.
The programme also reinforced the genderdivision of labour and women’s care
responsibilities.
Analysis of the social impact of social
protection (mainly cash transfers) on
HIV/AIDS prevention has shown positive
impacts on women and girls’ autonomy andagency including: a reduction in harmful

Global Cooperation Newsletter

coping strategies (having sex with older
partners and having sex in exchange forfood, shelter, transport or money) (Adato &Basset, 2012). Instruments that havelinkages to increasing girls’ school enrolment
and attendance rates and the utilization ofhealth and counselling services havesupported HIV/AIDS prevention.
Social transfers are often discussed in thecontext of securing girls’ right to education
and reducing the enrolment gap between
girls and boys, such as in Bangladesh’s
Female Secondary School Assistance
Programme (Gaia, 2015). Conditionalities
attached to girls’ education emphasize toparents the importance of investing in girls.
However the extent to which transfers areused within households to benefit girls
requires further research, as will be exploredin trials of an adolescent-focused componentof Bangladesh’s Vulnerable Group Feeding
Programme (Save the Children, 2015). In thelong run, investment in transfers linked togirls’ education can have tremendous impacts
on inclusive development with a greater
chance of breaking the cycle of poverty
through improved women and girls’ access tolabour markets (UNICEF, 2015). A recent
World Bank evaluation (2014a) shows thatthe impact of transfers on child labour andschooling is greatly influenced by thedifferent ways girls and boys are involved in
productive activities, highlighting the need forfurther research.
Complementary interventions that combine
parenting support services and parental
advocacy can play an important role intackling the gender biases that prevent girls
from going to school. Social protection thatcombines linkages to counselling and peer
support have proved vital in detecting
situations of vulnerability and abuse withinhouseholds. In some cases, there have beenreports that the alleviation of household
budgets by cash transfers can reduceparental stress and, therefore, domestic

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Global Cooperation Newsletter
violence (Barrientos et al., 2013). In
addition, dedicated awareness-raisingsessions with husbands to discuss theparticipation of their wives (e.g. Peru’s Juntos
Programme) and regular monitoring to avoid
unwanted negative impacts are important toavoid a backlash from men. This highlights
the importance of engaging men and boys tosupport the more equal division of labour,
reduce tensions and violence, and increase
women’s role in decision making (Holmes &Jones, 2013).
Another gendered risk faced by adolescent
girls is continued pressure to support
mothers with unpaid household work andcare giving roles. Rwanda’s Vision 2020
Umurenge Programme is a novel example ofefforts to provide childcare services (e.g.
mobile crèches) and Mexico’s Progama deEstancias Infantiles has raised awareness of
the importance of parental leave, actively
encouraged men to participate in household
and care work, and provided a small childcare
allowance (Roelen & Shelmerdine, 2014).
Tranfers for working age
The gendered impact of public works
programmes (PWPs) is mixed and they areoften criticized for depriving women and menof time that could have been invested in
more productive endeavours. Common
critiques include:
1. Low wages, limiting involvement of themost vulnerable, poor and able bodied.
2. Limited attention to women’s dual role,
resulting in the unintended impact ofwomen leaving children alone in thehouse or taking girls out of school tomaintain the household while they
participate in PWPs.
3. Reinforcement of gender norms of‘appropriate work’, as women areallocated ‘light’ work in return for low
wages (e.g. India’s Mahatma Ghandhi

September 2016
National Rural Employment Guarantee
Programme) or paid the same rate asmen for heavy physical labour causing
them to subcontract work to men in
exchange for 50% of the wages (e.g.
Zambia’s Micro Project Unity Programme).

Nevertheless, there are positive examples ofwhere design features have promoted moregender-aware programming to minimize
harm. Although currently discontinued,
Ghana’s former National Youth Employment
Program is an example of a public works
programme that sought to extend the typesof interventions to include social service
components, such as community teachingassistants for health workers. South Africa’s
Expanded Public Works Programme also
included public works related to home-basedcare for people living with HIV and care foryoung people.
Over time, PWPs have evolved to include new
design features, seeking to acknowledge
women’s unpaid productive work, and include
types of public assets that benefit women by
reducing time poverty. For example,
Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme(PSNP) includes gender design features suchas flexible working hours, childcare facilities
and public assets, which reduce time poverty(e.g. through water pumps and moreaccessible fuelwood sources). However,ultimately, this programme has reinforced
women’s practical gender needs with little
impact on unequal decision making or onsocial perceptions of what is appropriate work
for women (see Box 8). The opportunity tolink up with complementary services, such as
the government’s Women Development
Package on women’s rights, which includes‘community conversations’ on gender-based
violence, were missed due to the poor
capacity of implementing staff (Holmes &Jones, 2013).

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September 2016

Global Cooperation Newsletter

Transfers for older people

delivery will enhance state
responsiveness to women’s
needs, as well as accountability
for gender equality.
Social protection is not apanacea for poverty alleviation,
but it can effectively address
gender inequality byintegrating traditional social
protection instruments (e.g.
cash transfers, insurance,
public works programmes) withcomplementary interventions,such as awareness raising
about the social norms that
underpin inequality, and by
ensuring better linkages toother government services(e.g. for education and health).
For effective transformativesocial protection, allstakeholders, including civilsociety, government policymakers and implementers,
women activists and donors,
should think more strategically
about working multi-sectorally
and being more proactive ataddressing institutional power
dynamics and blockages.

Ageing poses new risks for women, because
as they live longer they generally have lessaccess to land and other assets to maintaintheir standard of living. In Sub-SaharanAfrica, where the prevalence of HIV/AIDs ishigh contributing to high numbers of orphans
and absent middle-aged adults, older womenare relied on to take up childcare
responsibilities. South Africa’s Old Age
Pension is one of its flagship social protection
programmes. The majority of recipients of
the Old Age Pension are female and thetransfer has been shown to have positive
impacts on overall household food security,
child health, children’s anthropometric status,
school attendance and child labour(Barrientos et al., 2013). The Old Age
Pension also provides a financial andemotional buffer against the impact of an
adult child’s death (related to HIV/AIDS) andthe burden of looking after grandchildren. It
has also encouraged higher levels of female
labour migration, because the pension
overcomes the resource constraints andgrandmothers can take on the childcare.
Research shows that, although the pension
has given older women more access to, andcontrol over, economic resources, with time,
the stress of care giving tends to impact onolder women’s physical health and theincreasing expectation to take on more
dependents creates tension. This also
reconfirms the gender division of labour by
reinforcing women’s responsibility to takecare of young and ill members of thehousehold, adding to the workload of elderly
women. It also allows male household
members to avoid fulfilling their householdfamily responsibilities towards their spouses.

This article was originally produced as a study for thedossier on ‘women and inclusive development’ sponsoredby the INCLUDE platform (Dutch Government’s
knowledge platform on inclusive development) to
support dialogue between researchers, policymakers andpractitioners on inclusive development.
http://includeplatform.net/dossier/dossier-women-andinclusive-development/ . For more information on social
protection research linked to INCLUDE, see
http://includeplatform.net/theme/social-protection/ For
more information contact the author at j.newton@kit.nl.

Some conclusions:

References

Strengthening women’s
agency, voice and participation
in social protection design andAdato, M. and Basset, L. (2008) What is the potential of
cash transfers to strengthen families affected by HIV andAIDS? A review of the evidence on impacts and key
policy debates. International Food Policy ResearchInstitute, Washington, DC.

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Global Cooperation Newsletter
Adato, M. and Basset, L. (2012) Social protection andcash transfers: to strengthen families affected by HIV
and AIDS. International Food Policy Research Institute,
Washington, DC.
Akresh, R., De Walque, D. and Kazianga, H. (2012)
Alternative cash transfer delivery mechanisms: impacts
on routine preventative health clinic visits in Burkina
Faso. NBER Working Paper 17785, National Bureau of
Economic Research.
Akresh, R., De Walkque, D. and Kazianga, H. (2013)
Cash transfers and child schooling: evidence from arandomized evaluation of the role of conditionality. Policy
Research Working Paper 6340, World Bank, Washington,
DC.
Baird, S., Chirwa, E., McIntosh, C. and Ozler, B. (2009)‘The short-term impacts of a schooling conditional cashtransfer program on the sexual behaviour of young
women.’ Policy Research Working Paper 5089, WorldBank.
Barrientos, A., Byrne, J., Villa, J. and Pena, P. (2013)
Social transfers and child protection. Working Paper
2013–05, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence.
Bell, E. (2015) Violence against women and cashtransfers in humanitarian contexts. UKAID.
Cherrier, C., Gassmann, F., Mideros Mora, A. andMohnen, P. (2013) Making the investment case for social
protection: methodological challenges with lessons learnt
from a recent study in Cambodia. UNICEF Working Paper
2013–06, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence.

September 2016
women: a comparative analysis. Gender Equality andDiversity Branch, ILO.
Gaia, E. (2015) Enabling aspirations, realizing rights:
social protection for adolescent girls. Social Protectionand Human Rights Commentary, http://socialprotectionhumanrights.org/expertcom/enabling-aspirationsrealizing-rights-social-protection-for-adolescent-girls/
Holmes, R. and Jones, N. (2009) Putting the social backinto social protection. Background Note, Overseas
Development Institute (ODI), London
Holmes, R. and Jones, N. (2010a) Rethinking social
protection: using a gender lens. ODI Working Paper 320,
Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London.
Holmes, R. and Jones, N. (2010b) Social protection
programming: the need for a gender lens. ODI Briefing
Paper 63, Overseas Development Institute (ODI),
London.
Holmes, R. and Jones, N. (2010c) How to design andimplement gender-sensitive social protection
programmes. Overseas Development Institute (ODI),
London.
Holmes, R. and Slater, R. (2012) Social protection andgender: a life-cycle approach. AusAid Pacific Social
Protection Series: Poverty Vulnerability and Social
Protection in the Pacific, Commonwealth of Australia.
Holmes, R. and Jones, N. (2013) Gender and social
protection in the developing world: beyond mothers andsafety nets. Zed Books, London.

Davies, M. and McGregor, J.A. (2009) Social protection
responses to the financial crisis: what do we know? In
Focus Policy Briefing 7. Institute of Development Studies(IDS), Brighton.

Kabeer, N. (1999) ‘Resources, agency, achievements:
reflections on the measurement of women’s
empowerment.’ Development and Change, 33:3, 435–
464.

De Brauw, A., Gilligan, D., Hoddinott, J. and Roy, S.
(2014) ‘The impact of Bolsa Familia on Women’s
decision-making power.’ World Development, 59: 487–
504.

Kaplan, J. and Jones, N. (2013) Child-sensitive social
protection in Africa: challenges and opportunities. African
Child Policy Forum and Overseas Development Institute(ODI).

De la O Campos, A. (2015) Empowering rural women
through social protection. Rural Transformations
Technical Paper Series #2, Social Protection Division,
FAO, Rome.

Luttrel, C. and Moser, C. (2004) Gender and social
protection. ODI Working Paper, Overseas Development
Institute (ODI), London.

Devereux, S. and Sabates-Wheeler, R. (2004)
Transformative social protection. IDS Working Paper,
232, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Brighton.
FAO (2015) Nutrition and social protection. FAO, Rome.
Fultz, E. and Francis, J. (2013) Cash transfer
programmes, poverty reduction and empowerment ofMolyneux, M. and Thomson, M. (2011) CCT programmes
and women’s empowerment in Peru, Bolivia, andEcuador. Policy Paper, CARE International, London.
Sabates-Wheeler, R. and Devereux, S. (2008)‘Transformative social protection: the currency of social
justice’, In A. Barrientos, and D. Hulme. (eds) Social
Protection for the Poor and the Poorest: Concepts,
Policies and Politics, Palgrave Macmillan, London.

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September 2016
Sabates-Wheeler, R. and Kabeer, N. (2003) Genderequality and the extension of social protection.’
Extension of Social Security Paper, ILO, Geneva.
Sabates-Wheeler, R. and Roelen, K. (2011) ‘Transforming
social protection: programming for children and theircarers, a gender perspective.’ Gender and Development,
19:2, 179–194.
Samson, M. (2013) ‘How are countries using social
protection to benefit the poor.’ Development Co-operation
Report 2013: ending poverty, OECD.
Samson, M., van Niekerk, I. and Mac Quene, K. (2006)
Designing and implementing social transfer programmes.
EPRI Press.
Sholkamy, H. (2011) How can social protection provide
social justice for women? Pathways Policy Paper,
Pathways of Women Empowerment RPC.
Stuckelberger, A. (2010) ‘Why the life course approach togender empowerment is important?’ UNOSAGI, Qatar
Foundation (eds) Promoting Empowerment of Women in
Arab Countries, pp.40–58.
Tessier, L., Plaza, M., Behrendt, C., Bonnet, F. andGuilbault, E. (2013) Social protection floors and genderequality: a brief overview. Extension of Social Security(ESS) Working Paper 37, ILO.
World Bank (2014a) Social safety nets and gender:
learning from impact evaluations and World Bank
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resource guide: social protection brief. World Bank, The
Global Women’s Institute, IDB.
The opinions expressed in the preceding articles
are those of the authors and should not be equatedwith the opinions of the ICSW Management
Committee.

Launch of the Global Partnership for
Universal Social Protection
At this year's UN General Assembly, world
leaders launched an unprecedented effort toroll out universal social protection incountries all around the world. Heads ofstate, the World Bank Group and theInternational Labour Organization convenedon Wednesday 21 September
to launch the Global Partnership for

Global Cooperation Newsletter

Universal Social Protection, which aims to
make pensions, maternity, disability and childbenefits, among others, available to all
persons, closing the gap for hundreds ofmillions currently unprotected worldwide.
The Global Partnership for Universal
Social Protection brings together the
African Union, FAO, the European
Commission, Helpage, IADB, OECD, Save theChildren, UNDP-IPC, UNICEF and others,
along with Belgian, Finnish, French andGerman cooperation. ICSW fully support thisinitiative; our organization has a particularfocus on promoting social protection, seeing
it as a human right and an investment inpeople.
A series of 23 case studies were released at
the event that document how many
developing countries have achieved
universality, such as Argentina, Azerbaijan,
Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cabo Verde, China,
Georgia, Kosovo, Lesotho, the Maldives,
Mongolia, Namibia, Nepal, South Africa,
Tanzania (Zanzibar), Thailand, Timor-Leste,
Trinidad and Tobago and Ukraine. The casestudies show that universal social protection
is feasible in developing countries.
This announcement is part of
the Virtual Conference on Universal Social
Protection to achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals.
This September we moved from the SouthSouth high level event in Beijing after the
G20 to the UN General Assembly in New
York, where world leaders launched thepartnership.
SDG 1.3, calls for implementing "nationallyappropriate social protection systems andmeasures for all, including floors,” based on
the ILO Social Protection Floors
Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202).

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Global Cooperation Newsletter

The useful resources and links – thefind of the month
Growth and Poverty in Sub-SaharanAfrica.
Edited by Channing
Arndt, Andy McKay
and Finn Tarp
Oxford University
Press, 2016
While the economic
growth renaissancein sub-SaharanAfrica is widely
recognized, muchless is known aboutprogress in living
conditions. This
book comprehensively evaluates trends inliving conditions in 16 major sub-SaharanAfrican countries, corresponding to nearly
75% of the total population.

September 2016

The Governance of Inclusive Growth. An
Overview of Country Initiatives
OECD, Paris, 2016
This publication
presents an overview ofcountry initiatives
concerning inclusive
growth in 39 OECDmember and partnercountries.
For more Information:
https://www.oecd.org/publications/thegovernance-of-inclusive-growth9789264265189-en.htm

For more information:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/gro
wth-and-poverty-in-sub-saharan-africa9780198744795?cc=us&lang=en&

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September 2016

Global Cooperation Newsletter

The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided the source isacknowledged. The views do not necessarily represent policies of ICSW.
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