The Rise of Social Protection in Development: Progress, Pitfalls and Politics

Abstract

The rise of social protection on the development agenda is now an established fact. The global financial and economic crisis since 2008 at least temporarily reinforced this, though 5 years later the emphasis seems to have shifted somewhat to so-called productive sectors and the potential of graduation out of social protection. This article reflects on the context in which this rise of social protection has taken place. It argues that reflection on the way approaches in international development practices are embedded in global politics is critical for the legitimacy and sustainability of progressive approaches. In particular, it is important that debates on social protection simultaneously keep an eye on the return of a developmentalist approach partly driven by the new international role of emerging economies, and ensure that the analysis of and advocacy for social protection are embedded in a broader notion of national policymaking in globalised contexts.L'ascension fulgurante du sujet de la protection sociale au sein de l'agenda du développement est maintenant un fait accompli. La crise financière et économique a renforcé ce thème, au moins depuis 2008, même si cinq ans plus tard le centre d'attention s'est maintenant déplacé sur les soi-disant secteurs productifs, et la possibilité de progresser au-delà de la protection sociale. Cet article analyse le contexte dans lequel la croissance du sujet de la protection sociale a eu lieu. L'argument exposé ci-dedans est basé sur l'idée que la légitimité et durabilité des approches progressives dépendent fortement de la façon dans laquelle les pratiques de développement international sont logées dans la politique globale. En particulier, il est important que les débats sur la protection sociale soient vigilants du retour d'une approche focalisée sur le développement, en partie soutenu par le nouveau rôle international des économies émergentes, et que ces débats s'assurent que l'analyse et le plaidoyer de la protection sociale soient ancrés au sein d'une notion plus large de prises de décisions politiques au niveau national dans un contexte globale.

Resourcing resilience: social protection for HIV prevention amongst children and adolescents in Eastern and Southern Africa

“…The categories, forms and combinations of social protection that best support children and adolescents at high-risk of HIV-infection will vary contextually. Such programmes must resonate with local understandings of health and illness and intersect with political norms, social practices and symbolic beliefs in ways that enhance, rather than obstruct, their efficacy, and their social and epidemiological benefits (de Haan, 2014). Researchers and implementers must grapple with the situation-dependent and context-specific natures of behaviour and identity and how these are negotiated, produced, and constructed in a dynamic interaction between individual and locality (Campbell, Kalipeni, Craddock, Oppong, & Ghosh, 1997; Devereux, 2015).…”

The Political Dimension of Cash Transfers in Latin America and Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Comparative Perspective

“…Social protection ideas and the development paradigms prevailing in theoretical debates have been extremely influential in emerging and developing countries (Lavers and Hickey ). In the case of CCT programs, an important factor contributing to their popularity is that they perfectly fitted the mainstream international agenda on development which, from the 1990s onward, has increasingly focused on poverty reduction and human development (de Britto ; de Haan ). In line with the international development thinking, CCTs take account of complementarities among various Millennium Development Goals: they promote investments in health, education and nutrition, according to the view that the differing aspects of well‐being are interdependent (Fiszbein et al ; Lay ).…”

“…Until the turn of the century, the dominant form of social protection for vulnerable people in this region was emergency food aid, whereas social assistance measures to address poverty in the long term were lacking (Niño‐Zarazúa et al ). During the last decade, interest in CTs has been rapidly growing, within the wave of new social protection initiatives promoted by the African Union and international agencies (de Haan ; Niño‐Zarazúa et al ). Policy interventions have thus gradually shifted from food aid to cash assistance in humanitarian emergencies, and from emergency, short‐term measures to regular reliable interventions (Gentilini and Omamo ; Niño‐Zarazúa et al ).…”

“…As a consequence, the political feasibility of these programs in SSA crucially depends on reaching convergence among the primary objectives of donors, local policy makers, and local elites. Generally speaking, international donors push toward the adoption of CT pilot projects, which are popular in international development thinking and promote impact evaluations because aid is increasingly results driven; in this way, they also wish to isolate programs from the influence of local interest groups (de Haan ). Conversely, recipient governments and domestic elites are reluctant to accept the international agendas (Barrientos and Villa ; Niño‐Zarazúa et al ).…”

“…Different contributions emphasize that the design and implementation of social protection programs require political commitment, domestic ownership, or engagement of international donors. Thus, a proper understanding of the interplay among these factors is critical in explaining how CTs came into existence and what their characteristics are (Barrientos and Niño‐Zarazúa ; de Haan ; Giovannetti et al ).…”