Formal and informal social protection in sub-Saharan Africa: A complex welfare mix to achieve poverty and inequality reduction

In the last years, social policy has been rediscovered and reappraised as a important tool to address poverty and social inequality in development contexts. After decades of structural adjustment policies and cutting back of national social programmes, international organizations such as the World Bank, the ILO and UNDP increasingly recognize social protection as a main contributor to social cohesion and development. However, there are few studies that systematically analyse the link between formal and informal social protection mechanisms in developing countries and their contribution to the social protection level of the population. In this article we analyse the interplay between formal and informal social protection institutions and their contribution to the shaping of the welfare mix of sub-Saharan African countries. We look at the wide range of social protection mechanisms available in sub-Saharan countries, namely formal social security arrangements, the provision of basic social goods and informal, community- and family-based social protection mechanisms. In analysing their strengths and weaknesses, we assess how these different mechanisms can complement each other and can contribute to the overall level of social protection of the population. Our analysis illustrates that, although each of the discussed mechanisms has its pitfalls, they largely complement each other and in this way are able to protect the livelihoods of the major part of the population. Furthermore, we argue that the sub-Saharan African welfare mix not only is characterized by the interplay between formal and informal mechanisms, but also by the interplay between different actors (e.g. the government, international organizations, NGO’s, communities, family, etc.). This intensive collaboration is needed to safeguard the effectiveness and efficiency of the available social protection mechanisms. Only a fruitful interplay between these actors and different forms of social protection mechanisms can effectively change the miserable living conditions, by which people living in the South have to cope daily.status: publishe