Anna Wolkenhauer from project B09 "Social Policy and Rural Development in Africa" took part in a discussion for the Development Pathways podcast. The debate, which included also Jeremy Seekings and Hangala Siachiwena from the University of Cape Town, addressed the future of social protection in Africa.
Development Pathways: What Comes After Social Cash Transfers? (Soundcloud)
In Sub Saharan Africa, the last twenty years saw a proliferation of programmes that aim to provide a basic income security to marginalised segments of the population; especially Social Cash Transfers have become a prominent social assistance intervention. These are often targeted at selected groups who are deemed the "poorest". The discussion with Development Pathways, a global think tank that promotes the realisation of social and economic rights worldwide, centred around assessing the current and future challenges and opportunities of social protection in Africa.
After an overall positive analysis, based especially on the observation that governments and other actors are increasingly turning towards groups who have long fallen by the wayside of exclusive growth processes, Anna made a plea for interlinking social policy with economic reforms. The underlying causes for poverty and marginalisation are economic, and cannot be addressed by social cash transfers alone – despite being very important and arguably effective. Instead, greater efforts are needed for economic diversification and the creation of more and better jobs. The momentum that the global attention to social protection and cash transfers, especially among donor organisations, has created, though, should be seized to push for more transformative change.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Anna Wolkenhauer
CRC 1342: Global Dynamics of Social Policy, Institute for Intercultural and International Studies
Mary-Somerville-Straße 9
28359 Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-57099
E-Mail: anna.wolkenhauer@uni-bremen.de
