Can Low Income Countries Afford Basic Social Protection? First Results of a Modelling Exercise

International Labour Office, Social Security Department, Issues in Social Protection, No. 13, 2005

93 Pages Posted: 27 Sep 2005

See all articles by Karuna Pal

Karuna Pal

International Labour Organization (ILO)

Christina Behrendt

International Labour Office; International Labour Organization

Florian Leger

International Labour Organization (ILO)

Michael Cichon

International Council of Social Welfare

Krzysztof Hagemejer

University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg; Collegium Civitas; Maastricht University

Abstract

This report presents the methodology and the results of a modelling exercise that demonstrates that basic social protection benefits are not out of reach for low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, even though some international assistance would be necessary for a transitory period. The Social Protection Sector of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has estimated the cost of basic social protection benefits education, health, pensions) for a selected number of developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, namely Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Senegal and Tanzania. The selection of countries aimed to provide regional diversity within Africa but was nevertheless largely driven by data availability.

A preliminary version of the result tables and assumptions were set-up by the Social Protection Sector of the ILO and then discussed with DFID (United Kingdom Department for International Development). Following that DFID provided comments and suggested modifications to some of the assumptions. These are included in the Base Case (Scenario I). The main aim of this paper is to provide a costing of a basic social protection benefit package with the description and sources of the data and assumptions used for the projections as well as a brief description of the methodology used.

Keywords: Africa South of Sahara, poverty alleviation, social security, economic model

Suggested Citation

Pal, Karuna and Behrendt, Christina and Behrendt, Christina and Leger, Florian and Cichon, Michael and Hagemejer, Krzysztof, Can Low Income Countries Afford Basic Social Protection? First Results of a Modelling Exercise. International Labour Office, Social Security Department, Issues in Social Protection, No. 13, 2005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=807366

Karuna Pal (Contact Author)

International Labour Organization (ILO) ( email )

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Switzerland

Christina Behrendt

International Labour Organization ( email )

Route des Morillons 4
Geneva, 1211
Switzerland

HOME PAGE: http://www.ilo.org

International Labour Office ( email )

Route des Morillons 4
Geneva, 1211
Switzerland

HOME PAGE: http://www.ilo.org

Florian Leger

International Labour Organization (ILO) ( email )

Route des Morillons 4
Geneva, 1211
Switzerland

Michael Cichon

International Council of Social Welfare ( email )

P.O. Box 28957
Kampala
Uganda

Krzysztof Hagemejer

University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg ( email )

Bonn
Germany

Collegium Civitas ( email )

pl. Defilad 1
Warsaw, mazowieckie 00-950
Poland

Maastricht University ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, Limburg 6200MD
Netherlands

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