Social Security Issues In Developing Countries

The large majority of workers in developing countries are excluded from social security protection. Social Security for the Excluded Majority examines this problem in Benin, China, El Salvador, India, and the United Republic of Tanzania. This book pleads for a participatory approach to the extension of social security and explores ways in which governments and organizations can come together to create practical, workable policies to bring social security protection to all.Through a series of detailed case studies compiled by an international array of policy experts, this book looks closely at the workings of self-financed schemes for informal workers that emerged in the 1990s, and highlights the schemes that have been most beneficial. It focuses on how NGOs, cooperatives, and other social organizations have been able to develop institutions and policies more in line with the requirements and contributory capacity of the informal sector.The authors evaluate various approaches to the extension of formal sector social insurance to informal sector workers, including the self-employed. In addition, they explore how social assistance programs, although often requiring sophisticated administration, can help ensure that benefits reach the population most in need, such as children, the disabled, and the elderly.

The paper surveys the major economic, financial, and administrative issues that confront social security systems in Latin America. The larger systems have contributed substantially to public sector financial disequilibria. Expenditures of the younger systems with more limited coverage could increase dramatically as the pension plan matures, life expectancy increases, and coverage is broadened, but the narrow revenue base will force a tradeoff between broader coverage and the generosity of benefits. Most plans are pay-as-you-go, and the case for full or partial funding is not found to be compelling. The inflationary environment can have a substantial effect on the financial balance, even under full indexation.

This paper reviews the main trends and policy issues with regard to the extension of social security in developing countries. It begins by defining the concept of social security, and it examines its linkages with the development process and its impact on poverty reduction. It then reviews the four main social security programmes, i.e. health insurance, pensions, unemployment protection and tax-based social benefits. It shows that in many middle-income countries, statutory social insurance can form the basis for the extension process. However, this is generally not so in the low-income countries, where only a small minority of the population is covered by social security. In particular for these countries, the paper pleads for experimentation with area-based schemes. It also recognizes the need for additional international financing of some basic social security schemes, if coverage is to be extended to everyone over the next 15 to 25 years. The paper also examines the gender dimension of the extension process. The paper concludes with outlining some key elements of national and international strategies. Social security should be recognized as a major instrument to deal with some of the negative social consequences of globalization. National policies should consist of improving and reforming statutory social insurance programmes, of promoting community- and area-based social insurance schemes, and of enhancing cost-effective tax-financed social benefits. At the international level, there is a need for a few simple indicators on social security coverage, for advocacy measures to get social security at the top of the development agenda, for experimentation with new mechanisms to reach workers in the informal economy, as well as for knowledge development and technical assistance. Many of these elements will be included in the "Global campaign on social security and coverage for all" that the ILO is to launch at the beginning of 2003.

Presenting a periodic overview of the most significant developments and trends in the field of social security has become, for the International Social Security Association, a tradition and a firm commitment. Benefiting from the vast quantity of information uniquely available to the ISSA, its triennial review takes stock of the current state of social security world wide and focuses, through expert analyses, on some of the most pressing social security issues. Social Security at the Dawn of the 21st Century, the outcome of the most recent review, is intended to significantly extend the access of an international readership to accurate and up-to-date information and analyses on social security, which has without question developed during the twentieth century into one of the most important publicly financed and administered institutions in modern society. The chapters are grouped into two parts. Part one treats subjects related to policy trends and regional developments, with special emphasis on such important issues as redesigning social security programs, new management practices, and the informal care dilemma. It features major aspects of developments in Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Part two focuses on specific program areas, with special emphasis on problems and reforms in employment policy, pension systems, and public disability schemes. Information is also provided on new approaches to ensuring adequate access to health care and on policies in response to changes in family structures as well as an recent experience with social assistance programs. Dalmer D. Hoskins has held the post of Secretary General of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) since 1990. Before his election to this post, he held positions in the United States Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. Donate Dobbernack is currently chief of communications and publications within the International Social Security Association (ISSA). Before assuming responsibilities in this area, she was chief of the technical activities program of the Association, dealing with international enquiries and studies on various aspects of social security and related fields. Christiane Kuptsch is a research officer with the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and the editor of the quarterly publication Trends in Social Security. She is a regular contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica on the issue of developments in social protection.

The term "social security" has a very different meaning in underdeveloped countries -- whose populations live in great insecurity -- and is best understood as poverty alleviation. This book attempts to define social security in the Third World and to examine what sort of programs are most suitable for developing countries. The authors review current literature on the subject. Some chapters explore broad themes, others contain case studies describing social security provisions in various regions of Asia, Latin America, and Southern Africa. This illuminating study will be of interst to development economists as well as those working in international organizations concerned with policy-making in the Third World and management of resources.

The potential role of social protection in the development process has received heightened recognition in recent years, yet making a strong investment case for social protection remains particularly challenging in many emerging and developing countries. This report challenges us to think deeply about the economic rationale for social protection investments through an inclusive development lens. It helps us understand the links between social protection, growth and inequality; how to measure those links empirically; social protection’s impact on inclusive growth; and how to build a more solid economic case for greater social protection investments.

In recent years, in both the specialist press and the tabloids, the idea of privatization of social security has become a shimmering catch phrase. Politicians base election campaigns on promises of more or less privatization in social security. Many governments introduce private business management methods into their social security systems. Representatives of social security institutions and academics prepare theory papers on the possible outcomes of privatization. And international financial organizations describe doomsday scenarios based on the premise of failure to privatize.What is the role of privatization today in the development of national social security systems? How does privatization concern the developments in different social security programs such as old age, sickness, unemployment, accident insurance and family allowances? What are the visions and effects of privatization in social security?This volume provides an overview of the various positions of supporters and opponents of privatization in the main branches of social security, followed by national experience of privatized or part-privatized social security systems. While the perspective of each of the contributors is markedly different, the overall objective cuts across differences: namely, to develop the most efficient and cost-effective system of social security protection.The authors' views and knowledge are derived from their firsthand experiences with social security in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. Representatives of the leading international organizations dealing with social security issues-the International Labour Organization, the OECD, the World Bank and the World Health Organization-further expand the parameters of the viewpoints and experiences expressed.This multifaceted book allows the reader to learn about the challenge of privatization in the various forms of social security by assembling a set of highly up-to-date, technically complex and legal issues based on practical analysis and actual experience. It will be of interest to those concerned with national social policy in a comparative context. This is the sixth volume in an ongoing series that aims to review social security in a comparative, global context. Xenia Scheil-Adlung is program manager, International Social Security Association, Geneva, Switzerland.