Building National Floors of Social Protection in Southern Africa

This project will assist in bringing ILO expertise to strengthening basic social protection systems in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. The project will provide technical support to constituents through assistance to on-going processes of national dialogue, in harmony with coordinated efforts by UN and bilateral cooperating partners.

Brief project overview :

This project will assist in bringing ILO expertise to strengthening basic social protection systems in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. The project will provide technical support to constituents through assistance to on-going processes of national dialogue, in harmony with coordinated efforts by UN and bilateral cooperating partners. It will assist the countries in implementing the building blocks of domestically owned and funded national systems of social protection, based on the framework provided by ILO Recommendation R.202 (2012) on National Floors of Social Protection.

Objectives :

The project strategy will focus on learning and building on the successes of different countries and approaches, particularly from the region, to maintain and contribute to constructive national dialogue on the extension of social protection in the three countries.ILO assistance will be implemented in partnership with other UN Agencies and other international partners and in alignment with on-going support to the countries.

Expected Deliverables :

  • Processes of National Social Dialogue (NSDs) supported
  • Studies are conducted to assist NSDs with quantitative/qualitative Evidence on SPFs.
  • Awareness and information programmes are implemented
  • Legal studies on Social protection are developed with constituents (ex. Draft bills/regulations)
  • Analysis / Recommendations on current Governance and Administration of Social Protection
  • Legal and statistical situation analysis of social security systems are conducted
  • Comparative Study on Strategies and Programmes aimed at the Extension of Social Protection
  • Monitoring tool for SADC to measure progress in national social protection floors
  • Learners trained in the recipient countries
  • Sub-regional workshop is organized to disseminate results

Project Implementation:

Grounded in a regional peer learning process, the project will comprise practical assistance with specific economic feasibility studies, legal expertise, support to national dialogue processes and advice on the governance and administrative aspects of implementing national social protection floors, reflecting the principles of ILO Recommendation R.202 (2012) on National Floors of Social Protection.

The Project will have a regional component promoting South-South learning. This component will be the backbone of ILO interventions in the three countries and will be managed by the international CTA. He will also be responsible for the coordination of the technical assistance in the three countries, under the responsibility of the ILO Director in Lusaka, responsible for the project. The regional activities will be complemented by specific activities at the country level depending on the establishment of synergies with other projects. The Project will have National Program Officers in each one of the 3 countries. The NPOs will work closely with other UN Agencies in the framework of the UNDAF and the Decent Work Country Programmes. A close coordination will be established at country level with implementing partners through ad hoc regular review mechanisms of the progress of national work plans.