Paper short abstract:

Political Economy of Pension Reforms in Nigeria: evaluating the institutional trajectory and roles of international policy advisors.

Paper long abstract:

Abstract.

In the context of the prevailing hegemonic "market-driven" neo-liberal dynamics, pension systems generally remain one of the critical dimensions of public policy reforms, both in the developed and developing countries. While in the 1990s many of the developed countries such as Germany, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Australia, and Italy have introduced and implemented many pension reforms, some transition and developing countries in Latin America and Africa have also embarked upon the process, to "radically" transform their public pension systems. Based on the concept of "individual capitalization", new pension reforms in developing countries represent a response to "market-driven" neo-liberal process. Even in a context of "fiscal contraction" and "states' retrenchment" of public policy provisioning, and demographic ageing, income guarantee and security, through pension system, for the workers and pensioners, remain an important hall-mark of public policy direction for governments in developing countries. This paper takes this further to evaluate the historical and institutional trajectory of pension reforms in Nigeria; with empirical and critical evaluations of "technical" and "ideological" assumptions that guide the "ideational processes". The paper evaluates the roles of international policy advisors in "policy diffusion", to developing countries, on pension policy. The implication of "policy-transfer" on pension reforms in Nigeria, is examined.

Keywords: Pension reforms, policy-diffusion, international policy advisors, ideological assumptions

Paper short abstract:

Despite the abundant natural resources available in the country, poverty remains a major problem with approximately 70 million people living on less than US$1 per day without adequate social protection arrangements for poverty reduction and social cohesion in Nigeria.

Paper long abstract:

Despite the abundant natural resources available in the country, poverty remains a major problem with approximately 70 million people living on less than US$1 per day without adequate social protection arrangements. Before the reinstatement of democracy in 1999, some scholars viewed military rule as the source of the problem. This makes it pertinent to ascertain whether the practice of democracy in Nigeria since 1999 has improved the social protection arrangements for poverty reduction and social cohesion in Nigeria. In order to achieve this objective, the study examines the following questions: What are the current social protection arrangements for ameliorating poverty and other forms of vulnerabilities? What are the drivers of social protection policies in Nigeria? How has Nigeria performed in the area of social protection since the reinstatement of democratic rule in 1999? Do existing social protection arrangements foster social cohesion in Nigeria? These questions were answered using primary data sourced through key informant interviews and secondary data from books, journal articles, magazines and reports of local and international organizations. The findings of the study indicate that in spite of the benefits of social protection, the Nigerian government is lagging behind in the provision of adequate social protection to the citizens. This to a large extent is because the government tends to lay emphasis more on economic policy than social policy. Most available social protections arrangements in addition to low coverage are residual in nature rather than transformative.

Paper short abstract:

This article examines the quality and frequency of access amongst traditionally marginalised social groups in India and Ethiopia to the countries' main food-security programmes - the PDS and the PSNP - to ascertain whether the programmes may be reinforcing traditional societal power cleavages.

Paper long abstract:

Both India and Ethiopia have incorporated the right to food in their constitutions and have put in place comprehensive social-protection programmes aimed at guaranteeing their citizens food security. Whilst generally seen as successful in at least ameliorating food insecurity in the two countries, there have been indications that the programmes may be simultaneously reinforcing some existing societal power cleavages (e.g. Lavers, 2016; Petrikova, 2018). However, many such findings have been based on smaller-scale qualitative studies and hence are generalizable only to certain areas within the two countries.

This article adopts a different approach - it examines nationally representative India's Human Development Survey and Ethiopia's Living Standard Measurement Survey data using quantitative statistical approaches in order to ascertain whether the two countries' main food-security programmes' benefits accrue disproportionately to already more powerful social groups and thus re-inforce existing social divides. Specifically, the article focuses on people's frequency and quality of access to the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia and the Public Distribution System in India and assesses whether traditionally marginalised groups in the two countries (ethnic and religious minorities, female-headed households, lowest-income households, scheduled castes and tribes in India) have experienced proportionally lower (or possibly greater) access to the food-security services. The second part of the article uses secondary data about political and policy differences between the two countries as well as amongst different states within the countries to try to understand the reasons for the uncovered differences in the programmes' 'discrimination rates' between and within the two countries.

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the gendered nature of policy design and targeting debates in Zambia, identifying a 'double burden' placed on women who are expected to earn and take care of their families. In this case, cash transfers have failed to challenge existing gender relations and roles in communities.

Paper long abstract:

Approaches to social protection have been accused of being 'gender-blind', with considerations of gender within social policy usually being limited to the inclusion of women as a target group. However, gendered narratives of dependency and deservingness continue to shape debates on welfare and social protection policies. For example, in Latin American countries the focus on motherhood as the basis for welfare provision has served to reproduce traditional roles and social divisions, in which the primary duty of women lies within the family.

This paper examines the targeting debates around social cash transfers in Zambia through a gender lens. My PhD research found a predominant belief that able-bodied people - both male and female - should be working to support themselves and their families. This view seems to subvert the stereotype of women's 'traditional' roles as dependants and caregivers to some extent, but does so in a punitive rather than a transformative way.

While there has been an apparently empowering shift towards increased flexibility in gender divisions in the labour market in Zambia, this has not been accompanied by a change in attitudes to unpaid care work. Caring and homemaking roles continue to have low status and are considered to be 'feminine' work, leading to a 'double burden of labour' for women. By failing to recognise these unequal responsibilities within the household, social protection designs can perpetuate rather than challenge existing gender relations and power structures, including the high expectations placed on women to earn and take care of their families.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the influence of local government institutional structures on the selection of beneficiary households for the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Programme (LEAP) programme in Ghana

Paper long abstract:

While the expansion of targeted intervention programmes in Ghana reaches many extreme poor households, some equally eligible households have not benefitted from programmes intended for them. Using evidence from the implementation of the LEAP cash transfer programme, this paper demonstrates that despite transnational and national actors' careful design of a rigorous selection process intended to target the most vulnerable households for the LEAP programme, other forces at subnational levels of government seem to work against the selection process.

The institutional processes that delivers social welfare programmes, combined with deep- rooted values that are upheld in Ghanaian society, opens avenues for the influence of powerful brokers who corrupt the selection process and limit the selection of the most vulnerable households. The study finds that a significant degree of power and political interests gets distributed from the national level where policy decisions are taken to the subnational levels of government where actual selection of beneficiary households for the LEAP programme occurs. Often, the political interests of national level actors are extended to local elites who support the ruling government's priorities and align their interests with priorities and interests of the ruling government. As a result, the eligibility criteria for identifying extreme poor households is violated and the most vulnerable and extreme poor households are not targeted for the programme.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the moral logics of deservingness and work within social protection policies. It demonstrates the ways grassroots political demands around social policy and distribution emerge from deeply held notions of what is universally 'rightful' and what must be deserved through hard work.

Paper long abstract:

The idea of the deserving and undeserving poor - those who should and should not be helped with welfare and social protection - dates back at least to the Victorian and the colonial era. It has been reborn in the age of austerity with the rise of workfare in the global North and conditional and targeted social protection in the global South, underscoring the long-held belief that the poor worthy of protection are those who are physically unable to work (children, the elderly and the disabled). But perhaps the most puzzling aspect of this discourse of deservingness is not that it is enforced by policy makers, development professionals and the wealthy, but rather the lack of opposition it has received from ordinary people. While some scholars of social protection have proposed the existence of widespread demands for a new, universal politics of distribution (e.g., cash transfers free of judgements of worth and deservingness), this paper challenges this view. Rather, my long-term fieldwork with the unemployed poor in South Africa demonstrates that worthiness through labour plays an ongoing and crucial role in my interlocutors' understandings of wealth creation, accumulation and distribution, and thus their political demands around social protection. In particular, this paper explores the ways the universal distribution of certain goods, particularly land, housing and natural resource wealth, is seen to be universally 'rightful', while other forms of social protection, particularly through cash, is understood to be something that must be deserved through hard work.

Paper short abstract:

This article provides an empirically grounded analysis of the Bono de Desarrollo Humano programme and the politics of exclusion associated with its targeting scheme. Furthermore, it simulates various universal and targeted designs that the BDH could adopt in a context of limited fiscal resources.

Paper long abstract:

Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) marked a transition away from universal and collective social protection schemes towards targeted and individualised regimes. As originally designed, CCTs were conceived as limited interventions with the ultimate objective of securing a permanent way out of poverty, i.e. graduation. Such an emphasis on targeting and graduation has been attributed to constraints related to external financial conditions, e.g. donor support, or pressure on social protection budgets. It is often argued that in a context of limited fiscal resources, narrowly targeted social protection programmes are more effective in reducing poverty than universal alternatives. Yet, perfect targeting is uncommon. Proxy-means tests—the preferred targeting modality in developing countries—are plagued with exclusion errors. Small errors, gaps and biases in data collection and modelling can lead to significant biases in access to social protection programmes. And given their statistical complexity, beneficiaries are unable to decode the technicalities that determine their participation in these programmes. This article provides an empirically grounded analysis of the Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH) programme in Ecuador, flagging the politics of exclusion associated with narrow targeting modalities. Based on detailed tax-benefit microsimulation techniques allowing to assess the extent of income protection provided by the BDH, the central argument is that proxy-means tests lack transparency and limit the agency of beneficiaries, deepening processes of exclusion. Furthermore, the article presents various institutional alternatives modelled for the Ecuadorian context, considering both targeted and universal modalities, that the BDH could adopt to expand citizenship rights within the current fiscal constraints.

Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses conceptualisations of adolescent sexual citizenship and pregnancy by the Brazilian state from 1989 to 2018 and finds that these are used to justify the control of this demographic's sexual conduct and result in social policies that ignore the complexity of their realities.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines how conceptualisations of adolescence and adolescent pregnancy by the Brazilian state between its democratisation and 2018 have shaped social policy addressing adolescent pregnancy. It aims to understand the legibility of this demographic group as specific types of citizens, and the construction of this supposedly apolitical public health problem. In doing so, this paper explores the construction and visibility of sexual citizens and their problems and how the ways in which they are seen justify measures of social control in Brazil. A Foucauldian discourse analysis of policy documents and a content analysis of public health indicators concerned with adolescent pregnancy between 1989 and 2018 show that adolescents' intersecting identities, characteristics of the men and boys who impregnate girls and the extent to which adolescent pregnancies were planned or not were key social factors that were ignored for many years. Moreover, adolescent pregnancy was largely medicalised and notions of adolescents as citizens in development were used to justify corrections of their sexual conduct for many years. This led to narrow social policy approaches to adolescent pregnancy which ignored the wider social contexts of diverse adolescents in Brazil. The results of this paper indicate that the state itself consists of various actors that can construct citizens and problems in different ways. They also show that defining an issue as apolitical and oversimplifying citizens' lives during data collection can lead to inadequate attempts to control citizens' conduct that are incompatible with their realities.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the findings of a scoping study that aimed to explore evidence relating to reforms of social protection systems- social insurance (SI) and social assistance (SA) systems, particularly in terms of coverage of population and benefits adequacy in the post 2011 MENA region.

Paper long abstract:

This paper discusses the findings of a scoping study that aimed to explore evidence relating to reforms of social protection systems- social insurance (SI) and social assistance (SA) systems, particularly in terms of coverage of population and benefits adequacy in the post 2011 Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Social protection is considered as an important component of the social contract between states and their citizens to address the basic needs of the population in areas such as access to food, health, education and housing through subsidies, social insurance, price control and free provisioning across the MENA region. The purpose of this review is to determine what is known from the existing literature about how governments in the MENA region responded to political turmoil in 2011 in relation to the reforms of social protection systems. This scoping review follows the framework of Arksey and O'Malley, involving defining a research question, study identification and selection, charting, interpretation, summarizing, and reporting. The paper concludes by examining the implications of the scoping study for current public policies towards inequality and poverty.

Paper short abstract:

The paper seeks to explore how social protection affects sexual abused children in Botswana. The paper aims to assess what are the channels that have to be taken into account to understand how the benefits of social protection could be maximized with specific regard to sexually abused children.

Paper long abstract:

In Botswana there has been some perceptions that social protection's focus is only on the economic side of the world leaving out the social and equity part. This was mainly because of the popularly known government programs where there is distribution of food basket to the less privileged. Nevertheless, over the last few years the society has come to terms with the fact that social protection is broad and yet very important to the children especially taking into consideration that they are the most vulnerable group as compared to adults. There has been an increase in the number of child sexual abuse cases in Botswana. This is despite Botswana's efforts of introducing the rectified Childrens Act of 2009 and social protection programs which aims to address several areas of the wellbeing of a child. The paper seeks to explore how social protection affects sexual abused children in Botswana. The paper aims to assess what are the channels that have to be taken into account to understand how the benefits of social protection could be maximized with specific regard to sexually abused children.

Paper short abstract:

Using quantitative and qualitative analysis, this paper critically examines how social standards and regional value chains can be implemented within the context of the AfCFTA. Findings assist to develop strategies that address the issue of social standards and RVCs within the context of the AfCFTA.

Paper long abstract:

Traditionally, regional integration and trade agreements have always resulted in a political economy scenario whereby some economies gain more than others. The international best practice has been that appropriate and sustainable compensation mechanisms are designed and implemented to address this phenomenon at regional level, whilst at national level social spending patterns are revised to manage social standards. The signing of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by 44 African countries on 21 March 2018 in Kigali presents an opportunity to deepen regional integration in Africa and boost intra-African trade by further liberalizing trade and fostering regional value chains (RVCs). One of the grand questions that arise is whether RVCs that are envisaged across the continent will incorporate social standards or whether these will facilitate more effective state regulation of social standards and trade. This paper therefore seeks to critically examine how social standards can be implemented within the context of AfCFTA. It further assesses how RVCs will incorporate social standards and the extent to which African countries will be able to integrate social standards into AfCFTA to promote fair intra-African trade. Methodologically, the paper utilizes secondary data sources and quantitative trade analysis using Comtrade datasets. The concepts of social standards, regional value chains and free trade constitute the conceptual framework of analysis for the study. Findings of the study assist to develop strategies on how African countries can sustainably address the issue of social standards in building RVCs as the implementation phase of the AfCFTA approaches.

Paper short abstract:

The paper aims to explain how critical events connect two different policy areas (financial access and social assistance) by critically examines the link between critical events, power relation, and resources. The study used the development of financial inclusion policy in Indonesia as the case.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to explain the role of critical events to the development of financial inclusion policy (improving financial access for the poor) in global south countries, by using Indonesia as the case. The study utilised theory of Advocacy Coalition Framework and process tracing based on the in-depth interviews with the key policy actors. The analysis concluded that there were two types of critical events that influenced the development of financial inclusion policy. The first is structural events. The structural events changed the constellation of power-relation in the policy area and immediately influenced policy objectives and means. For example, the change of government administration and the establishment of new institutions. The second is reinforcing events. These events indirectly shaped the policy objectives and means by providing resources and reasons to the policy elites to push financial inclusion into the national agenda. The study suggests the G20 summits and the annual Global Policy Forum organised by Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) as reinforcing events. Overall, this study provides insights on the distinction of different critical events and how critical events could promote policy change differently.

Paper short abstract:

The participation of the vulnerable group in the development process is the core of the Community-driven Development (CDD) approach. This paper examines the impact of the empowerment and the inclusion of females and the poor on the outcome of a community-based poverty reduction program.

Paper long abstract:

Government-citizen relations have evolved. Citizens are no longer served merely as the object of development programs. In the Indonesian case, all stages of the Community-based Poverty Reduction Program, from information dissemination, planning, proposal preparation, project selection, resource allocation, implementation, and monitoring, require a high degree of citizen participation, particularly of the marginalized. Yet it is still questionable whether citizen participation plays an effective role or the engagement of citizen itself creates more socioeconomic disparities.

This paper examines the effectiveness of the CDD approach in relation to the empowerment and the inclusion of females and the poor in the Community-based Poverty Reduction Program (PNPM-Mandiri Program). This national-scale poverty reduction program, which was launched in 2007 and was completed in 2014, covered most of the provinces and implemented to boost the empowerment of the whole local community, particularly females and the poor. Indeed the government administrative data on PNPM-Mandiri shows that females and the poor were underrepresented in the decision-making process and this, in turn, affects the selection of CDD projects. Using a quantitative approach, this study investigates the government data on PNPM-Mandiri to examine how the existing inequality in power and resources influences the decision-making process of CDD, which then can influence the outcome of the CDD, potentially widening the disparities.

Paper short abstract:

The paper presents a review of social protection programs in India. It discusses their emergence, changing trends and concludes with emphasizing on need of paradigm shift in nature and functioning of social protection programs to address long term vulnerabilities.

Paper long abstract:

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of nature of social protection programs in India aimed at poverty reduction. Social protection is generally understood as an umbrella term for a range of policies and programs that address risk and vulnerability among poor and near-poor households. However, a strand of researchers has challenged the capacities and functions of social protection based on the arguments of affordability, growth and equity. It is well known that social protection programs have a binding budget hence, low income countries and their capacity of delivering effective social protection to their vulnerable citizens at affordable cost is an alarming issue which further affects their ability to achieve the millennium development goals. In Indian context, social protection programs remain one of the principle components of state welfare policy however, merely provide rudimentary underpinning of a welfare state. The welfare state policy suffers from uneven focus on social protection wherein public services languish. Despite dedicated budgets for social protection programs, the development challenges persist. The paper outlines the structure of social protection in India, discussing their emergence, changing trends and concludes with emphasizing on need of paradigm shift in nature and functioning of social protection programs to address long term vulnerabilities.

Paper short abstract:

How did leadership and political will impact one of the world's largest employment-generation programmes? We contrast the performance of India's MGNREGA under the centre-left dispensation that introduced it and its right-wing successor, and explore the power dynamics surrounding its implementation.

Paper long abstract:

The term 'political will' is often used to explain the success or failure of the leadership of any policy or programme. It has emerged as the "sine qua non of policy success which is never defined except by its absence" (Hammergren 1998). Therefore, a structured examination of the term is necessary to operationalise it in the analysis of social policy and programming. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), enacted by India's United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2005, offers a compelling case to examine the role of 'political will' in the implementation of a major government programme. The evolution of the MGNREGA, which has been described as the 'largest antipoverty state-run employment-generation scheme anywhere in the world' (World Bank 2014), depended significantly on the leadership and political commitment in the legislature and the executive, as well as their coordination and substantive engagement with civil society, represented through non-governmental organisations and activists. We explore the complex power relations between the range of actors involved in the MGNREGA's formulation and implementation, and the manner in which they played out. Through this lens, we gauge the impact of leadership and 'political will' on the implementation of the MGNREGA, as carried out by the UPA government between 2005 and 2014, in contrast to its successor dispensation, the National Democratic Alliance, from 2014 onwards. Furthermore, evidence from accountability mechanisms such as social audits is utilised to understand the nature of leadership involved in the implementation of the MGNREGA at the local level.