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Sophie Plagerson
(Sophie Plagerson)
Jeremy Seekings
(University of Cape Town)
Marianne Sandvad Ulriksen
(Danish Centre for Welfare Studies)
Alesha Porisky
(Northern Illinois University)
Format:
Panel
Streams:
Politics and political economy
Sessions:
Thursday 7 July, -
Time zone: Europe/London
States, Citizens and Social Protection in Africa.
Panel P05b at conference DSA2022: Just sustainable futures in an urbanising and mobile world.
This panel invites papers that critically examine how state-citizen dynamics influence the trajectories of social protection in Africa, and how in turn social protection shapes the relationship between states and citizens.
Long Abstract:
The expansion of social welfare has been integral to historical processes of state-building, and is key to securing just and sustainable wellbeing outcomes for vulnerable populations. However, as social protection is being extended in contexts of weak infrastructural capacity across both democratic and authoritarian states, it is important to develop an evidence base which explores changing relations between states and citizens, and shifting conceptions of citizenship.
Across Africa, over the past twenty years, the landscape of social protection has evolved rapidly, including more recently in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the widespread introduction of non-contributory pensions, public works programmes, social cash transfers, and social insurance for previously excluded populations, extending social assistance to vulnerable populations.
In order to understand and disentangle the effects of how social protection is recasting the political, administrative, and social aspects of changing citizen-state relations in Africa, this panel invites papers which present evidence on the perspectives of stakeholders (including political elites, state administration, street-level bureaucrats, development agencies, beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of social protection) that can shed light on how the design, reach, and implementation social protection policies are shaped by citizen-state relations and how, in turn, their implementation shapes citizen-state relations in profound and sometimes unexpected ways. The panel discussion will offer a comparative angle of beneficiary perspectives across a broad range of countries, with different levels of state capacity, in rural and urban settings.
The paper ascertains the impact of the state-led Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty cash transfer program and conditionality requirements on state-citizen relations in Ghana using qualitative/ethnographic methodologies.
Paper long abstract:
The Beneficiary Contract: Exploring State-Citizen relations in the context of the LEAP Cash Transfer Program in Ghana
Author:
Afia Achiaa Adaboh
Brandeis University, United States
The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program is Ghana's flagship social protection initiative. This cash transfer program is aimed at mitigating extreme poverty and growing inequality in the country. LEAP provides bi-monthly stipends to orphaned or vulnerable children, the disabled, elderly, and vulnerable pregnant or lactating mothers. For aged and disabled beneficiaries, LEAP is unconditional. The remaining beneficiary categories are tasked with co-responsibilities.
This study explores the complex interplay of state citizen relations in the implementation of the LEAP cash transfer program. The study assesses whether the imposition of co-responsibilities as an implementation feature of the LEAP has any impacts on program objectives school participation health seeking behavior and consumption. This study utilizes primary data collected in the Ga-East District of Ghana to investigate it's aims. Government of Ghana policy makers, LEAP officials, LEAP recipients and comparable non-recipients are interviewed to provide insights on program successes and weaknesses.
The imposition of conditionalities as a design feature of cash transfers can potentially improve state-citizen relations. This study finds that due to uneven implementation, there is a lack of awareness of LEAP conditionalities. Perceptions of LEAP transfers as gifts and the lack of clear structures for providing feedback about the program hinders the ability of respondents to hold the state accountable for effective implementation of the LEAP program thus weakening state-citizen relations.
This paper will look at how individuals' pandemic experiences shape their justifications of inequality and redistributive preferences in South Africa. This matters especially now as governments rethink welfare provisions in light of the social and economic challenges brought forth by the pandemic.
Paper long abstract:
The pandemic and corresponding government responses reignited dialogues around making social protection more comprehensive, inclusive, and sustainable. Yet, less is known about the political environment within which potential expansions of social protection are taking place. This paper will focus on citizens' experiences, namely their sense of stability and agency during times of economic adaptation brought forth by the pandemic. It will assess how these experiences influence inequality justifications and redistributive preferences. It focuses on South Africa, where certain pandemic relief measures have caused political contestation; particularly regarding the application of affirmative action principles in allocating pandemic relief. Given the country's continued structural inequalities, certain cleavages regarding building a consensus around 'who deserves what' are expected and have been previously discussed drawing on e.g. the social attitudes survey. For instance, policies addressing racial disadvantage received less public support than policies addressing disadvantages linked to gender or disability. This study, which surveys South African citizens (N=350) of a standing research panel representative across age and gender, brings a timely perspective to such debates. Using a mediation modeling approach, it seeks to explain how the pandemic influences redistributive preferences but also whether the perceived source of inequality (merit or non-merit based), mediates such. It thereby sheds light on potential public support for social protection expansions. This is relevant beyond the events of the pandemic as it can further apply to similar events that affect everyone, yet everyone differently with varying severity, e.g. climate change or political unrest.
By implementing Social Network Analysis (SNA), this paper analyses how a universal unconditional cash transfer, handed out in a rural Ugandan village, influenced recipients' perceptions of the state, institutional trust and relations with representatives of formal institutions.
Paper long abstract:
Social cash transfers (CT) are increasingly used by countries all over the world as fundamental components of their poverty reduction and social protection strategies. Yet, not much is known about how these interventions shape beneficiaries' citizen-state relations and perceptions of the state.
In this context, this paper analyses how a universal unconditional mobile cash transfer, handed out in a rural Ugandan village between 2017 and 2019, influenced recipients' perceptions of the state, institutional trust and relations with representatives of formal institutions.
In addition to mixed-methods research on the aforementioned variables, the study will implement social network analysis (SNA) in order to explore how the transfer affecteded the village's networks over time. More specifically, 'call to action' networks, mapping who did people reach out to, when demanding change concerning a common matter to the community, will be plotted and analysed. Some preliminary findings, derived from network-level metrics and ERGMs, illustrate how the transfer substantially changed the network's structure. In particular, having a role in the CT program (or not) proved being fundamental in determining local leaders' centrality in the network and even political success. In this sense, the innovative use of SNA, which has never been applied to the evaluation of social cash transfers' effects, could not only help capturing CT effects, but also contribute to shedding a light on the pathways leading to the observed changes.
This paper examines the lived experiences of exclusion and invisibility of informal settlement communities in policy-making through the work of national government public administrators in created spaces for citizen participation.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines the lived experiences of informal settlement communities in the processes of policy making. Following constitutional changes in Kenya in 2010, citizen participation was entrenched and interpreted as a key pillar driving national and sub-national development. Urban informal settlements present the unique challenge of existing on the periphery of the formalised city. These are grey spaces hosting more than half of Nairobi's population. The national government, through the public administration utilises chiefs to open up created spaces for participation in the form of the baraza. The baraza has been hailed over the years in Kenya as a space for participation with mixed results. In the informal settlements in takes on a contextualised meanings through the lens of the community. Drawing on findings from research in Mukuru Kayaba, we highlight the perceptions of these communities towards the baraza as a tool for inclusion in policy making and interpretation of their informality. The current push to demolish homes to make for roads and at the height of the global pandemic also serve as a lens through which the paper examines whether the presence or absence of public administration and their created spaces are beneficial to informal settlement communities
Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality, and to see the links to virtual rooms. Log in
Jeremy Seekings (University of Cape Town)
Marianne Sandvad Ulriksen (Danish Centre for Welfare Studies)
Alesha Porisky (Northern Illinois University)
Short Abstract:
This panel invites papers that critically examine how state-citizen dynamics influence the trajectories of social protection in Africa, and how in turn social protection shapes the relationship between states and citizens.
Long Abstract:
The expansion of social welfare has been integral to historical processes of state-building, and is key to securing just and sustainable wellbeing outcomes for vulnerable populations. However, as social protection is being extended in contexts of weak infrastructural capacity across both democratic and authoritarian states, it is important to develop an evidence base which explores changing relations between states and citizens, and shifting conceptions of citizenship.
Across Africa, over the past twenty years, the landscape of social protection has evolved rapidly, including more recently in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the widespread introduction of non-contributory pensions, public works programmes, social cash transfers, and social insurance for previously excluded populations, extending social assistance to vulnerable populations.
In order to understand and disentangle the effects of how social protection is recasting the political, administrative, and social aspects of changing citizen-state relations in Africa, this panel invites papers which present evidence on the perspectives of stakeholders (including political elites, state administration, street-level bureaucrats, development agencies, beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of social protection) that can shed light on how the design, reach, and implementation social protection policies are shaped by citizen-state relations and how, in turn, their implementation shapes citizen-state relations in profound and sometimes unexpected ways. The panel discussion will offer a comparative angle of beneficiary perspectives across a broad range of countries, with different levels of state capacity, in rural and urban settings.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 7 July, 2022, -Afia A. Adaboh (Brandeis University)
Annalena Oppel (London School of Economics and Political Science)
Filippo Grisolia (University of Antwerp) Nathalie Holvoet (University of Antwerp) Sara Dewachter (Institute of Development Policy (IOB))
Ruth. N. Murumba (Moi University)