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Contribution short abstract:

The Frontline social assistance workforce in Africa and elsewhere is overworked, relying on unpaid volunteers and other sectors' professionals. As social protection systems grow and respond to crises, this workforce is strained, risking collapse. Improved support and recognition are essential.

Contribution long abstract:

With a few exceptions and nuances, the frontline workforce for social assistance across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa - the part that interacts directly with clients at the local level - is highly dependent on an overworked and under-resourced social welfare departments and an army of unpaid and untrained volunteers, paraprofessionals, or professionals from other sectors that are double-hatting. Social protection systems in Africa, as they mature, are increasingly getting more complex with linked programmes and and services, and furthermore being asked to flex to respond increasingly to crises and shocks. All this is placing further burden on the frontline workforce that government, and international development and humanitarian actors rely on. These trends can also be seen in other parts of the world. Actors supporting social protection need to be cognisant of this strain, and the importance of understanding the make-up and needs of the frontline workforce not only for the regular strengthening of routine social protection systems, but to protect them during crises when they are at strong risk of being completely overburdened to the point of collapse. In this intervention I will share some concrete ideas around how, still to be determined, but as possible examples; through improved mapping and systematic support to the workforce, improved processes such as digital systems, better links between humanitarian "frontline workforces" and regular social welfare and social protection workforces, and ensuring their recognition and voice in design and implementation processes.