Paper short abstract:

The interface of norms, values and beliefs driving the interests of external aid agencies vis-à-vis those of local contexts and the concomitant gendered social (protection) outcomes remains key in understanding the future of social protection policy in Africa.

Paper long abstract:

The study of social (protection) policies and their developmental outcomes in Africa is yet to comprehensively engage with country specific ideational processes, namely ideas, values, and cultural symbols that underpins the framing of such policies. To what extent has local sociological construction of social problems which is deeply embedded in dominant cultural assumptions, values and belief systems in South Africa, Zambia and Mauritius interfaced with those driving the interests of international aid agencies and with what gendered social (protection) policy outcomes? If value is determined locally, rather than externally imposed, and by social groups that have different vantage points, what is the future of social (protection) policy in South Africa, Zambia and Mauritius? The latter remains particularly important from a gender perspective as the process of assigning value is political and emerges from people who are not only of unequal social status but also acting within specific social order. What cross-learning can be drawn from the three cases under investigation for the future of social (protection) policy in Africa? The paper draws from the study of social (protection) policy trajectories in South Africa, Zambia and Mauritius from the pre-independence period with a view to imagine the possibility of a gender equitable and transformative social policy in a post-COVID-19 Africa.

Key words: Gender, social (protection) policy, norms, values, beliefs, South Africa, Zambia, Mauritius.