GOOD PRACTICES on Social Protection: Who should be part of a programme on social protection? How to involve/include them?

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A good practice on this matter is to identify and include stakeholders related to the informal economy in capacity strengthening and decision-making on social protection issues as it helps raise their awareness and strengthens their ownership. This should include government, employers and workers’ organisations, and other civil society groups and may include other non-state actors such as experts from academia. Likewise, discussions on social protection whithin in coordinating bodies should also be promoted as a means to address social protection in the informal economy.

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This is shown in particular in a 2014 report from ILO (Decent work results of ILO employment promotion interventions: lessons learned from evaluations, 2003-2013, Meta-analysis of evaluations) which highlighted that the coordination within the public administration was a key factor in building comprehensive and sustainable social protection systems and that, in order to share ILO’s vision on social protection, it had been necessary to include actors who were not automatically involved in the technical interventions, such as civil society, private sector and various public administrations (other than the ministry of labour and/or employment).

The report also indicated that the social partners expressed their enthusiasm about the role played by the project steering committees, particularly because it enhanced their capacity to tackle social protection and employment issues through social dialogue.

Other reports addressing the issue of participation to social protection policies and programmes highlight:

• The necessity of a multi-stakeholder approach, including in particular governments, the private sector, and formal and informal workers as a matter of both principle and practicality, due to the massive dimension of the crisis in social protection for informal workers (Lund, Francie, WIEGO, 2009, Social Protection and the Informal Economy: Linkages and Good Practices for Poverty Reduction and Empowerment).
• The added value of periodical assessment of the enabling environment by employers’ organizations (through tools such as enterprise surveys and business barometers) and of the provision by workers’ organizations of services and advice for workers in SMEs on issues such as workers’ rights and obligations, labour legislation and social protection. (ILO, 2015, Small and medium-sized enterprises and decent and productive employment creation Report IV, ILO-104th Session 2015, Meta-analysis of evaluations, ILO, Geneva).
• The involvement of national stakeholders in the collection and analysis of relevant information as a means to promote the debate the potential impact of a minimum set of social security protection benefits, and take the results to policy development (Voss, Eckhard; Gospel, Howard; Dornelas, Antonio; Vitols, Katrin, 2013, What works and why? : Results of a synthesis review of social dialogue interventions 2002-2012, Meta-analysis of evaluations, ILO, Geneva). In the circumstances, it shifted thinking from addressing the needs of specific vulnerable groups or populations to considering the social protection needs of all, with universality as the goal even for the minimum benefits.

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Identification of Innovative Approaches to Livelihood Enhancement, Equity and Inclusion of People Dependent on the Informal Economy

Volume 2: Recommendations Based on Analysis of a Range of Development Agencies on Support to People Dependent on the Informal Economy 

September 2016

By Mei Zegers