According to United Nations Research Institute For Social
Development (2009), social protection is concerned with preventing, managing,
and overcoming situations that adversely affect people’s well being. Social protection consists of policies and programs
designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labor
markets, diminishing people's exposure to risks, and enhancing their capacity
to manage economic and social risks, such as unemployment, exclusion, sickness,
disability and old age.
Social protection
refers to the major social protection and risk management programmes and
strategies adopted in Tanzania which contributed in shielding the extremely
vulnerable individuals, households and communities in urban and rural areas
from becoming poorer. is an important aspect of poverty reduction strategies (Lerisse, 2003).
Generally; social protection consists of policies and programmes
designated to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labour
market, diminishing people’s exposure to social risks, enhancing their capacity
to protect themselves against hazards and interruption or loss of income.
According to The National Social Security Policy (2003), Social
security means any kind of collective measures or activities designed to ensure that members of
society meet their basic needs and
are protected from the contingencies to enable them maintain a standard of living consistent with
social norms.
According to Article
22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1998), state that “Everyone,
as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to
realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in
accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic,
social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free
development of his personality.
Generally;
Social security may be referred as the action programs of government intended
to promote the welfare of the population through assistance measures
guaranteeing access to sufficient resources for food and shelter and to promote
health and wellbeing for the population at large and potentially vulnerable
segments such as children, the elderly, the sick and the unemployed.
Social protection has several types or aspects. Most common
types of social protection are as mentioned bellow;
Labor market interventions; these are policies and programs
designed to promote employment, the efficient operation of labor markets and
the protection of workers.
Social Insurance;
this mitigates risks associated
with unemployment, ill health, disability, work-related injury and old age,
such as health insurance or unemployment insurance.
Social Assistance; is when resources, either cash or in-kind, are
transferred to vulnerable individuals or households with no other means of
adequate support, including single mothers, the homeless, or the physically or
mentally challenged.
According
to The National Social Security Policy (2003), social security has the
following elements or tires;
Social
assistance schemes, which are non-contributory and income-tested, and provided
by the state to groups such as people with disabilities, elderly people and
unsupported parents and children who are unable to provide for their own minimum
needs. In Tanzania social assistance also covers social relief, which is a
short term measure to tide people over a particular individual or community
crisis;
Mandatory schemes,
where people contribute through the employers to pension or provident funds,
employers also contribute to these funds;
Private savings,
where people voluntarily save for retirement, working capital and insure
themselves against events such as disability and loss of income and meet other social
needs.
Despite the
existence of this framework, service delivery has not reached the majority of
Tanzanians due to inadequate financing and fragmented institutional
arrangements.
Social
protection is relatively a new approach for ensuring safety and security of
individuals and society as a whole with more programmes and a wider coverage. The
following are the reasons why was necessary to shift from social security to
social protection;
Coverage;
consequently, the concept of social protection was initiated with more wider
coverage as well as more acceptable in developing countries than the concept of
social security which is more applicable in the conditions, where large numbers
of citizens depend on the formal economy for their livelihood.
The
National Social Security Policy (2003), state that, “person covered by the
social security schemes are those who are employed in the formal sector
estimated at 1.0 million. This is only 5.4 % of the whole labour force of over
16 million of Tanzanians. This means the remaining 15 million labour forces,
engaged in informal sector and comparatively more vulnerable are not covered by
the formal social security protection.”
Social
security is contributory scheme (mandatory scheme); the scheme of social
security needs contribution from those benefiters. The scheme primarily based
on formal employment and it includes those who can contribute some amount of
money for their security. The poor people who cannot afford to contribute in
the funds cannot get the benefits from the social security. This form of
contributions needs the government to designate another programme to cover more
people from social risks.
The
National Social Security Policy (2003), state that, “the
estimated total population of Tanzania is 33.5 million1. Out of this, 70 per cent are
in the rural areas, while the rest are in urban areas. The total labour force of
Tanzania is estimated at 16 million, where 5.4% of the total labour force or
2.7% of the total population
is
covered by the mandatory formal social security system. 93 per cent of the capable
workforce is engaged in the informal sector in both rural and urban areas; out of that
80 per cent is in engaged in
the
agrarian economy.
The fragmentation of institution
which deals with social security; this also was the reason to change from
social security to social protection. The institution which is responsible to
take care and supervise the benefits of contributors is very fragmented and not
coordinated. These circumstances arise many misunderstanding between the
members of those institutions. Every institution operates under its ministry
with its rules and regulations. As a result the numbers of benefits differ from
one institution to another. For this reason, government found another
alternative to equip the citizens from the poverty.
The social
security sector lacks co-ordination at national level as each Fund reports to a
different Ministry with differing operational rules and procedures. As a result,
contribution rates, benefit structures, qualifying conditions as well as plans
and priorities differ from one institution to another (The National Social Security
Policy 2003)
The social security funds offer inadequacy of benefits; the
benefits offered by the schemes follow under ILO minimum standard in terms of
quality, numbers and indexation to the current levels of earnings. The
structure of benefits offered as directed by ILO does not meet the all
necessities needed by the societies. Normally ILO target on reducing social
risks but not poverty in the society.
The National
Social Security Policy (2003), state that, “the number of benefits offered by
most of the existing schemes fall below the ILO Minimum Standards in terms of
number, quality and indexation to the current levels of earnings.”
Social
protection is to secure all people in both poverty and social risks while
social security based much on employees’ social risks. Social protection consists of policies and programmes designated to
reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labour market,
diminishing people’s exposure to social risks, enhancing their capacity to
protect themselves against hazards and interruption or loss of income. Social
security protects the employees from illness, accident, disability, old age,
unemployment, maternity, single parenthood, widowhood and bad luck.
Lerisse F. (2003), Vulnerability and Social Protection Programmes in Tanzania.
(For
the Research and Analysis Working Group)
The
National Social Security Policy (2003)