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Promoting inclusive rural transformation in Africa

Evidence in favour of improved coherence between social protection and rural development policy








  • To raise awareness among policy makers and key stakeholders, including regional bodies (AU, REC, etc.), farmers associations, civil society and academia of the potential benefits of leveraging coherent social protection and productive rural development interventions to build resilience and encourage inclusive agricultural transformation in Africa.
  • To identify ways in which synergies between social protection and productive rural development interventions can be enhanced in support of the transformation and modernization of agri-food systems in Africa.
  • To get inputs from civil society ensuring voices from women, youth and vulnerable groups at national and regional/community levels in the discussion on social protection needs of agri-food system actors, and understand the role they may play in increasing coherence.
  • To identify ways in which national social protection and agri-food policies and programmes can be designed or adapted to be more coherent and in order to support COVID-19 recovery and achievement of SDGs 1, 2 and 10.



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    This article develops a conceptual framework on pathways through which non-contributory social protection can contribute to a resilient and inclusive agricultural growth in rural Africa. It draws insights from a review of rigorous empirical evidence on the impacts of cash transfers and multifaceted cash plus programs on range of relevant productive outcomes, including: accumulation of productive assets; inputs and farm management practices; off-farm labour and non-farm enterprises; and farm production and income. The review demonstrates an emerging consensus in the literature that access to social protection programs contributes positively to increasing the productive asset holdings of rural people, increased use of improved inputs and farm practices, and a shift away from casual wage labour arrangements. Moreover, there is limited evidence on heterogeneous effects across different baseline characteristics (income, sex, labor-constrained households, among others). Finally, the article highlights how social protection programs should be considered an integral part of broader rural and agricultural development strategies in order to achieve a more productive, resilient, and equitable rural transformation in rural Africa.
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    The state of social insurance for agricultural workers in the Near East and North Africa and challenges for expansion 2021
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    Agricultural workers are exposed to many risks during their life cycle and are particularly vulnerable to covariate risks, such as droughts, armed conflict and pandemics. Despite the great potential of social protection policies to protect this segment of the population, agricultural workers are commonly excluded from social protection systems—especially from contributory schemes—due to legal, programme design, financial, administrative, institutional, participation, and information barriers. This paper analyses the availability of social insurance schemes for agricultural workers in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region, including many types of insurance: old age, disability and survivors’, sickness and maternity, work injury, and unemployment, as well as family and child allowances. In addition, we analyse agricultural insurance schemes, as they play a critical role in protecting agricultural producers from the catastrophic impact of covariate risks. We examine the barriers for agricultural workers to participate in contributory schemes, highlighting good practices being adopted in NENA countries to address them. This paper thus aims to help fill a gap in the literature regarding the role of contributory schemes for agricultural workers. Most importantly, it aims to highlight paths towards more comprehensive social protection systems, capable of addressing the pressing challenges in NENA countries, such as inequities between rural and urban populations, lack of rural development, and insufficient protection for rural families.

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