• Benin
  • Resources
  • Social Services

SOCIAL PROTECTION IN BENIN

The National Development Plan 2018-2025, the low level of human capital development in Benin highlights several challenges to be met, including social protection

INSTRUMENTS

Social Protection has legal instruments (conventions, texts and agreements which define the rights of the people covered, financing instruments which are social contributions (employees and employers), State subsidies, donations from development partners, interest received by Social Protection structures thanks to the investments they make Protection instruments include benefits in kind (social housing, etc.) and cash benefits (pensions, etc.).

DIVERSIFIED DIRECT INTERVENTIONS

Social Protection also includes direct social interventions by the State, those of local public administrations (integration, dependency, housing, etc.) and those of non-profit institutions serving households.
These different types of instruments are largely operationalized through specific programs or projects in specific areas such as:

  • Education (Reform within the Beninese education system, reallocation of expenditure in favor of primary and secondary education and free basic education, support for Parents' Associations (APE), recruitment of teachers are priority measures for the implementation of reforms in the field.
  • health (despite the efforts of the State in the accessibility of social services in Benin, health insurance and social security coverage remain worrying and insufficient. Old-age coverage, for example, only covers State civil servants and workers in the formal sector. The majority of the Beninese population is not covered by social protection measures. This gives rise to social exclusion and the marginalization of vulnerable groups exposed to social risks.);
  • social assistance, work, social security and employment, social mutuality

These are the most prominent areas of social protection in Benin. Protection is particularly interested in the most vulnerable groups (women, children, the elderly, the disabled, people living with HIV/AIDS) to get them out of their precariousness and make them economic agents.

PARTNERS ALONGSIDE THE BENINESE GOVERNMENT

In terms of social protection, UNICEF's commitment, for example, alongside the government is total. For UNICEF, social protection is a key focus of the Medium-Term Strategic Plan 2018-2021 to promote equity and social justice and the realization of children's rights.

IN REGARD TO THE CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEM IN BENIN, THERE ARE CHALLENGES TO BE MET FOR A BETTER EFFECTIVENESS OF THIS SYSTEM

BENIN’S HOLISTIC SOCIAL PROTECTION POLICY (PHPS), IN BRIEF

SOME CHALLENGES TO BE MET

With regard to the contextual analysis of the current social protection system in Benin, the challenges to be met for a better efficiency of this system relate to:

  • improving the standard of living of the poorest households ;
  • reduction of malnutrition ;
  • improving access to basic social services for the most vulnerable ;
  • the strengthening of social action services for vulnerable groups ;
  • the consolidation of social security schemes ;
  • the extension of social security to the most vulnerable strata, in particular actors in the informal sector and the rural world ;
  • strengthening the legislative and regulatory framework, institutional capacities and financing of social protection.

AS A SUITABLE RESPONSE TO CHALLENGES, PHPS

THE Holistic Social Protection Policy (PHPS) is globally oriented towards reducing the vulnerability of populations to economic and social risks.

The priorities of this policy can be summarized as follows: (i) promotion of social transfers; (ii) strengthening of social action services; (iii) consolidation of the legislative and regulatory framework, (iv) strengthening of contributory schemes ; and (v) extension of social insurance.

Operationally, to ensure coverage of the most vulnerable population, a national social protection base has been developed. It constitutes “a set of basic social security guarantees defined at national level which provide protection aimed at preventing or reducing poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion”. This is a minimum package of measures to ensure the protection and promotion of the most vulnerable households and individuals.

THE NATIONAL SOCIAL PROTECTION PILLAR

It is based on essential measures aimed at:

  • ensure universal access to health care;
  • facilitate access to nutrition, education, protection and health care for all children;
  • improve the consumption of the poorest and most vulnerable households; and
  • ensure the care and promotion of specific groups in situations of extreme vulnerability.

These actions stem from four priority areas:

  • promotion of direct social transfers;
  • reinforcement of free measures;
  • strengthening social work for families and individuals at high risk;
  • consolidation of the Universal Health Insurance Scheme.

Source: PHPS, 2013