In this Q&A Florian Juergens-Grant talks about the aims and importance of the WIEGO Training on the financing and economics of social protection, which has recently become available online. The training introduces participants to the key building blocks of social protection systems, as well as concepts and evidence on the financing and economics of social protection, and how to make the economic case for investing in social protection for workers in informal employment. It also provides space to reflect on key policy spaces and strategies to advocate for social protection at different levels.
Could you give a bit more background on the training?
The training is part of a three-year capacity development journey for the global networks of workers in informal employment. We have started with a cohort of representatives from the global networks of workers in informal employment and worker organizations, who have an understanding of social protection and are interested in developing a deeper understanding of social protection over the course of three years.
The first training was held in person in Nairobi and was attended by the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), HomeNet International (HNI), StreetNet International (SNI) and various worker organizations. We digitized it afterwards, to share it with those who weren’t able to join. Now, we have made the training available online to others who engage with social protection systems at a systemic level and would benefit from a deeper understanding.
For this first year of the training the theme is the financing and economics of social protection. We're currently developing the second year, which will be on digital social protection. Stay tuned!
Could you describe the aim of the training?
The first year’s training essentially does two things. First, it introduces participants to the key building blocks of a social protection system as a solar system, with policy at the center, connected to social protection programs and their implementation. With this systemic perspective we aim to build an understanding that social protection is complex and connected and that, at different points throughout the system, gains can be achieved for workers in informal employment, but also harm could materialize. When we look at the policy, how it is conceptualized and funded, the eligibility criteria and how it is implemented, we see where we can push for gains and maybe avert harm throughout the implementation cycle.
Second, the training is about empowering participants to engage in economic debates, budgeting and financial processes. They will learn how to advocate for more funding to social protection schemes that benefit workers in informal employment, identify opportunities for engagement, and navigate financing processes: how to get a sense of how much a particular program would cost and how to argue the affordability of such schemes. This will give participants the confidence to engage in economic and financial discussions and processes, and the tools and evidence to make the case for more and better spending. It also provides them with the arguments needed to push back against harmful narratives that are essentially pushing costs on to workers in informal employment or reducing investment.
Why is this training important now?
Social protection has grown as a sector. Over the last 10- 20 years, in many countries, we have cash benefits, public and private insurance, health care policies and so on. These are increasingly linked to other sectors, such as employment promotion or climate change. All of those policies and programs - and their implementation structures - have resulted in a larger and more complex system. This is why we need to understand social protection beyond individual schemes. For instance, we need to better understand how policies impact workers in informal employment and the way these schemes are funded.
It's also much more of a crowded field. There are more actors making proposals and while some of those are positive, empowering and progressive, others may be based on incomplete or unsubstantiated narratives around informality and – while it sounds like they're proposing a solution – in reality they are offering schemes that offload the cost on to workers in informal employment. This makes it all the more important for advocates and leaders of workers and their organizations to understand which schemes have beneficial outcomes and which don't.
Finally, post COVID, with the cost of living crisis, a difficult global and macroeconomic situation, including global aid cuts, there is a lot of pressure on and from governments to reduce public spending. This makes it all the more important for workers in informal employment to engage in this space and make sure that the economic recovery isn't done on their backs. This requires the ability to make progressive proposals that center social spending and care.
While few are spared from the harmful effects of austerity and underinvestment in social policies, they are particularly detrimental to women in informal employment. Due to their lower earnings and unequal care burdens, they bear the brunt of lacking, inaccessible or unaffordable care and social protection systems. It is therefore critically important that organizations fighting for the rights of women in informal employment are supported to confidently make the case for greater public investment into social, economic and labour policies that matter for women workers.
How will this training influence the impact that worker leaders and their organisations will have on promoting social protection schemes that benefit workers in informal employment?
Worker leaders will gain an understanding of social protection as a system and where gains or losses can be made. Participants will understand in quite some detail how a budget process works. They will learn how to cost a social protection proposal and a subsidy to a social security scheme. We are seeing around the world how important such subsidies are in ensuring affordable access to social security for low-income workers, especially for women who have lower earnings and are less likely to be wage employed and who therefore face few prospects of employers sharing the social security financing burden
We have developed a Social Security Subsidy Cost Calculator that allows worker organizations to estimate in any country how much a subsidy to a social insurance scheme would cost: how much it would cost to the worker, how much it would cost to the government, and the impact on workers’ social security benefits.
The session on how to push back against harmful narratives will provide participants with clear arguments and evidence that show the benefits of investing in social protection, to use in conversations at a higher level.
They will also learn about strategies to expand fiscal space for social protection, after which leaders will be able to provide options of where to actually find the money to pay for social protection programs when talking to, for example, a minister of finance.
Have there been any tangible results?
Following the in-person course, we implemented training for the Dakar-based waste pickers organization Bokk Diom, who are keen to understand the financing of social protection more. The International Alliance of Waste Pickers (IAWP) asked us to implement a version of the training for their members and we received a request from the Inter-American Social Security Conference (CISS) to present the Social Security Costing Tool we’ve developed for the training to their members.
How can I access the training?
The English language version of the training is available here. All the materials are available in five languages (available upon request to florian.juergens-grant@wiego.org), and the full course will soon be available in Spanish too.
The training was developed by Florian Juergens-Grant, Aura Sevilla, Cyrus Afshar, Laura Alfers, Allison Corkery.Top photo: Participants work with WIEGO's Social Security Cost Calculator during the training. Credit: Aura Sevilla