Delivering shock-responsive social protection in the Sahel: Urban social cash transfer response amid rising food inflation – Lessons from Nouakchott, Mauritania

Submitted by pmassetti on
World Food Programme (11.04.2025) In 2023, people in Nouakchott, Mauritania, experienced a steep increase in the cost of food and an overall upward rise in the cost of living, putting many at risk of acute food insecurity and malnutrition as they struggled to meet their basic needs. WFP responded by working with the Government of Mauritania to pilot the extension of one of the country’s national shock-responsive social safety net programmes - El Maouna - to households in the Mauritanian capital.
Regions / Country
mauritania
Topics
Shocks & extreme events
Document Type

Publication: Participation in Pension Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Submitted by pmassetti on
worldbank.org (24.04.2025) Low- and middle-income countries are aging rapidly but stagnation of growth in participation in pension programs, due to widespread informal employment, presents a major fiscal challenge. Some claim that improving the design of pension program rules can encourage more pension contributions, while others push for universal non-contributory pensions. This paper reviews the recent academic literature on the determinants of active participation in pension systems in high- informality settings.
Topics
Pensions
Document Type

Revolutionizing health and safety: The role of AI and digitalization at work

Submitted by pmassetti on
ilo.org (23.04.2025) Digitalization and automation are transforming millions of jobs worldwide, creating powerful opportunities to enhance occupational safety and health. Automation and smart monitoring systems can reduce hazardous exposures, prevent injuries and improve overall working conditions. However, these advances also bring new potential risks that require proactive and adaptive policy responses.
Topics
Safety and health at work
Document Type

Publication: The Road to Reforming Ethiopia’s Policies on Maternity and Paternity Leave

Submitted by pmassetti on
worldbank.org (17.04.2025) This brief provides insight into how Ethiopia increased the duration of paid maternity leave from 90 to 120 days and introduced three days of paid paternity leave in 2019. While ensuring job-protected leave of adequate length and pay for both parents is critical for a variety of health, economic, and social development outcomes, just slightly more than half of economies in the Sub-Saharan Africa region provide paid maternity and paternity leave. The brief highlights specific characteristics of Ethiopia’s socioeconomic environment that incentivized the reform.
Regions / Country
ethiopia
Topics
Parental leave
Document Type

Le Maroc sous le choc après le piratage de la Sécurité sociale : « Bienvenue en enfer où tout le monde sait combien gagne son voisin ! »

Submitted by pmassetti on
lemonde-fr (14.04,2025) Dès 2020, un journal local avait rapporté l’existence d’une « inquiétante faille de sécurité » au sein de la CNSS, dont les dispositifs de protection n’ont pas su empêcher le vol et la diffusion, le 8 avril, des attestations de salaire d’environ 2 millions d’affiliés.
Regions / Country
morocco
Topics
Information and communication technology
Document Type

Making social protection work for gender equality: What does it look like? How do we get there?

Submitted by pmassetti on
International Labour Organization (24.12.2024) This paper outlines the perspective and approach of the ILO’s Universal Social Protection Department to enhancing the gender-responsiveness of social protection policies, anchored in international social security standards and guided by a life-cycle approach to system-building.
Topics
Gender equality
Document Type

State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge

Submitted by pmassetti on
Social protection goes well beyond cash transfers; it includes policies and programs that bridge skill, financial, and information gaps, aiding people in securing better jobs. The three pillars of social protection—social assistance, social insurance, and labor market programs—support households and workers in handling crises, escaping poverty, facing transitions, and seizing employment opportunities. But despite a substantial expansion over the past decade, 2 billion people remain uncovered or inadequately covered across low- and middle-income countries.
Document Type

Adaptive Social Protection Agenda Lessons from Responses to COVID-19 Shock: The State of Social Protection Report 2025 Background Paper #2

Submitted by pmassetti on
worldbank.org (09.04.2025) The paper examines the social protection response to the COVID-19 pandemic across 76 emerging and developing economies (EDEs) to identify lessons on how to make these systems more resilient against risks, shocks, and crises at the individual, household, or national level. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered significant expansions in social protection systems across EDEs, with responses varying based on countries’ existing infrastructure and income levels.
Global challenges
Topics
Shocks & extreme events

Country profiles on the rights and wellbeing of older persons: a how-to-guide from the Arab region

Submitted by pmassetti on
HelpAge International (22.03.2025) A practical guide to developing and using country profiles on the rights and wellbeing of older persons in the Arab region, based on HelpAge and UNFPA’s experience across 18 countries.
Regions / Country
arabic countries
Global challenges
Topics
Old-age pensions
Document Type