[Report] Social Protection and Safety Nets in the Middle East and North Africa

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Institute of Development Studies (15.02.2016) Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region face a number of challenges, including ongoing civil unrest with associated displacement of people and disruption of services, stagnant economic growth and high unemployment, food insecurity and rising malnutrition, exacerbated by import dependence and natural disasters. Safety nets and broader social protection instruments offer partial solutions to some of these challenges.

Regions / Country
Africa

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Ghana signs €31.6m employment programme agreement

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Yen.com.gh (23.02.2016) Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has signed a 31.6 million Euro agreement with the European Union to provide social protection for employment. The employment programme also has macroeconomic significance, by being in line with the policy priorities of both the Ministries of Gender and Employment.

Regions / Country
ghana
Topics
Employment

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US: The Costs of Inequality - More Money Equals Better Health Care and Longer Life

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US News (23.02.2016) Obamacare has helped many, but system's holes limit gains, Harvard analysts say. Health inequality is part of American life, so deeply entangled with other social problems — disparities in income, education, housing, race, gender, and even geography — that analysts have trouble saying which factors are cause and which are effect.

Regions / Country
United States
Topics
Health

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[Report] South Africa: Extending social protection to children

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Ilo (23.02.2016) Of the 23 million children under the age of 18 in South Africa, about 60 per cent lives in poverty. The Child Support Grant (CSG), introduced in 1998, initially covered only 10 per cent of poor children. Incremental changes in the eligibility criteria and successful awareness-raising campaigns increased the coverage to 11.7 million poor children in 2015, or 85 per cent of the target group. The grant has been shown to have a positive impact on the recipient children and their families.

Topics
Family benefits

France: Dégressivité - à Pôle emploi, on déplore « un retour à l’âge de pierre »

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Le Monde (23.02.2016) Les agents de Pôle emploi voient cette nouvelle proposition avancée par le gouvernement comme une « énième réforme » à répercuter. « Je m’adapte, je ne me pose plus de questions et j’applique. Mais pour l’expliquer aux demandeurs d’emploi, il faudra des éléments de langage adaptés. Ça risque d’être très tendu », anticipe Zoé, qui précise que ses collègues prennent déjà leur permanence à l’accueil « comme on part au front ».

Regions / Country
france
Topics
Unemployment
Governance and administration

Quand le chômage monte en Suisse, c'est la France qui paie

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lefigaro.fr (11.02.2016) La Suisse connaît actuellement une hausse du nombre de demandeurs d'emploi, qui touche plus particulièrement les travailleurs frontaliers. L'assurance chômage française est contrainte de prendre en charge l'indemnisation de ces travailleurs qui n'ont pourtant pas cotisé.

Regions / Country
switzerland
france
Topics
Unemployment

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