European Commission (20.06.2024) The report highlights that European pension systems have protected retired Europeans’ living standards in the face of global challenges. Resilient public pensions, indexation, and redistribution mechanisms have maintained pension adequacy during crises. However, pensions are predicted to decrease, calling for reinforced policies to promote longer careers, healthy ageing policies, inclusive labour markets, and greater flexibility in retirement pathways.

worldbank.org (21.05.2024) Haba Haba, which means “bit by bit” in Swahili, is a voluntary pension scheme in Kenya for workers in informal employment and promises to be a scheme through which they can slowly but surely save for their old age. The scheme, administered by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) was launched as a pilot in 2019. Haba Haba allows for easy, anytime, anywhere savings by informal economy workers.

worldbank.org (14.06.2024) Through its Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD) Program, supported by the World Bank under the Social Protection Transformation Project, Rwanda is successfully providing high-quality care and early stimulation for children, helping parents access resources necessary for proper family nutrition. Consequently, the country has made significant strides in its commitment to early childhood development reforms and is setting an example worldwide.

mybroadband.co.za (13.06.2024) The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) suffered a cyberattack in February 2024, and it only expects to restore its self-service functionality by 21 June 2024. A notice published on the GEPF’s social media pages says the self-service functionality on its web platform and app was still offline due to the data breach at the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA). “The GPAA has determined that a total rebuild of the platforms is necessary to ensure a stronger platform,” it said. It is expected that the rebuilt platforms will be operational by 21 June.

The policy would require non-residents on a visit to Ghana to sign onto a health insurance scheme during their stay

oecd (13.06.2024) As part of broader digitalisation efforts, half of public employment services (PES) in OECD countries are employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance their services. AI is being adopted across all key tasks of PES, including most commonly to match jobseekers with vacancies. While several PES have been using such tools for a decade, adoption of AI has been increasing in recent years as these become more accessible. New AI use cases have emerged to assist employers in designing vacancy postings and jobseekers in their career management and job-search strategies.

(10.06.2024) The two-pot retirement system is a reform that will allow retirement fund members to make partial withdrawals from their retirement funds before retirement, while preserving a portion...

(10.05.2024) Extending social insurance to platform workers in the Republic of Korea offers valuable lessons for other countries facing similar challenges. This brief outlines recent advancements in extending employment injury and employment insurance coverage to platform workers, emphasizing legal frameworks and operational processes leveraging digital technologies.

Finnish Centre for Pensions (08.05.2024) The number of light entrepreneurs has grown rapidly in recent years. At the same time, the profile of light entrepreneurs has changed: they are increasingly younger, of foreign origin and have only a basic education. The Finnish Centre for Pensions’ study examines, for the first time, the careers, income and pension accrual of light entrepreneurs in Finland over a period of several years.

oecd.org (28.05.2024) Despite having advanced social protection systems, OECD countries still face challenges in identifying, enrolling, and providing benefits and services to all those in need. Even when programmes are well-designed and adequately funded, cumbersome enrolment processes and challenges in service and benefit delivery can be an obstacle to the full take-up of social programmes. Advances in digital technologies and data can go a long way towards making social protection more accessible and effective.