The National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) was created by an Act of Parliament “The NPS Act” No. 40 of 1996 to provide social security cover to all eligible employees in Zambia in case of retirement, invalidity or death. Since commencement of operations in February 2000, NAPSA has largely focused on the formal sector. However, this sector constitutes only 16 percent (950,000 people) of the total employed population of 5.8 million people (Zambia Labour Force Survey Report, 2014). The remaining 84 percent is made up of employees from the informal sector. 

As part of the extension of the third-party payment system, a new system was launched in 2012 and is gradually being introduced nationwide to enable a category of insured persons with medical and income-related conditions to benefit from the coverage of the cost of eyeglasses without advance payments. 

We passed through several stages of development, including the measures to expand the coverage, which can be summarized as follows:

The mining sector is naturally hazardous and as such it poses significant danger to the health of workers through mineral dust exposure causing occupational lung conditions in extreme circumstances and excessive noise exposure predisposing workers to irreversible hearing impairment. To address this challenge the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) of Zimbabwe through its Occupational Safety and Health Division procured mobile clinic in September 2016.

The Community Health Fund (CHF) in Tanzania was established in 2001. Due to the dual role of “Provider” and “Purchaser” of health service played by the Council Health Boards (CHBs) such a design setup has faced challenges of poor management of funds, persistent shortage of services and unreliable membership data. CHF members access services from dispensary level up to district hospital within the Council. As such, unsatisfactory performance of the CHF in most of the councils continue to discourage people to enrol with CHFs subsequently sharply dropout rate of members each year.

Among several other social security benefits, the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) of Zimbabwe pays a funeral grant of USD 300 under the Pension and Other Benefits Scheme. The benefit is paid to provide assistance towards the burial of a member who would have contributed to the scheme for a minimum period of 12 months. The USD 300 payout is insufficient to cover basic funeral expenses. In an endeavour to accord every retirement pensioner a decent burial, NSSA contracted Econet Life to provide funeral services to NSSA retirement pensioners.

Prior to the introduction of the Collective Scheme for Retirement Allowances (Régime collectif d’allocation de retraite – RCAR) in 1978 and in the absence of a statutory retirement scheme to cover them, several public establishments in Morocco managed their own retirement funds (special schemes, railway workers, mining personnel, water and electricity managers). This however suffered from the following limitations and drawbacks:

The Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention No.102 adopted by the International Labour Conference of the ILO on 28 June 1952 establishes worldwide-agreed minimum standards for all nine branches of social security to encourage the widest development of social security schemes. These branches are; medical care, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, old-age benefit, employment injury benefit, family benefit, maternity benefit, invalidity benefit; and survivors benefits.

A voluntary insurance scheme for independent workers and workers from the informal sector was established in 2014, in line with regulations. In an effort to make this scheme known to all concerned sectors of the population and to facilitate the enrolment of the greatest possible number, the National Social Insurance Fund (Caisse nationale de prévoyance sociale – CNPS) developed a system involving the accreditation of social secretariats.

Employers are required to register as enterprises and to register their staff, then pay the corresponding social security contributions. When the employer does not do this, the employees may do it themselves. What has been found in practice is that many employers either do not register themselves or their staff, as a result of which the latter cannot access the social security benefits provided by the National Social Insurance Fund (Caisse nationale de prévoyance sociale – CNPS).