Autor: |
Kaltenborn, Markus, Abdulai, Abdul-Gafaru, Roelen, Keetie, Hague, Sarah |
Zdroj: |
IDS Working Papers; 11/15/2017, Vol. 2017 Issue 501, p3-39, 37p |
Abstrakt: |
Social protection in low and lower middle-income countries is slowly but steadily becoming more systematised. Policy and legal frameworks are widely considered to be crucial for the creation of social protection systems. National policies and strategies can help to institutionalise social protection while legal frameworks can formalise the rights base for social protection. But exactly how important are such frameworks? And what role do they play? This paper aims to shed light on the role of policy and legal frameworks in the establishment of social protection systems. It examines the extent to which frameworks influence the creation of systems (top-down process), whether emerging systems inform the development of frameworks (bottom-up process), or whether a more non-linear process is at work. It does so by building on secondary academic and policy literature and drawing on case study material, most notably in Ghana. Findings suggest that the role of policy and legal frameworks in the development of social protection systems is inherently context-specific and mostly occurs as an iterative rather than linear and sequenced process. Policy frameworks can act as a catalyst towards building social protection systems but do not offer a guarantee for success, with issues plaguing the development of such frameworks likely to also undermine the process of systems-building itself. As such the process appears of greater importance than the outcome itself. Both international and constitutional law can provide important legal guidelines for the development and implementation of social protection systems, notably in countries where social protection rights are constitutionally guaranteed and where the courts claim an "activist" role. Governments that decide to formulate social protection conform the so-called "rights-based approach to social protection" will opt for a statutory (or other legal) framework which does not only ensure the permanence, predictability and transparency of their social protection programmes, but also enables rights-holders to enforce their entitlements to social protection benefits. Ghana's social protection policies and interventions are driven by a rights-based approach, generally framed through a bottom-up approach. The Ghanaian case study also draws attention to the critical role of politics in shaping the emergence of a social protection system. This suggests that a fuller understanding of the influence of legal and policy frameworks on social protection systems may require taking into account the specific political context within which such frameworks are embedded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
Databáze: |
Complementary Index |
Externí odkaz: |
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