Systematizing national and regional social protection capacity development efforts

EU-SPS focus on social protection assessments, policy review, extension and systematization of capacity development

The main objective of the EU-SPS capacity development support in Tanzania is to help in the systematization of national and regional social protection capacity development efforts. Particular focus is placed on strengthening the role and ownership of national universities and other higher learning institutes in pre- and in-service social protection capacity development.

The Tanzanian Institute of Finance Management (IFM) is receiving EU-SPS support in its collaborative work with a network of other Tanzanian universities, aimed at developing multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral MA and Professional Proficiency Curricula specialized on social protection.

In addition, EU-SPS has provided direct support to the Tanzanian authorities in the review of the national policy framework for social protection, in the management of the public works component of the TASAF Productive Social Safety Net Programme, and in the extension of social protection to forestry sector workers previously uncovered.

Context 

Tanzania is a low income country with moderate but growing income and welfare disparities, especially between the rapidly developing urban areas and the rural areas where over 60% of Tanzanians live in deep poverty.

The 2014 growth rate of 7% was maintained in 2015, and improved to 7.2% in 2016, with the same rate projected for 2017. This record makes Tanzania one of the best performing and most stable economies in Africa. Despite the high growth rate, reduction in poverty has been slow. The latest household budget survey (2011/12) showed that about 28% of Tanzanians are poor. GDP  growth is driven mainly by the strong performance in mining, industry, construction, services, and information and communication sectors.

Our approach

The EU-SPS approach to social protection capacity development support in Tanzania has been two-pronged: 

1. Support to the leading national institutes of higher education specializing on social protection related training. 

The Institute of Finance Management (IFM) has already for years trained most of the Tanzanian insurance and social insurance professionals. IFM has convened a network of Tanzanian higher training institutes with courses relevant for social protection related skills and knowledge. The EU-SPS is supporting their efforts to create at least two new broader social protection learning curricula (MA and ‘Professional proficiency’), covering all the four pillars of the Tanzanian social protection framework (social insurance, social assistance, access to social services and productive inclusion).

2. Support through Tanzanian social protection experts working for trusted resident partners (ILO-Tanzania, FAO-Tanzania) to support selected social protection capacity development processes in Tanzania.

These include the National Social Protection Policy Review, ISPA Public Works Assessment and Capacity Development, African Regional Social Protection Leadership Training Curriculum (‘TRANSFORM’) training in Tanzania, Social protection for informal and rural economy workers (‘SPIREWORK’) in the forestry value chains, Tanzanian experts’ participation in various peer-to-peer learning processes in Finland, Germany Malawi, and Zambia.

Social protection curriculum development with Tanzanian universities

The EU-SPS funded work is focusing on Social Protection Curriculum Development at the Institute of Finance Management (IFM) working together with a network of other Tanzanian universities. This collaborative work aims at developing multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral MA and Professional Proficiency Curricula specialized on social protection.

This work has produced a social protection curriculum assessment on the capacities of Tanzanian academic training institutions  to provide pre-service and in-service training on knowledge and skills needed in the design, management and assessment of  modern, inclusive and sustainable social  protection programmes and policies.

The process on social protection curriculum development is currently ongoing. It aims to develop at least two new social protection specific curricula, one at MA level and one for a short 5-6 weeks’ ‘Professional proficiency’ degree for staff already working in social protection related tasks. The first drafts of the Curricula have been reviewed by a group of Finnish university professors and lecturers. 

ISPA Public Works Assessment

The Inter-Agency Social Protection Assessments (ISPA) is a joint initiative of the leading UN agencies, World Bank and bilateral development partners to support the Governments’ efforts to assess the current status of their national social protection systems, and their future development options.
For more on the ISPA initiative, please visit the ISPA website

The implementation of ISPA Public Works Assessment in Tanzania was a joint activity of EU-SPS/Finland and EU-SPS/OECD working together with the Tanzanian TASAF, and with ILO-Tanzania. This component was a contribution to the systematization of Tanzania’s social protection efforts, as well as to the global inter-agency cooperation on the development and testing of social protection assessment methodologies.

In addition, the EU-SPS organised two webinars on the ISPA Public Works Assessment in Tanzania. The webinars are available on the socialprotection.org platform: The ISPA Public Works Assessment Tool: User experiences from Tanzania (socialprotection.org)

TRANSFORM training programme

Tanzania was the first country where the newly developed African Regional Social Protection Leadership Training Curriculum (TRANSFORM) was tested. The five-day TRANSFORM Overview training organised in Dar es Salaam from 27 to 31 March, 2017 was attended by 25 central and local government officers (incl. Zanzibar) working on social protection. The training was followed by a three-day advanced module on Management Information Systems (MIS) for social protection from 3 to 5 April, 2017. 

In addition, five Tanzanians were selected from among 200 candidates to participate in the Training of Regional Master Trainers for the TRANSFORM curriculum.

The training package has been developed at the request of the African Union, and developed by a group of African and Africa based ILO, UNICEF and UNDP social protection experts, with funding support from EU-SPS program and Irish Aid.

In March 2018 a national TRANSFORM training was organized for the Mainland Tanzania officers engaged in the Review of the National Social Protection Policy. Following that, a similar TRANSFORM training was arranged in Zanzibar, for the officers implementing the Zanzibar Social Pension and other social protection schemes of Zanzibar.

Social protection for informal and rural economy workers (SPIREWORK)

Extension of contributory social protection to informal workers and small-holder farmers is one of the highest priorities in Africa where a large majority of people do not have formal employers who could deduct their social security contributions from their monthly wages. ‘SPIREWORK’ is the acronym coined by the African Union for ‘social protection for informal and rural economy workers’.

The EU-SPS facilitated SPIREWORK efforts in Tanzania have focused on workers in the forestry value chains. The EU-SPS facilitated a dialogue and leveraged a cooperation contract (MoU) between the Tanzanian Productive Safety Net Programme (TASAF-PSSN) and a large Finnish funded ‘Private Forestry Project’ (PFP), promoting commercial tree planting by small holders in the Iringa and Njombe regions of Tanzania. 

Commercial forestry offers opportunities for sustainable rural livelihoods. However, the poorest and most vulnerable households have not been benefiting from the forestry activities, mainly because they do not own (any or sufficient) land to plant trees. The cooperation facilitated by the EU-SPS has innovated new approaches to provide social protection for the poorest and most vulnerable households by engaging them in forestry related TASAF public works. The EU-SPS also funded the production of user-friendly technical guides in Kiswahili on the good practices required in tree planting and other forestry related public works.

The idea of forestry related social protection was further developed in cooperation between the EU-SPS and FAO, and led to an eight-country Regional workshop on Social Protection in the Forestry Value Chains.

Review of the National Social Protection Framework/Policy

Apart from the outdated National Social Security Policy (NSSP 2003), Tanzania is yet to have a comprehensive national social protection policy that guides social protection interventions in the country.

The Ministry of Labour requested ILO's support in the review of the National Social Security Policy (NSSP) and to turn that into a new National Social Protection Policy (NSPP). This work has been funded by EU-SPS/Finland. The EU-SPS and ILO working together have been able to provide useful capacity support to the policy review process aimed at developing a comprehensive national social protection policy. The policy will have four components (contributory, non-contributory, social services and productive inclusion) and define social protection coordination, institutional arrangements, financing and M&E at national level. 

More information and contact

For more information, please contact Timo Voipio (timo.voipio(a)thl.fi), or Markku Malkamäki (markku.malkamaki(a)thl.fi).