EU-SPS Capacity development work in Togo
Context
Togo is a low income country where the poverty rate remains high. As in many other countries, the social and economic development has been impacted by the 2008 global crisis and furthered by the fast population growth. There are vast differences between urban and rural living conditions and the poverty rate tends to be higher in the rural areas. The main causes for poverty and vulnerability in Togo are found in food insecurity, lack of access to health care and unemployment.
The social protection system currently in place in Togo is insufficient to meet the needs of its population. Furthermore, informal economy workers are largely left out from the statutory social protection systems. The social protection programmes are limited in their coverage and often funded by development aid, thus vulnerable and dependable to donor funds.
The Government of Togo is committed to extending social protection to cover – over the longer term - all major life cycle risks for all women, men and children living in Togo. The sequencing of introduction of new social protection programmes is, however, a challenge, in the context of limited resources.
The Government requested EU-SPS support for capacity building that would help Togolese policy makers to better assess the options Togo has for prioritizing and sequencing the schemes and for systematizing its social protection policy. They also requested support in the conduction of the first such diagnostic assessment in the country.
Our approach
The EU-SPS launched the newly completed Inter-Agency Social Protection Policy Options Tool (SPPOT) process in Togo in November-2016, in partnership with the ILO. ISPA-SPPOT represents up-to-date global good practice in the assessment and prioritization of policy options. The SPPOT identifies the strengths and gaps in the social protection system through a mapping of all existing programmes, including an analysis of the coverage and adequacy of social transfers as well as an institutional and financial analysis.
The SPPOT activities in Togo are carried out jointly by the OECD and THL, with each focusing on the assessment and capacity development respectively. Through a letter of agreement with ILO, professional support is available from the ILO-HQ and logistical facilitation support from the ILO country office.
In order for the Togolese policy makers to be able to understand and ‘own’ the SPPOT-assessment and to play an active role in it, two fairly extensive rounds of SPPOT-related trainings have been conducted. The findings of this comprehensive analysis will inform the Government’s new Social Protection Strategy. The Togo SPPOT pilot is the first pilot of the new ISPA-SPPOT tool, and therefore important for all members of the Social Protection Inter-Agency Cooperation Board (SPIAC-B).
More information on the ISPA tools development, please visit the ISPA website.
Goals/ objectives
The objective of the SPPOT is to provide evidence and facilitate the process of national dialogue and decision-making regarding institutional arrangements, priorities for the social protection system, and long-term financing options. On the other hand the entire SPPOT process is also intended to strengthen the capacity and promote ownership of the national social protection decision makers and technical professionals. Policy makers require some training to be able to effectively participate in the assessment.
The SPPOT analysis and diagnostic of the current Togolese social protection system serves as a basis for the government in its effort to develop a more comprehensive social protection system for the country. Through the intensive data collection process, the current social protection programmes in place have been mapped out and their coverage analysed. Based on the findings, priorities and feasible policy options can be identified.
Results achieved thus far
The SPPOT pilot in Togo was launched in November 2016. Data collection for the analysis of the Togolese social protection system is based took place in 2016 and 2017. The process included trainings for the local and regional level professionals, as well as for the decision-makers at the central government level in Lomé. The trainings focused both on social protection at large and on the SPPOT tool specifically. The process has been participatory with all key national social protection stakeholders, including representatives of relevant ministries, employers and workers unions as well as international partners invited to participate in the process throughout.
Preliminary findings of the data analysis were presented to and discussed with key stakeholders in a workshop in Lomé in May 2017. The discussion focused on the coverage and adequacy of existing social protection programmes as well as on options for the extension of social protection.
The final results were presented in a workshop in October 2017 which focused on discussing results from the poverty analysis and from the costing exercise of policy options, aimed at finalizing the recommendations on social protection policy options. The costing exercise process included a mapping of the costs for various social protection options, such as maternity benefits, basic healthcare, and old age pensions.
The October workshop included also comprehensive capacity building elements, allowing participants of the workshop to use the costing tool to see the impacts of various policy choices on poverty, and the costs depending on program parameters such as transfer amounts or targeting. In addition, the workshop concluded with group work identifying recommendations for policy options taking into account their costs. The findings of the workshop, the costings, poverty analyses and other elements developed during the SPPOT exercise will be compiled into a report with and for the Government of Togo.
For more information on the SPPOT pilot, please contact Caroline Tassot from the EU-SPS Paris office or Heidi-Maria Helenius from the EU-SPS Helsinki office.
