Social Policy In The African Context

This volume reviews Africa's past experiences of social policy, with an eye on the future. Contributions examine a range of social policy issues around healthcare, education, the labour market and social welfare, and highlight important conceptual and policy issues for rebuilding Africa.

This volume reviews Africa's past experiences of social policy, with an eye on the future. Contributions examine a range of social policy issues around healthcare, education, the labour market and social welfare, and highlight important conceptual and policy issues for rebuilding Africa.

The essays document the shifting trajectories of social policy in Africa, the current state of play in the field, and the alternative vision of social policy framed by the idea of Transformative Social Policy.

From the precolonial period to today, Julien Bokilo analyzes the effectiveness of social and economic measures undertaken for the development of the Republic of Congo with regard to all of sub-Saharan Africa. This documented and unprecedented sociohistorical study feeds on new perspectives in public policy planning, development and implementation. • The knowledge of specificities of poverty and exclusion in the African companies; • The possibility of making the correlation and the transposition of the principles of the public policies on the African facts, the case of the reintegration of the native populations and the albinos. In addition, the relevance of this work is in the fact that it tackles the question of the struggle against the poverty and the exclusion, which are problems whose recurrence is quasi endemic and alarming in process of the socio-economic and political development process of African countries. Also, in an economic context of unprecedented crisis in Republic of Congo and in the surrounding countries, the economic zone of the central Africa sub-area mainly, the social policies are of an interest somehow crucial for their capacities to suppress the harmful effects of the recessions. In fact, this work really meets a scientific expectation, as it is based on verifiable arguments, because founded on the theory and the facts.

Drawing upon both conceptual and empirical evidence, this volume argues the case for the centrality of social policy in development, focusing particularly on the message that social policy needs to be closely intertwined with economic policy. It is argued that social policy can provide the crucial link between economic development poverty eradication and equity. This volume is a significant contribution to thinking about social policy in a development context.

Social Policy And Human Development In Zambia discusses social policy and human development endeavours in Zambia, including the various societal forces that converged on the country in both the pre-colonial and colonial periods and which later influenced post-colonial social policy initiatives. The pre-colonial era epitomised indigenous forms of social protection that safeguarded the well-being of Africans. Colonial rule, which was foreign in orientation, was geared towards meeting the needs of a small European settler population through social policy programmes. Most of the discussions in the book unfold in the setting of a post-colonial society. The central thesis of the book is that social policy and human development in Zambia are inextricably bound up with the political and economic forces in the country and that they constantly reinforce each other. Politics is taken as an important variable that legitimises the role of politicians and policy-makers in determining the development path of the country. Thus, their efficacy, lack of depth or ineptitude will be translated into the way public policies, including social policy, are formulated and implemented. Given the normative nature of social policy, it is argued that ideology plays a critical role in both its formulation and execution. This argument is brought home by showing how the socialist government in Zambia during the 1960s and 1970s relied upon ideology to marshal social policy towards the goal of national development. Based on the analyses of different political eras in the country the book also argues that the economy is the central pillar in the implementation of social policy and the provision of social services.

Social Protection is an area of policy and development in Africa responsible for ensuring inclusive growth and the provision of social needs which sustain human well-being. This book contains essays which analyse the role of government and non-government organisations in the provision of social protection needs for citizens in Africa, and reflect the socio-political and economic considerations underlying policy implementation. The essayists come from various disciplines such as geography, history, technology, political science and gender studies.

This book presents a state of the art in the developing field of social policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It offers an up-to-date conceptual analysis of social policy programmes and discourses in the MENA region by critically reviewing the range of social insurance and social assistance schemes that are currently in existence there. It also analyses and offers suggestions on which of these policies can positively impact the region’s advancement in terms of human development and in addressing social and economic inequalities and exclusion.