SPMA hosts mapping and scoping of innovations in social protection in Africa webinar

The University of Pretoria’s School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) in collaboration with the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) and the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (OSIEA) held a webinar on innovations in social protection in Africa on 5 March 2021.

The webinar explored how social protection measures can be innovative in securing better welfare outcomes in a just and inclusive way. This is in view of the fact that Africa still has a long way to attaining just and inclusive social protection, as significant gaps exist with respect to certain demographics’ ability to access social protection. In this webinar, participants critiqued the different interpretations and applications of innovation in social protection on the African continent. The webinar took place at a time when the whole world is in the grips of the global COVID 19 pandemic, which has brought rapid, unanticipated negative consequences at a social, political and economic level.

Key presenters and discussants included eminent scholars, namely Prof Julian D. May, the Director of the NRF-DSI Centre of Excellence in Food Security at the University of the Western Cape and UNESCO Chair in African Food Systems; Dr Flora Myamba, a senior specialist on social protection and gender in Tanzania; Dr Wiseman Magasela, the founder and Executive Director of Clermont Analytics; and Andrew Allieu, a senior social protection specialist in the ILO Decent Work Team covering Eastern and Southern Africa.

This webinar significantly contributed to the current debate on the future of social protection policies and programmes in Africa.

Presenter: Prof Julian May                                       

Presenter: Dr Flora Myamba

Discussant: Dr Wiseman Magasela

Discussant: Andrew Allieu