Social Protection In Uganda

This paper aims at examining the status of Social Protection (SP) in Uganda. The paper relies on government, Non Government Organizations (CSOs), International Agencies’ and scholarly publications to explore the status quo of Social Protection. Uganda’s Social Protection is anchored in Expanding Social Protection (ESP) policy framework. The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development coordinates the programme of Social Assistance Grant for Empowerment (SAGE) that aims at helping the poorest of the poor. Currently, the coverage of Social Protection is limited to 600,000 vulnerable people and 95,000 households, approximately 15% of the population in the country. Out of the current 112 districts only 15 districts that are covered under pilot

Social Protection is central to poverty reduction agenda in both Most Developed Countries (MDCs) and Low Developing Countries (LDCs). Nevertheless, some of the proposed programmes in LDCs more particularly in Sub Saharan Africa have not extended to the most needy since they heavily rely on the external financial support. The majority of the countries have continued to depend on external funding from World Bank, International donors such as USAID, DFID, SIDA, UNICEF, GTZ, and international organizations such as Oxfarm, Action Aid, and Save the Children excetra. This presents a very huge constraint to the sustainability of Social Protection

Additionally, ‘while the essential elements vary significantly across different Social Protection frameworks, social assistance, social insurance and minimum labour standards are some of the most commonly included categories of instruments by agencies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO). Social assistance is increasingly popular public initiatives that tackle extreme poverty while strengthening private responses.’ The implementation of Social Protection is not only refined to Sub Saharan Africa but it is considered very fundamental in most countries in the world. For instance ‘Bolsa Familia in Brazil is known as the biggest Social Protection in the world, benefiting some 13 million families that are considered more than 50 million people or roughly quarter of the total population.’ Moreover, the programme combines direct cash transfers to poor families to reduce their poverty instantly and conditional cash transfers that aim at improving human development by ensuring access to basic health and education facilities. Besides, another positive example in the context of Sub Saharan Africa is Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme, one of the biggest Social Protection programmes in Africa. Nevertheless, Devereux and White suggest that it is the largest Social Protection program in Africa outside South Africa. It was officially established in 2005, although