This study focused on the policy responses formulated by the government of Zimbabwe and their implementation to meet the social needs of the people with special emphasis on the Zimbabwe National Orphan Care Policy (ZNOCP) of 1999. The challenges this policy is facing from the newly evolving structure of the child headed households was the centre of this study. At independence, the government adopted the incremental approach to policy making and extended formal social policy to the previously marginalized black majority. The ZNOCP was introduced in 1999 during the second phase of ESAP. The same period saw the spread of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. HIV and AIDS led to an increase in the number of orphans some of whom ended up in CHH without adult supervision. The day to day challenges of this group of orphans was investigated in Masvingo rural district. For this study both the qualitative and quantitative methodology paradigms were used. Secondary sources such as journal articles, published books and computer databases helped in complementing the field work. Four sets of questionnaires were administered to four groups of people which were the heads of CHH, extended families, community leadership and government officials. The analysis of this study led to the following conclusions about social policy and the plight of children in CHH. Firstly, that social policy has failed in Zimbabwe due to the incremental approach to policy making which was taken by the government because of its nature of being reformist as opposed to being transformative. Secondly, that the xiii ZNOCP is not being properly implemented therefore it does not have any impact on the lives of children in CHH. These children are struggling for basic social services like food and nutrition, clothing, education health, shelter and birth registration. Thirdly, the extended families and the community have been weakened by HIV and AIDS and impoverished by ESAP such that they cannot take care of their own families, let alone their deceased relatives‟ orphaned children as stipulated by the ZNOCP. Finally, the passive role being taken by the government in the care and protection of the children in CHH is detrimental to their welfare. The comparative case study of the Slangspruit informal settlement in South Africa shows that challenges faced by orphans are common. This study therefore recommends that there is need for the review of the ZNOCP. The new policy should come up with child care strategies which take into cognizance the evolutionary nature of the community. A human rights based approach ought to be the basis of child protection interventions in Zimbabwe. The study recommends that all stakeholders from the government down to the community need to fully participate in their various capacities in child care and protection. Resources in terms of finance and human resources should be made available and channeled to the intended beneficiaries. There is also need for capacity building in the communities and to intensify HIV and AIDS prevention, mitigation, care and treatment interventions to reduce the prevalence of orphans.

Thesis advisor: Peter Ireland / Retirees with limited financial resources face numerous risks, including out-living their money (longevity risk), investment losses (market risk), unexpected health expenses (health risk), the unforeseen needs of family members (family risk), and even retirement benefit cuts (policy risk). This study systematically values and ranks the financial impacts of these risks from both the objective and subjective perspectives and then compares them to show the gaps between retirees’ actual risks and their perceptions of the risks in a unified framework. It finds that 1) under the empirical analysis, the greatest risk is longevity risk, followed by health risk; 2) under the subjective analysis, retirees perceive market risk as the highest-ranking risk due to their exaggeration of market volatility; and 3) the longevity risk and health risk are valued less in the subjective ranking than in the objective ranking, because retirees underestimate their life spans and their health costs in late life. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

The Work-Disability Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB) is a self-reported measure, developed to allow the SSA to collect systematic and comprehensive information about claimants’ functioning. It consists of eight scales: Basic Mobility, Upper Body Function, Fine Motor Function, Community Mobility, Cognition & Communication, Resilience/Sociability, Social Interactions, and Mood & Emotions. Three studies were conducted to evaluate the WD-FAB and apply it as an outcome measure to examine questions relevant to work disability measurement. "Examining Activity Domain Structure of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF)" empirically tests the structure of the WHO’s ICF Activity subdomains by comparing it to the empirical structure of the WD-FAB. The comparison found good alignment between the physical function WD-FAB scales and ICF Mobility; several Activity subdomains converge into Cognition & Communication in the WD-FAB. Mental Functions and certain Interpersonal Interactions converge. A re-organization of the subdomains into distinct, measurable constructs is presented for future ICF revisions. "Who Applies to Social Security Disability Programs? Demographic and Functional Differences among Claimants" examines how Social Security disability claimants compare sociodemographically to the working age US population, assesses differences in claimants’ functional status by demographic characteristics, and showcases a method to detect Differential Item Functioning (DIF), which, once controlled for, minimizes measurement error. 17 items displayed DIF, primarily based upon gender. Claimants were sociodemographically different from the general sample and reported lower functioning. Within claimants, there were very few differences of consequence in function between different sociodemographic groups. "Determining Functional Profiles of Common Conditions explores the relationship between diagnoses and function." Common patterns of diagnoses among claimants were identified: musculoskeletal, cancer, multisystem, neurological & sensory, and mental conditions. Many of the diagnosis groups showed unique functional features. The identification of functional profiles for different condition groups suggests that WD-FAB scores may add value to the disability determination process. There is no single litmus test for work disability, but incorporating self-reported experiences is becoming an increasingly common focus in the field. This work demonstrates how a conceptually grounded self-reported measure of functioning can be used to understand the condition of individuals whose health limits their ability to work.

LLM in Human Rights Law / The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa shows a clear and unambiguous undertaking by the state to develop a comprehensive social security system. In terms of Section 27 of the Constitution, it is provided that everyone has the right to have access to social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants, appropriate social assistance. The section also obliges the state to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these rights. Parts of the social assistance are, inter alia, child related social grants in terms of the Social Assistance Act. This research considers the question of statutory exclusion of children of asylum seekers from accessing and exercising their social security rights, in particular, social assistance grants relevant to the needs, assistance and protection of children. Such grants are already provided for by the law to the South African citizen, permanent resident and refugee children. The question which this study seeks to address is whether South African government is in compliance with its constitutional and international obligations in respect of the social security rights and social assistance for children of asylum seekers in South Africa. This would be carried out by reviewing and exploring relevant International, regional and national human rights instruments relevant and applicable to the social security rights and assistance to the children of asylum seekers.

Social security administration and personal data protection The protection of personal data is one of the most discussed legal topics of contemporary legal science. However, the attention of both the professional and general public has so far been focused on the processing of personal data carried out by private law entities. On the contrary, the author focuses on a topic that has been overlooked, namely the processing of personal data performed by social security administration authorities. This thesis aims to answer the question whether the processing carried out by selected authorities of the social security administration follows the principle of lawfulness according to data protection regulations and the Regulation (GDPR). The key aspect of the author's answer is primarily to assess the compliance of the current legislation in the area of sickness and pension insurance and passive employment policy with the requirements of the Regulation (GDPR). In this work, the author first deals with the historical roots and birth of the legal regulation of personal data protection. Then, by comparing the legal regulations adopted within the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the Czech Republic, it analyses the applicable regulation of personal data protection. As the author points out in this work,...

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This study addresses the problem of assessing the value of Social Security as an investment for an individual with given characteristics. The characteristics considered are age, sex, race, marital status, and salary earning history. The problem formulation takes into account the uncertainties of human life, i.e., the probabilistic characteristics of the events that an individual may experience and may affect his tax payments and the benefits he will receive. These events are the birth of a child, death, marriage, divorce, retirement, and disability onset. The measurements used are the individual expected rate of return and the overall population rate of return. The former is expected to be more important to an individual, while the latter is more significant to the Social Security Administration. The difficulties inherent in an analytic solution procedure to obtain numerical values for these rates are shown. Using actual demographic and social security data, the use of the model is illustrated through case studies. The four cases examined, although hypothetical, represent large segments of the United States population. Additional analyses are performed to assess the value of separate components of the total benefits, including secondary, retirement, and disability-survivor benefits. The effect on the rates of return of the two factors, salary level and age of the individual’s examined. A sensitivity analysis for five types of input data, birth, death, marriage, divorce, and disability, is included. / Master of Science

This study addresses the problem of assessing the economic future of the Social Security System using a representative sample of the United States Population. The characteristics of the people defined in this sample include age, sex, race, marital status, monthly salary, status under Social Security and the age and number of any dependents. The problem formulation deals with probabilistic events which may occur to an individual and will affect his status under Social Security. These events include marriage, divorce, death, birth of a child, retirement and disability onset and recovery. Each month, it is seen which events occur and the resulting benefits paid by the system is calculated. The difference between the intakes and outlays of the system are calculated and the resulting trust fund found. Using actual data from the Social Security Administration and the Bureau of the Census, the future of the system is evaluated by four representative case studies. The cases studied determine the effect on the system of changes in the birth rate and disability rate. / M.S.