Poverty eradication has been one of the most important, if not the most important, development goals of recent decades. It still represents one of the major challenges of our time. The first objective of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals agreed in 2015 states: "End poverty in all its forms everywhere" (United Nations 2015). To meet the main objective of eliminating poverty by 2030, it has been recognized that protection must go not only to those in poverty but also to those who are in danger of falling into poverty in the future. Although vulnerability to poverty can be broadly defined as the likelihood of someone falling into poverty in the future, there is no agreement on how best to measure it or determine its impact on well-being. The main research question addressed in the thesis is: How can vulnerability to poverty be operationalized and measured? It explores this question empirically in three papers covering: (i) what are the shifts in vulnerability to poverty along the distribution of income over time; (ii) what do the measurements of vulnerability to poverty tell us about the sociodemographic characteristics of people in situations of vulnerability to poverty compared with those living in poverty and the middle class; (iii) what is the relationship between poverty, vulnerability and age and what is the role of social assistance in addressing these. The three papers take Chile as a case study to understand and measure vulnerability from three different approaches. Chile is a high-income country with a successful poverty reduction strategy but still facing the challenge of eradicating it. Most of its social programs are designed to reach the 60% most vulnerable sector of the population. The first paper employs a relative understanding of vulnerability. It examines population shifts along the distribution of income from deciles in poverty in an earlier period to deciles of vulnerability in a later period. Methods to analyse relative distribution proposed by Handcock & Morris (1999) are used to perform this analysis. The findings emphasize that poverty reduction can be accompanied by vulnerability reduction. The second paper measures vulnerability to poverty using the approach proposed by Lopez-Calva & Ortiz-Juarez (2014). This paper estimates the probability of falling into poverty and uses this to establish a vulnerability income threshold. The findings underline the differences between the group of people living in vulnerability, those living in poverty and people who belong to middle class. This paper contributes to the recognition of the group of people in vulnerability as a different group to those in poverty and the middle class providing the recommendation of different social programmes for these groups. Poverty reduction strategies should consider these differences. The third paper moves the analysis onto the vulnerable groups. It focuses on children and older people as vulnerable groups in need of state protection. A partial fiscal analysis is carried out following the guidelines of the Commitment to Equity Institute to compare the situation of these groups before and after direct taxes and cash transfers. It shows that current cash transfers have an age bias, being more effective in reducing poverty among the elderly than among children. The findings confirm the view that age bias in welfare institutions creates generational inequity in the allocation of public benefits. In the context of the general lack of agreement regarding what vulnerability to poverty is and how it can be measured, this thesis thus tries out three different ways to conceptualize and measure it.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study traces the political economy of the social protection policy processes in the two country case studies of Zambia and Zimbabwe. It focuses on the role of global actors/external agencies (bilaterals, multilaterals and IFIs), national actors (government, parliament) and local actors (beneficiary communities, INGOs, CSOs) in social protection policy evolution. It looks at the power dynamics within the policy space: who is more powerful and who is less powerful, who voices and whose voice matters, who makes decisions and who follows decisions, who drives the policy and who follows, who has the money and who follows the money, who consults and who is consulted, and whether the rural communities (perceived beneficiaries) are active participants or ‘passive’ recipients. Therefore, the study is based on key informant interviews with officials from government, external agencies, INGOs and CSOs as well as focus group discussions with the communities. What emerges is that social protection is a policy contestation between the external agencies themselves; between external agencies and the government; between personnel of the same external agency; and within the government itself. Despite being driven by a common goal to fight poverty, external agencies have different global social protection policy positions and each would ‘push’ for the adoption of that policy position over the rest. Contestation between external agencies and the government reflect that government priorities differ from those of the external agencies. While external agencies pushed for social protection, the government would prefer agricultural subsidies to support the productive capacity of the people. Intra-government ‘struggles’ relate to the contest over which ministry is best placed to coordinate social protection and Ministry of Finance’s ambivalence over budgetary commitment to social protection. The study therefore underscores the primacy of politics in social protection.

Social protection is a means of reducing vulnerability on individuals by protecting them against low or declining living standards. This study examines social protection arrangements for mineworkers who retired from the South African mines on account of disabling mine injuries. Over the years, the mining industry has been the source of employment for Lesotho men. Some of the workers have been exposed to occupational injuries that led to their disability and forced retirement. They are thus forced to return to Lesotho where they become dependent on the compensation that they receive from South Africa through Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act. The study sought to determine the adequacy of compensation paid to Basotho mineworkers who retired because of disabling mine injuries in Maseru urban. It also investigated existence of complementary social support systems. A qualitative design was utilised in this study as the intention was to obtain in-depth information from the research participants concerning existing social protection arrangements. Semi-structured interview schedule were conducted with both mine workers who retired on account of disabling mine injuries and key informants. The research sample consisted of 47 mine workers who retired on account of disabling mine injuries and 4 key informants that were drawn from the Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Labour, TEBA (The Employment Bureau of Africa) and National Union of Mine workers. The findings reveal that retired mine workers use most of their compensation income on household expenditures such as food, electricity and fuel. The compensation income ranges from M400 to M5, 000 per month. For the research participants who are at the lower range, the compensation is not adequate because they are below the poverty line. The findings established that the waiting period for compensation was long because only three research participants received their compensation after a waiting period of up to 5 months while the majority waited for more than 5 months. The findings also indicate that the payment of monthly compensation is consistent and paid timely. The results revealed that retired mine workers rely on alternative coping strategies like income generating projects and informal support from relatives and friends. The findings also reveal that the disability status makes it difficult for the beneficiaries to engage in income generating activities thereby exposing them to poverty and income insecurity. The study recommends that government support should be extended to retired mine workers with low compensation income. The study also suggests the introduction of reintegration programmes that would improve the quality of life for retired mineworkers with physical disabilities.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Migrants and refugees are mostly excluded from the public sector, marginalised from economic activities and threatened by recurrent risks, including unemployment and lack of income. These problems cause vulnerability to economic shocks and deepening poverty. Churches and religious organisations assist migrants through activities that enhance social protection by means of informal coping mechanisms. The study examined factors that contribute towards informal social protection through church activities that facilitate Rwandan refugees and asylum seekers’ lives in Cape Town, South Africa. The literature reviewed in this study reveals that church initiatives and activities contributed significantly towards the reduction of challenges faced by refugees and asylum-seekers.

Eu égard les ressources financières conséquentes qu’elle mobilise, la protection sociale exerce une influence sur l’économie et sur les hommes. Son efficacité suscite de multiples débats, alimentés par le ralentissement économique, opposant partisans d’un libéralisme accru et défenseurs de davantage de justice sociale. Pour les premiers, le coût des dépenses sociales et leurs effets d’aubaine constituent un frein pour l’économie alors les seconds assimilent son apport à un levier indispensable au développement du capital humain. Cette thèse cherche à démontrer que les performances économiques et politiques sociales peuvent et doivent poursuivre des objectifs communs afin que le développement économique se traduise par le développement humain. Elle s’organise en deux parties comportant chacune trois chapitres. Dans un premier temps, suite à une démonstration mettant en exergue la forte corrélation entre niveau de développement économique et qualité des ressources humaines,seront mis en évidence deux positionnements contradictoires à propos de l’apport de la protection sociale sur l’économie et sur les hommes. A l’instar des autres pays en développement, au Sénégal, le secteur informel, représentant le poumon de l’économie malgré une faible productivité, est dépourvu de toute forme de couverture sociale moderne. Aboutissant à la conclusion que certaines composantes de la protection sociale, telle que l’assurance maladie, peuvent améliorer l’efficacité du capital humain, nous esquissons un schéma de couverture médicale applicable au secteur informel au Sénégal dans le cadre d’une assurance maladie obligatoire. / Considering the substantial financial resources that social protection mobilizes, it exerts influences on the economy and population. Many debates are raised about its effectiveness, and these debates are sustained by the economic slowdown, that opposes supporters of an increased liberalism and those who are for some more social justice. For the former, the social spending cost and stroke of luck act as a brake on the economy while the latter compare its contribution to an essential lever for the development of human capital. This thesis tries to demonstrate that economic performance and social policies can and should pursue common goals, so that economic development should result in human development. It is divided into two parts, with three chapters in each. Firstly, two conflicting positions about the contribution of social protection on the economy and population will be brought out following a demonstration which underlines the strong correlation between the level of economic development and quality of human resources. Like the other developing countries,in Senegal the informal sector, which represents the hub of the economy, despite its low productivity, has no form of modern social coverage. Coming to the conclusion that some components of social protection, such as health insurance, can improve the effectiveness of human capital, we outline a scheme of medical coverage which can be applied to the informal sector in Senegal through compulsory health insurance.

Security about one's economic future is something that is valued by risk-averse individuals and its absence may decrease their economic well-being. Therefore, rich societies have social protection mechanisms in place to guard people against potential economic hazards. However, such mechanisms may be absent in poor countries where people are not only poorer but exposed to significant economic risks. Under this context, this paper inquires if there is a comparable way to measure an Index of Economic Security for a sample of three South Asian and seven OECD countries. We provide a theoretical framework to articulate why economic security is important in the measurement of well-being. We also discuss the human rights perspective on economic insecurity and its implications for measurement of economic security. After constructing a basic index, we conduct sensitivity analysis to determine how much impact methodological choices have on country performance.

No description available.

Social Protection, and in particular social assistance, has emerged as a key area of international development policy. Recognition of the important role of social protection policies is aligned to a growing consensus on their role in reducing poverty and vulnerability and in preventing people from falling into poverty and facilitating exit from poverty. In the late 1990s, the World Bank (WB) developed the Social Risk Management (SRM) framework as a new conceptual framework for analysing social protection in developing countries. In the SRM, risk taking, the proactive management of risk at household level, was argued to be essential in enabling poor households to invest and grasp opportunities for economic development and poverty reduction. This research examines and conceptualizes the why and the how of investment by households in poverty. The research also examines the extent to which access to social assistance interventions may play a positive or negative role in the process. The thesis argues that the SRM oversimplifies and underestimates a variety of factors and processes that play a role in the household’s investment behaviour in three dimensions of their life, namely savings, education and health. In the research, household decision making is conceptualised as a two stage process of ‘constructing’ investment preferences (what they are willing to do), and of ‘realizing’ or ‘revealing’ household choices (what they actually do). The empirical findings indicate that access to social assistance did not appear to have a role in constructing investment preferences. However, it had limited role under certain circumstances in favouring the realization of households’ investment preferences. The research suggests that the SRM fails to encapsulate the complexity of household investment decisions, crucial to exiting poverty. Building on some of the concepts emerged in the research, I develop a ‘behavioural’ variation of the ‘risk taking /poverty exit’ component of the SRM in an attempt to improve the explanatory capacity of this framework. The research utilises the grounded theory framework (GT), adapted to a low income country context, and investigates the role of social assistance in household behaviour through an extensive field work in Bangladesh with urban households targeted by the Old Age Allowance Scheme (OAA), one of the largest social assistance schemes in Bangladesh.

In this thesis, South African survey data (which was collected as part of a separate project on ageing and wellbeing), is analysed in order to explore old age social pension-handling and the extent to which social pensions influence decisions about living arrangements. The findings have implications for current policy debates in South Africa and beyond. A key argument against widening the South African social safety net to cover other groups which do not currently have access to grants (such as the unemployed), is based upon the premise that social grants foster dependency. Empirical evidence which suggests that family members move into the households of pensioners has been used to suggest that social grants cultivate a disincentive to work. A Regression Discontinuity design is used to consider the relationship between pensions and household composition around the threshold of age eligibility for a pension. The study contributes new empirical evidence which demonstrates that pensions are linked to changes in living arrangements just before and following the age of eligibility. The changes are not extensive and are restricted to particular age/gender groups. Nevertheless, effects are established, which is not surprising in light of the fact that pensions represent a regular, reliable and principal income source for many South Africans and that, based on new evidence contributed by this study, as well as previous studies, intra-household pension sharing appears to be a pervasive and persistent social norm. Overall, the analysis finds stronger evidence of pensions having either a ‘crowding out’ effect, or no effect at all, as opposed to a ‘crowding in’ effect, which casts doubt on dependency theories. Furthermore, the results suggest that pensions given to men may lead to fewer changes in household composition than pensions given to women. A key difference is that there was no evidence to suggest that for men, pensions are associated with systematic changes in the average number of prime working-age household members. This is generally consistent with findings from previous studies. A key theory regarding gender-based disparities in pension effects, relates to gender-based differences in the extent of intra-household pension sharing. In this study, there was no evidence produced to suggest that beneficiary gender influences the extent of intra-household pension sharing. The methodological challenges associated with the analysis of intra-household income-handling are acknowledged. However, with no evidence of differences in pension sharing behaviour observed, other potential explanations are considered. In particular, it is speculated that gender-based differences in child care provision by pensioners may influence the ability of parents, particularly mothers, to become labour migrants, and that gender-based disparities in life expectancy after pension eligibility age may be important factors.

Masters of Commerce / This study investigates caregiver’s perceptions of the purposes, uses and adequacies of the Child Support Grant (CSG) in Mfuleni (Cape Town, South Africa). Moreover, the research was underpinned by the following research questions: What is the CSG intended for in South Africa? To what extent does the CSG enable caregivers to use it? What is the perception of caregivers with regards to the uses and purposes of the CSG in Mfuleni? What is the perception of caregivers regarding their power and agency to influence policy in terms of how the CSG should be structured (both in terms of benefit level and how it is administered)? A model by DFID (2011) focusing on the causal pathway for cash transfers was used as the conceptual framework for the study. Qualitative research methods were utilized to achieve the aims of the study. Ten interviews and a focus group discussion comprising six caregivers were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The study revealed that caregivers understood the CSG is proposed for children, households and being a source of income for caregivers. Caregivers also revealed the CSG was utilized towards the basic needs of children. Through the CSG many caregivers had agency and power in their household and could establish small businesses.