Mapping of the national social protection system in Ethiopia, including social health protection

The mapping of the national social protection system in Ethiopia, including social health insurance, is carried out as part of a joint technical study by the International Labour Organization and partner United Nations agencies.

Such studies have been carried out in a number of West and Central African countries by the ILO and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and are now being scaled up under the Partnership for improving prospects for host communities and forcibly displaced persons (PROSPECTS). The PROSPECTS partnership focuses on improving access to jobs, education and social protection for refugees and host communities alike.

The mapping of the current social protection system in Ethiopia, including social health protection, is conducted with the objective of identifying opportunities and possible activities to be undertaken as part of the ILO PROSPECTS social protection component.

The social protection mapping exercise has observed that Ethiopia has a fundamental policy and legislative framework strong enough to promote social protection programmes effectively. The country has a national social protection policy and strategy as well as different sector-specific strategies such as the Urban Food Security and Job Creation strategy.

Although it is at an early stage, the system for contributory and non-contributory social protection programmes is institutionalized to some degree in the country. The two main contributory social protection schemes are the public servants’ social security and the private organization employees’ social security schemes.