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Services in this field are aimed at improving social protection of workers throughout the region through public education and technical training, as well as provision of specialized assistance such as legislative drafting, computerization, actuarial analysis, and development of financial and accounting systems. Technical advisory services are provided directly to social security institutions as well as to governments and worker and employer organizations. Given the limited development of social security in Southern Africa, assistance is aimed largely at the launching of new schemes and the conversion of arrangements based on individual liability (e.g., provident funds and workers compensation) to social insurance. These efforts entail: (a) the design of new social security institutions, with an emphasis on organizational structures to encourage accountability and transparency in management; (b) social security public relations, public education, and customer care; (C) periodic actuarial analysis to ensure the long-term financial solvency of existing schemes; (d) the costing of planned innovations such as the coverage of new groups of workers, improvements in benefits, and the conversion of provident funds to pension schemes; and (e) the development of policy papers comparing social protection across the region, relating it to the ILO Conventions, and offering suggestions for new directions. A major emphasis of training activities is on exchanges among social security institutions within the region, an approach which enables countries with less experience to model their activities on the best practices of neighbouring institutions.
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