Extending social security: Challenges for Cape Verde

Social security policies have remained a Government priority in spite of a fragile economy in which unemployment is structural and accounts for 20 per cent of the economically active population. This corresponds with specific obligations set out in the 1992 Constitution, which establishes that everyone shall have a right to health care regardless of economic status and to social security with respect of a range of contingencies where there is incapacity for work. Government policies have however moved away from the welfare state model and are based on the notion that the State should not be the sole source of social security and that the private sector and civil society should play an important role. Thus, social insurance schemes financed by contributions from employers and workers have been established for private sector workers; they provide benefits in respect of old age, invalidity, survivors, maternity and employment injury, and there are additional allowances for children. There is a separate scheme for civil servants and for employees in the banking sector. The study notes the role of the Government as the basic guarantor of social security and the significance of its programmes for the poor who represent 30 per cent of the population. A non-contributory social security scheme provides cash allowances for those unable to work, and enrols those that can, in intensive public works programmes. But attention is drawn to the need to extend the scope of the social insurance scheme to the selfemployed and the informal sector. Devising suitable social security arrangements for these excluded groups remains an important challenge.