ILO and Rwanda foster South-South learning on extending Social Protection in Côte d’Ivoire

Rwanda (ILO News) - As part of the ILO’s efforts to promote universal and inclusive social protection, a Rwandan delegation composed of government, workers, and employers’ representatives undertook a technical mission to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 23 to 27 June 2025. The visit followed an earlier South-South exchange in May 2025, during which a delegation from Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau visited Rwanda to learn from its experience in extending social protection to informal economy workers. Both missions were organized with ILO support under the framework of South- South Technical Cooperation.

The objective of the Côte d’Ivoire mission was to exchange institutional experiences, learn from Ivorian innovations, and mutually identify sustainable mechanisms for expanding coverage to informal workers, particularly in the areas of contribution collection, awareness-raising campaigns, enforcement of the labour law, coordination, digital tools and innovation and service delivery. The Rwandan and Guinean-Bissau delegations met with key Ivorian institutions including the Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Protection Sociale (MEPS), Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladie (CNAM), the Institution de Prévoyance Sociale - Caisse Générale de Retraite des Agents de l’État (CGRAE), the Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance Sociale (CNPS), and the Direction Générale de l’Emploi (DGE). Social partners were also involved, with active participation from the employers’ federation (CGECI) and the Union Générale des Travailleurs de Côte d’Ivoire (UGTCI). The ILO Country Office in Abidjan provided technical coordination and support throughout the mission.

The mission provided an opportunity to reflect on common socioeconomic realities shared by the participating countries, such as high levels of informality, persistent gender gaps, limited fiscal space, and low awareness of social protection. In this context, South-South cooperation offers a practical and context-sensitive alternative to traditional models. By benchmarking with peer countries, participants were able to explore innovations that are not only impactful but also more feasible to replicate. Rwanda, for example, drew inspiration from Côte d’Ivoire’s integrated and ambitious approach to achieving universality in social protection, notably by extending social protection to the self-employed. Meanwhile, Ivorian counterparts expressed interest in Rwanda’s diversified financing mechanisms that combine contributory and non-contributory approaches - such as community-based health insurance (CBHI) - as well as the country’s effective use of digital tools to register workers and systems interoperability.

The exchanges were guided by ILO Recommendation No. 204 on the transition from the informal to the formal economy and reflected a strong commitment to peer learning. Discussions also covered the implementation of the Couverture Maladie Universelle (CMU), the Regime Social des Travailleurs Indépendants (RSTI), and Côte d’Ivoire’s Integrated National Strategy for the Transition to the Formal Economy.

The mission concluded with a regional workshop on 27 June 2025, bringing together representatives from Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Guinea-Bissau, and Cabo Verde. The workshop served to consolidate insights from both missions, summarize best practices, and identify common challenges. Participants also discussed potential action points aligned with each country's specific context. Key areas of convergence included awareness-raising, strengthening of legal frameworks, integrated policy approaches, innovative financing mechanisms, and social dialogue.

The ILO will continue to support these countries in translating shared learnings into actionable reforms, with the goal of fostering regional convergence and advancing the vision of universal social protection for all.