Debunking myths about social protection
Who is in charge of social protection?
In Paraguay, the ¡Vamos! Social Protection System develops an integral, multidimensional and multicausal approach to social protection that articulates the effort of all the institutions involved in it. It pretends to overcome the fragmentation, improve the coverage and the efficiency of social protection in the country.
16 May 2023
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Up until well into the XXI century, “the Paraguayan State lacked a conceptual, normative, and institutional definition of social protection, which generated a dispersion of State competences and a failure to reach the objective of offering integral protection”, Claudina Zavattiero pointed out, doctor in demography and ILO consultant, author of the report The political economy of social protection in Paraguay.
The expert could determine through dozens of interviews and statistical and documental revision that the policies were defined independently in the institutions that would end up in charge of implementing social programs, whether that be on entities of the Executive branch, as well as the Legislative one.
In Claudina’s words: “Social protection’s institutionality was scattered across different hierarchies (ministries, secretariats, administrations), whose ability to promote and manage actions depended on each government’s decision and relevance”. Since there was no entity leading the coordination, efforts would often overlap many times or, on to the contrary, be insufficient.
One of the main causes that evidenced the urgency of implementing a social protection system was the lack of integration and connection between actions, programs, and public institutions to develop and articulate strategies with a global vision. Another fundamental cause was the large number of people and population groups that remained unprotected.
“The turning point at high-level authorities to decide to adopt a social protection system was showing that vulnerability can occur to any person at any moment in life, and not just to those in poverty”, the researcher mentioned in her work.
The conception of the Social Protection System ¡Vamos! was carried out within the framework of coordination work, dialogues, and compromises between key actors and an international network, headed by the Social Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic, the body in charge of political and technical coordination of ¡Vamos!
“It was necessary to propose a solid architecture, integrated by the leading institution and other relevant government ministries, for multidimensional problem solving. This also works for breaking fragmentation and places a long-term bet on objectives of improving equity, integration, and social cohesion”, the doctor shared in her study.
Currently, the ¡Vamos! Social Protection system collects information from 82 programs, executed by 26 institutions.
Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security, because it has the mandate of regulating labor relations and labor contracts, which include the contribution to social security. Also because its training agencies, such as the National Professional Promotion Service (SNPP) and National System for Labor Formation and Training (Sinafocal), allows people to have a higher productivity levels and access to decent jobs, which in turn allows them to generate enough independent earnings.
Ministry of Industry and Commerce, because of the role it can play in promoting companies’ productivity and productive development at a local level, which also promotes people’s independent earnings.
Ministry of Information and Technology, because it can facilitate data exchange between different institutions.
Ministry of Finance, through, among others, the State Undersecretariat of Taxation (SET), because of the role it plays fill in overseeing and identifying companies that may not be submitting their taxes and obligations, or because of the role the ministry plays in assigning public resources to transfer and social development programs, and because of the development of the ministry’s own social protection programs (e.g: old-age non-contributory pensions and Pytyvõ).
Montt highlighted that the general objective of an articulated work is being able to facilitate people’s lives as much as possible, through, for example, the simplification of paperwork, promoting from the State actions that reach the citizens and that do not depend on the own person’s will or capacity. In that sense, he values that within the¡Vamos!, municipalities are involved, because by being entities of a local scope they facilitate the population’s access to public services and they have a faster access to the population’s needs.
The specialist also emphasized the fundamental role that unions and employer organizations play in installing the notion that social protection is a workers’ right and not a privilege.
The challenges for a steady construction of this system are not few, keeping in mind the sector’s historical debt. To cite a few, Zavattiero expressed: “In the short term, the coverage gaps of existing programs should be closed; in the medium term, conditions for access to services for the vulnerable population should be created; and, in the long term, we should design and implement strategies and allocate necessary resources that allow the universalization of social protection”.
This contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
The expert could determine through dozens of interviews and statistical and documental revision that the policies were defined independently in the institutions that would end up in charge of implementing social programs, whether that be on entities of the Executive branch, as well as the Legislative one.
In Claudina’s words: “Social protection’s institutionality was scattered across different hierarchies (ministries, secretariats, administrations), whose ability to promote and manage actions depended on each government’s decision and relevance”. Since there was no entity leading the coordination, efforts would often overlap many times or, on to the contrary, be insufficient.
One of the main causes that evidenced the urgency of implementing a social protection system was the lack of integration and connection between actions, programs, and public institutions to develop and articulate strategies with a global vision. Another fundamental cause was the large number of people and population groups that remained unprotected.
“The turning point at high-level authorities to decide to adopt a social protection system was showing that vulnerability can occur to any person at any moment in life, and not just to those in poverty”, the researcher mentioned in her work.
The conception of the Social Protection System ¡Vamos! was carried out within the framework of coordination work, dialogues, and compromises between key actors and an international network, headed by the Social Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic, the body in charge of political and technical coordination of ¡Vamos!
“It was necessary to propose a solid architecture, integrated by the leading institution and other relevant government ministries, for multidimensional problem solving. This also works for breaking fragmentation and places a long-term bet on objectives of improving equity, integration, and social cohesion”, the doctor shared in her study.
Currently, the ¡Vamos! Social Protection system collects information from 82 programs, executed by 26 institutions.
Networking
Guillermo Montt, ILO Social Protection Speciales, cited some of the ministries that, though unrelated to social protection - like the Ministry of Social Development -, should all the same play a role in a social protection system and for the multidimensional nature of social protection:Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security, because it has the mandate of regulating labor relations and labor contracts, which include the contribution to social security. Also because its training agencies, such as the National Professional Promotion Service (SNPP) and National System for Labor Formation and Training (Sinafocal), allows people to have a higher productivity levels and access to decent jobs, which in turn allows them to generate enough independent earnings.
Ministry of Industry and Commerce, because of the role it can play in promoting companies’ productivity and productive development at a local level, which also promotes people’s independent earnings.
Ministry of Information and Technology, because it can facilitate data exchange between different institutions.
Ministry of Finance, through, among others, the State Undersecretariat of Taxation (SET), because of the role it plays fill in overseeing and identifying companies that may not be submitting their taxes and obligations, or because of the role the ministry plays in assigning public resources to transfer and social development programs, and because of the development of the ministry’s own social protection programs (e.g: old-age non-contributory pensions and Pytyvõ).
Montt highlighted that the general objective of an articulated work is being able to facilitate people’s lives as much as possible, through, for example, the simplification of paperwork, promoting from the State actions that reach the citizens and that do not depend on the own person’s will or capacity. In that sense, he values that within the¡Vamos!, municipalities are involved, because by being entities of a local scope they facilitate the population’s access to public services and they have a faster access to the population’s needs.
The specialist also emphasized the fundamental role that unions and employer organizations play in installing the notion that social protection is a workers’ right and not a privilege.
The challenges for a steady construction of this system are not few, keeping in mind the sector’s historical debt. To cite a few, Zavattiero expressed: “In the short term, the coverage gaps of existing programs should be closed; in the medium term, conditions for access to services for the vulnerable population should be created; and, in the long term, we should design and implement strategies and allocate necessary resources that allow the universalization of social protection”.
- If you’re interested in this topic, we invite you to read The political economy of social protection in Paraguay.
This contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.