Pathways to the Sustainable Financing of Social Protection in Eastern and Southern Africa
Strategies for expanding coverage and strengthening financing for social protection across ESA
Highlights
The report provides a comprehensive assessment of how Eastern and Southern African countries are financing social protection and what it will take to build sustainable, domestically financed systems.
It highlights persistent gaps in coverage and spending, the growing reliance on concessional lending amid declining aid. Despite significant fiscal constraints, the analysis shows room for budget expansion. Even modest increases in social protection spending – currently just over US$2 per capita per month – could expand coverage.
The report outlines how additional fiscal space can be unlocked through removing regressive subsidies, advancing debt restructuring, and improving efficiency via program consolidation and digitalized delivery systems. It provides practical, country‑tailored pathways to strengthen financing, improve equity and efficiency, broaden coverage, and ensure social protection systems can drive poverty reduction, human capital development, and resilient, inclusive growth.
