Social Protection in the Arab Region – Arab Reform Initiative

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program Social Protection in the Arab Region

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The Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)’s Social Protection Program envisions an Arab region in which all people, regardless of their identities, are guaranteed social protections that secure their access to the essential goods and services needed to ensure their well-being and decent standards of living, which in turn gives them the opportunity to prosper and contribute as active members of society. The program began in 2020 as a project by an ARI-led collective of eight organizations, seeking to map, document and analyze the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions in the Arab region. As the pandemic was found to have substantially magnified the dearth of social protection that has long characterized the region, the program was established with the objective to bring together researchers, practitioners, and activists in order to devise policy solutions that support the promotion of universal social protection schemes, which are necessary to alleviate poverty and enhance social security and equity across all communities. In doing so, we aim to put the discussion towards building more inclusive social policies center stage in the post-COVID-19 recovery strategies and the concerted efforts to “build back better” in the midst of the multitude of crises and conflicts afflicting Arab countries.

Our approach to social protection is a human rights-based one. We consider social protection to be the primary responsibility of the State, and a manifestation of the social contracts that tie citizens and residents to their States. We reject the humanitarian assistance approach to social protection whereby it is primarily considered to be an aid mechanism or a service. We insist that all actors providing humanitarian assistance in times of crisis and emergency ensure that the aid they provide is complementary to the existing social protection schemes, is fully integrated where possible, and covers recipients that are excluded from existing schemes. Our program therefore examines how frail or inexistent social contracts in the region have shaped Arab social protection systems and prevented them from being effective and sustainable enough to shield people from the negative livelihood implications of the various political or socio-economic shocks that have been recurrently affecting many Arab countries.

To that end, the program’s research agenda revolves around four key pillars:

  • What should the priorities for expanding social protection be nowadays? Notably, what are the necessary policy, programmatic, institutional, legal and legislative reforms to fulfill this objective?
  • What are the needed fiscal reforms and financing mechanisms to fund the universal social protection policies and programs we aspire for?
  • How to overcome the politico-economic factors and the political redlines behind the prevailing inadequate social protection systems in the Arab region? How to bridge the gap between policy and politics knowing that the desired policy change requires a political will and serious – and possibly systemic – political change?
  • How can research initiatives accompany and work with social movements demanding universal social protection systems in the region?

As we address these dimensions, we look at the intersection between social policy and responses to other crises or issues afflicting the different Arab contexts in question; we delve deep in the specificities of the numerous vulnerable and marginalized social groups; we scrutinize the cases of a variety of sectors, industries, and specific programs or interventions; we try to propose alternatives that span national, local, and even more micro/execution-level forms of governance; we investigate the multiple faces of social activism related to welfare policies as well as the politico-sociological factors lying under them; and we probe the role of international financial institutions (IFIs) and the spillovers of external conflicts/crises, among other external factors. While doing so, we remain, however, mindful that social protection systems are not enough on their own to achieve social equality and social justice. These aims need new economic models and development paradigms that abide by all the aspects and goals of the 2030 Agenda, and where all public policies and legal frameworks are just and responsive to the different forms of social vulnerability. It is only then that our desired social protection systems can be complementary enough and thus effective.

We strive to advance our research agenda by:

  • Executing, encouraging, and facilitating the production, analysis, collation, and dissemination of interdisciplinary knowledge about social protection in the Arab region.
  • Facilitating multi-stakeholder exchanges, convening dialogues within and between professional and policy spheres, and raising awareness on the issue at hand among the wider public.
  • Supporting and joining collective action that amplifies advocacy efforts with other stakeholders and the decision makers.

Our efforts seek to consolidate a community of practice and knowledge on social protection in the Arab region. One that builds on the existing ecosystem, solidifies it, and expands it. One that has a coordinated vision and that strives to facilitate dialogue, exchange, partnerships, and cooperation in order to join forces, become more impactful, and ultimately achieve our shared goals. Accordingly, we have initiated the Arab Region Hub for Social Protection, a virtual go-to space where professionals who are dedicated to exploring, understanding, and advocating for better social protections in the Arab States can share ideas, success stories, and lessons learnt, as well as explore and initiate several layers of collaborative action. This joint declaration outlines our community’s proposed approach to make social protection schemes in the Arab region more integrated, effective, inclusive and viable, and unifies its members’ discourses on “building universal social protection systems in turbulent Arab contexts.”

Subscribe now to ARI’s Social Protection Program monthly newsletter and the quarterly Arab Region Hub for Social Protection news digest.

Program Director
Farah Al Shami

Senior Fellow - Beirut
Arab Reform Initiative

Program experts
Nouri Dris

Algerian researcher and lecturer in sociology at Setif University
Arab Reform Initiative

Mohamed Gad

Economic Journalist

Abdelhadi El-Halhouli

Associate professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Beni Mellal-Morocco
Arab Reform Initiative

Osama Abu Bakr

Political Researcher and Director of the Center for Research on Good Governance and Capacity Building
Arab Reform Initiative

Ahmad Alhassab

Yemeni researcher
Arab Reform Initiative

Program supporter

IDRC – International Development Research Centre

Publications

Egypt’s Political Discourse and Changing Social Assistance Systems
Research Paper
24 February 2023
#Egypt#Reform#Social Protection
Syria’s Earthquake Exposes Broken Aid Machine
Bawader / Commentary
14 February 2023
#Humanitarian Aid#Reconstruction#Syria
Declaration on Building Universal Social Protection in the Arab Region
Statement
14 February 2023
#MENA#Social Protection
Social Policy in Algeria:  Sociopolitical Challenges and Economic Costs
Report
14 February 2023
#Algeria#Economy#Social Protection
Financial Analysis of Health System Shifts in Egypt:  Searching for “gratuitousness” and the right to health
Research Paper
25 May 2022
#Egypt#Health#Social Protection
Egypt:   The Price of Inaction on Tax Reform
Research Paper
18 January 2023
#Egypt#Taxation
Algeria’s social support policy:  Economic costs and the need for reform
Bawader / Commentary
24 February 2022
#Algeria#Economy#Social Protection
Rethinking our understanding of vulnerability under the pandemic
Blog
31 January 2022
#COVID-19#Social Protection#Vulnerability
The Mediterranean Region:  A Hotspot of Inequalities in the Aftermath of COVID-19
Bawader / Commentary
18 November 2021
#COVID-19#Economy#Education#Health
Beyond Morocco’s agricultural boom:   The invisibility and precariousness of a female agricultural workforce
Bawader / Commentary
21 October 2021
#Agriculture#Morocco#Women
Tunisia:  COVID-19 Increases Vulnerability of Rural Women  
Bawader / Commentary
25 November 2020
#Agriculture#COVID-19#Tunisia#Women
The Trap of Pinning Hope on the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) in Lebanon
Bawader / Commentary
17 July 2021
#Economy#Inequality#Lebanon#Political Economy
The impact of the Ukraine war on the Arab region:   Food insecurity in an already vulnerable context
Blog
11 March 2022
#Conflicts#Food Security#MENA
Which Tax Policies for Lebanon?  Lessons from the Past for a Challenging Future
Research Paper
28 May 2021
#Lebanon#Political Economy#Reform#Taxation

Events

28Mar
2023
WebinarMental and Psychological Impairments:  How do they fall through the cracks of Arab social protection systems?
#Health#MENA#Reform#Social Protection
28Feb
2023
WebinarAfter the earthquake:  Rethinking humanitarian aid in Syria
#Humanitarian Aid#Syria
7Dec
2022
WebinarRegional Policy Forum:  Building Universal Social Protection Systems in the Arab Region
Conferences#MENA#Public Policy#Social Protection
28Mar
2022
WebinarFood Insecurity in the Arab Region at the Junction of Covid-19 and the Ukraine War:  What social protections do we need?
#Conflicts#Food Security#MENA
30Mar
2021
WebinarAccess to vaccines in the Arab region:  What do we know?
#COVID-19#MENA#Vaccines
23Mar
2021
WebinarFemale Agricultural Workers:  At the Heart of Food Security while Deprived of Basic Rights
#Agriculture#Tunisia#Women
3Mar
2022
WebinarThe Gendered Impact of Covid-19 Responses in the Arab Region:   A Dire Need for Effective Social Protection
#Egypt#Jordan#Lebanon#Social Protection#Tunisia#Women
18Feb
2021
WebinarThe Genesis and the Evolution of the Concept of Social Protection in the Arab Region
#Governance#Social Justice#Webinar
27Jan
2021
WebinarRecovery through Fighting Inequality:   How to Escape the Debt-Austerity Trap in the MENA Region?
#Economy#MENA#Webinar
Arab-reform-initiative-webinar-what-taxation-sytem-for-lebanon-english
2Nov
2020
WebinarWhat Tax Policy for Lebanon?  Lessons from the Past for a Difficult Future
#Lebanon#Taxation#Webinar
19May
2021
WebinarPromises and Pitfalls:  Lebanon Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Framework (3RF)
#Lebanon#Reconstruction#Reform#Webinar

Videos

Private: Farah Al Shami talks to media (Arabic)
24 March 2022
#Conflicts#Food Security#MENA
***
Private: Arab Governments and COVID-19 (Arabic)
10 February 2022
Private: Farah talks to SBI (Arabic)
14 April 2022
***
Female Agricultural Workers: At the Heart of Food Security while Deprived of Basic Rights
24 March 2021
#Agriculture#Tunisia#Women

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