Social Protection

The Social Protection Program is the Arab Reform Initiative’s research and advocacy program promoting universal social protection in the Arab region. It works toward a region where all people, regardless of their identities, are guaranteed social protection and secure access to the essential goods and services they need for their well-being and a decent standard of living. Universal, rights-based social protection is what gives everyone the opportunity to prosper, contribute to their societies and live with dignity.

Across the Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), large shares of the population have no social protection at all. Where systems exist, they are often fragmented: social insurance tied to formal jobs, inadequate stopgap humanitarian aid in times of crisis, and narrow, poverty-targeted assistance for a few. We bring together researchers, practitioners and activists to understand why, and to build the evidence and policy solutions for universal systems.

The program began in 2020 as an ARI-led collective mapping the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 in the region. As the pandemic magnified long-standing gaps in social protection, the program grew into a lasting effort to promote universal social protection, eradicate poverty, and advance social security and equity across all communities.

Our aim is to put inclusive social policy at the center of responses to the many crises and conflicts affecting Arab countries. The region’s protection gaps are structural, not temporary: recurring crises, conflicts and economic shocks expose them, but do not necessarily create them. Reactive, temporary interventions are not meant to stay; building shock-responsive, adaptable systems is a must.

Our approach

Our approach to social protection is a human rights-based one. Social protection is first and foremost the responsibility of the State, and an expression of the social contract that ties citizens and residents to their States.

We reject the view of social protection as an aid mechanism or a service, and its reduction to targeted social safety nets and tangential cash transfers for the poorest. Such fragmented schemes leave most people exposed, rarely hold up when the next crisis hits, and cannot provide social security. Where aid is needed in times of crisis, it should complement existing schemes, be integrated with them where possible, and reach those they exclude.

Our program therefore examines how frail or non-existent social contracts have shaped social protection systems in the region, and why those systems have so often failed to shield people from political and socio-economic shocks.

Across these pillars, we look at how social policy intersects with other public policies and crisis responses in the region. We focus on the specific needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups; on prioritizing specific sectors, industries and programs; and on alternatives at national and local levels of governance. We also study the many forms of social activism around welfare policy, and the political and social contexts that shape them. Finally, we probe the role of fiscal reforms and international financial institutions (IFIs), the spillovers of external conflicts, and other external factors that shape social policy and its financing in the Middle East and North Africa.

We remain mindful that social protection systems alone cannot achieve social equality and social justice. These aims need new economic models and development paradigms in line with the 2030 Agenda, and public policies and legal frameworks that respond to all forms of social vulnerability. Only with these in place can social protection systems be truly effective.

How we work

• Research (opens in a new tab)

  We produce, support and share interdisciplinary research on social protection in the region.

• Dialogue (opens in a new tab)

  We convene researchers, practitioners, policymakers and the wider public to exchange ideas across professional and policy spheres, and support coordination and synergies.

• Advocacy (opens in a new tab)

  We support and join collective action that carries these demands to decision makers.

The Arab Region Hub for Social Protection

Our efforts seek to consolidate a community of practice and knowledge on social protection in the region. That community builds on the existing ecosystem, strengthens it, and helps its members join forces toward shared goals.

To this end, we launched the Arab Region Hub for Social Protection, a virtual go-to space where professionals, activists, and experts dedicated to better social protection in the Arab States share ideas, success stories and lessons learnt, and engage in collaborative action. The Hub also indexes news, events, and research on social protection from across the region, making it a single point of access to the field’s knowledge production and knowledge impact. Our joint declaration outlines the community’s approach to making social protection schemes in the region more integrated, effective, inclusive and viable.