‘Growing’ social protection in developing countries: Lessons from Brazil and South Africa

Abstract

The rapid expansion of social protection in the South provides a rich diversity of experiences and lessons on how best to reduce poverty and ultimately eradicate it. Knowledge on how best to ‘grow’ social assistance, understood as long-term institutions responsible for reducing and preventing poverty, is at a premium. This article examines the expansion of social assistance in Brazil and South Africa, two of the middle income countries widely perceived to have advanced furthest in ‘growing’ social protection. It examines three aspects: the primacy of politics in explaining the expansion of social protection and assistance, the tensions between path-dependence and innovation in terms of institutions and practices, and the poverty and inequality outcomes of social assistance expansion. The article concludes by drawing the main lessons for other developing countries.

Keywords:

• developing countries
• inequality
• path-dependence
• politics
• poverty
• social assistance

Notes

⁶Terminology varies across countries. In South Africa, the term ‘social security’ is used to cover social insurance, social assistance and public works programmes, and the term ‘social welfare’ to describe social assistance transfers.

⁷PPP stands for purchasing power parity, and is a measure of the monetary value of a similar basket of goods in different countries in international US$.

⁸See details of project at www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/research/ageingandwellbeing/index.htm