Under the radar: Community safety nets for AIDS-affected households in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Safety nets are mechanisms to mitigate the effects of poverty on vulnerable households during times of stress. In sub-Saharan Africa, extended families, together with communities, are the most effective responses enabling access to support for households facing crises. This paper reviews literature on informal social security systems in sub-Saharan Africa, analyses changes taking place in their functioning as a result of HIV/AIDS and describes community safety net components including economic associations, cooperatives, loan providers, philanthropic groups and HIV/AIDS initiatives. Community safety nets target households in greatest need, respond rapidly to crises, are cost efficient, based on local needs and available resources, involve the specialized knowledge of community members and provide financial and psycho-social support. Their main limitations are lack of material resources and reliance on unpaid labour of women. Changes have taken place in safety net mechanisms because of HIV/AIDS, suggesting the resilience of communities rather than their impending collapse. Studies are lacking that assess the value of informal community-level transfers, describe how safety nets assist the poor or analyse modifications in response to HIV/AIDS. The role of community safety nets remains largely invisible under the radar of governments, non-governmental organizations and international bodies. External support can strengthen this system of informal social security that provides poor HIV/AIDS-affected households with significant support.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Joe Decosas, Rene Loewenson, Sian Long, Gladys Mutangadura, and Bill Rau for valuable comments on the research report on which this paper is based. Research on which this paper is based was carried out under the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)/Training and Research Support Centre project on Community Responses to HIV and AIDS, with the financial support of the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.