Vulnerability and social protection at the margins of the formal economy
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Date
2006
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This report sets out the results of an in-depth study of livelihood strategies and
‘coping mechanisms’ among poor people in one very specific, but highly significant
context of poverty in South Africa. Its core concrete concern is with social grants
and cash transfers; but it does not focus narrowly on how they are administered
and used. Instead, it firstly focuses on the broader context of the livelihood
strategies and coping mechanisms within which these are used – strategies that
might be called ‘private social protection’ and which other researchers have
referred to as ‘distal social welfare’. Secondly, it is motivated by a conviction that
social protection and social grants should be aimed, not only at the important goal
of alleviating poverty, but also supporting pathways out of it. While current
research clearly suggests that the massive expansion in social welfare has made
possible a significant reduction in monetary poverty, a decisive and further
reduction in poverty requires attention to the structural conditions that interrupt
or impede these pathways out of poverty. If these underlying structural issues are
not addressed, there is a very real danger that social protection, and social grants
in particular, may end up contributing only towards ensuring what might be called
‘managed poverty’ – in other words, a situation in which poverty is managed
through the amelioration of its harshest effects – but not reduced in a sustainable
manner.
Description
Keywords
Social protection, Formal economy, Khayelitsha, Pro-poor programmes, South Africa
Citation
Neves, D. et al. (2006). Vulnerability and social protection at the margins of the formal economy. Report. Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape