Between 17 and 19 May 2023, the International Social Security Association (ISSA) was able to once again gather its African membership for an in-presence regional forum, following the virtual forum of 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. This opportunity was strongly welcomed, as demonstrated by over 500 registered participants from 128 institutions in 51 countries. In addition, many national representatives participated during the opening ceremony, during which the ISSA membership was addressed by Adama Kamara, Minister of Employment and Social Protection, Robert Beugré Mambé, Minister-Governor of the Autonomous District of Abidjan, and Denis Charles Kouassi, Director General of IPS National Social Insurance Fund (IPS Caisse nationale de prévoyance sociale – IPS CNPS).

Dr Mohammed Azman, ISSA President

In his opening address, ISSA President Mohammed Azman highlighted that “Social security is a key factor for better lives, inclusive societies, and productive economies in Africa.” He outlined the importance of extending social security coverage, strengthening resilience of institutions, building effective and efficient institutions, and benefitting from international exchange and learning, and spotlighted the merits of RSSF Africa in this regard.

Secretary General Marcelo Abi-Ramia Caetano presented the ISSA’s new flagship report Social security developments and trends – Africa 2023, which formed the framework of subsequent discussions during the forum. Among other things, the report demonstrates how important progress has been made in terms of extending social security coverage on the continent, but still much more needs to be done. The Regional Forum addressed this aspect from many different perspectives and brought together practical, administrative and policy aspects.

High-level discussions at the Summit

Based on the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals the Regional Social Security Summit, one of the many highlights of the Forum, looked at evolving strategies towards Universal Social Protection. The Summit included government and high-level representatives from Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guinea, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, the African Union (AU) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The AU Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, Minata Samate Cessouma, used the occasion of the Summit to inaugurate the African Social Security Institutions Coordination and Cooperation Forum (ASSCCF), while Peter Van Rooij, Deputy Director for the ILO Regional Office presented its strategy on reaching 40 per cent social protection coverage in Africa by 2030.

Good practices, innovation and excellence

The 137 entries to the ISSA Good Practice Award for Africa competition, represented a treasure trove of examples to present and discuss in the many technical parallel sessions of the Regional Forum. These covered topics like modernizing social security administration, reaching universal health care coverage, improving service quality, tackling errors and fraud, taking advantage of technological transitions, tackling climate change and cushioning the effects of crisis and shocks, enhancing compliance and contribution collection, and of course extending social protection coverage.

The Good Practice Award itself went to the Department of Social Development in South Africa for its Child Support Grant, which has contributed to the extension of social security coverage to vulnerable children and as a result to the reduction of child poverty and in particular food poverty. Moreover, the first ever Special Distinction for Innovation went to the National Social Insurance Fund for Employees (Caisse nationale des assurances sociales des travailleurs salaries – CNAS) of Algeria for the complete digitization of its medical records, which will improve service quality and statistical data for research.

Minata Samate Cessouma, African Union Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development

The technical programme featured these two awarded good practices as well as many others from ISSA member institutions in 12 parallel sessions. In addition, plenary sessions enabled to discuss developments and innovations in management, the role of contributory schemes and the key ingredients of effective and efficient approaches by social security institutions to strengthen risk management, resilience and crisis responses.

The Regional Forum also gave the opportunity to hand out eight Certificates of Recognition to five social security institutions from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco and Zambia. This is part of the ISSA Recognition programme, where institutions can be assessed on the successful implementation of different ISSA Guidelines. There is more and more interest in this programme, which is seen as the only international certification in social security administration. At the World Social Security Forum in Marrakech, Morocco in October 2022, certificates were delivered to 10 institutions.

From 2023 to 2026

The Regional Forum in Côte d’Ivoire was hosted by IPS National Social Insurance Fund (IPS Caisse nationale de prévoyance sociale – IPS CNPS), in collaboration with the Social Insurance Institute - State Employees’ General Retirement Fund (Institut de prévoyance sociale - Caisse générale de retraite des agents de l’État − IPS CGRAE) and under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Côte d’Ivoire.

The ISSA will continue  discussions on the key topics addressed during the Forum, building on the good practices, knowledge and expertise of its membership in Africa and beyond, and linking to the priorities that are set for the 2023-2025 triennium. In the closing session in Abidjan, it was announced that the Department of Social Development in South Africa has offered to host the next Regional Social Security Forum for Africa in 2026.