Social protection has gained global recognition for its role in addressing poverty, yet delivering social protection remains an intractable challenge for governments in the Global South. In this article, we assess the performance of government-run social assistance in Zimbabwe. Our assessment begins in 2016 when the National Social Protection Policy Framework (NSPPF) was promulgated to maximize returns on social investments. Utilizing a systematic review approach, we collated literature published between 2016–2023. We find that despite adopting the NSPPF, social protection programming remains a challenge in Zimbabwe. We find that the disbursement of transfers to beneficiaries are delayed, benefits are misaligned with market forces due to inflation, most programmes are run without monitoring and evaluation structures, funding in the sector remains inadequate to reduce poverty and vulnerability, and no grievance and redress mechanisms exist. Our synthesis underscores the need for the refreshment of the social contract in Zimbabwe, a renewal of political will to finance social assistance programmes, engagement to transform policy into action, the expansion of the civic space to ensure citizens effectively participate in calling for social assistance, as well as concerted efforts towards harmonizing existing social assistance programmes. We highlight the need to embed social protection within a human rights-based framework, and the need for robust monitoring frameworks along with predictable and dedicated financing.
Canada responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with a series of supports, including direct payments to workers displaced by public health measures. While not a true basic income, the experience highlighted a number of issues including challenges with implementation and intergovernmental relations that affected public opinion and must be dealt with by basic income advocates. The operation of the Canadian social-liberal welfare state informed pandemic policy making and exhibited the path dependence of a deserving/undeserving binary that resulted in conditionality. The income supports associated with the pandemic represent a pragmatic response to an exogenous shock that highlights the inadequacies of existing policy and offers the possibility of change.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread social and economic policy experimentation as governments sought to protect household finances while locking down economies. Cash transfers emerged as one of the most popular policy measures, leading many to reflect on new possibilities for enacting universal basic income through temporary or emergency interventions. We take Australia’s pandemic response, and particularly its Coronavirus Supplement, as an example of this broader experimentation. We analyse the Supplement through the lens of an emergency basic income, arguing the measure reflected existing institutional structures and norms, forms of national and international policy learning, and vulnerabilities in Australia’s liberalized housing and labour markets. While temporary, we consider how its apparent success might suggest ongoing policy relevance, either as a form of capitalist “crisis management” or as an alternative pathway for implementing forms of basic income.
This article explores the connection between two related but distinct models of basic income proposals in the context of a pandemic emergency. While COVID-19 appears to have increased interest in basic income, this often ended up taking the form of a temporary emergency basic income (EBI) instead of a permanent universal basic income (UBI). In this article we argue that the “dial up/dial down” model of basic income allows us to link EBI and UBI in a way that offers both a practical response to important implementation challenges in emergency policy making and a strategic argument in favour of UBI as a pandemic policy instrument. We illustrate our argument by contrasting the Renda Básica de Cidadania (RBC) in the municipality of Maricá, Brazil, with two comparable programmes in the same region.
This themed issue, guest-edited by Jurgen De Wispelaere and Troy Henderson, is devoted to examining, first, whether the widespread use of immediate and unconditional cash transfers as a policy response to the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis has provided a boost to cash transfer programmes generally and to emergency basic income (EBI) policies more specifically. The set of articles then charts the reception of EBI-type policies as a pandemic response in specific country or regional contexts, and reflects on their relevance for the future development of universal social protection and, especially, universal basic income (UBI). While the contribution to be made by basic income to realizing resilient and agile social protection policy responses merits serious consideration, in particular in a context where existing social protection systems are patchy and fragmented, important questions remain as to how to evaluate the time-limited EBI crisis response in light of the more durable needs which a permanent UBI purports to address.
Cette édition thématique spéciale, dirigée par les auteurs invités Jurgen De Wispelaere et Troy Henderson, est consacrée à l’examen, dans un premier temps, de la question de savoir si l’utilisation généralisée de transferts monétaires immédiats et inconditionnels en tant que réponse politique aux impacts socio-économiques de la crise due à la COVID-19 a donné un nouvel élan aux programmes de transferts en espèces en général, et aux politiques de revenu de base d’urgence en particulier. La série d’articles décrit ensuite l’accueil réservé aux politiques proposant un revenu de base d’urgence en réponse à la pandémie dans des contextes nationaux ou régionaux spécifiques, et réfléchit à leur utilité pour les futurs développements de la protection sociale universelle et, notamment, du revenu de base universel. Si la contribution du revenu de base à la mise en place de politiques de protection sociale résilientes et souples mérite d’être sérieusement envisagée, en particulier dans un contexte où les systèmes de protection sociale existants sont inégaux et fragmentés, d’importantes questions subsistent quant à la manière d’évaluer la réponse à la crise limitée dans le temps apportée par le revenu de base universel à la lumière des besoins plus durables qu’un revenu de base universel permanent vise à satisfaire.
En este número temático especial, editado por los autores invitados Jurgen De Wispelaere y Troy Henderson, se analiza en primer lugar si el uso extendido de las transferencias en efectivo inmediatas y no condicionadas como respuesta política a los efectos socioeconómicos de la crisis de COVID‑19 ha impulsado los programas de transferencias en efectivo en general y las políticas de renta básica de emergencia (Emergency Basic Income, EBI) en particular. A continuación, en el conjunto de artículos se describe la acogida que tuvieron las políticas de renta básica de emergenci
The response to the global COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a surge in short-term universal cash transfer programmes around the world. Notably, East Asian high-income economies have been at the forefront of these initiatives. While the innovative nature of these universal cash injections has been emphasized, there is limited documentation regarding their characteristics, prospects, and underlying motivations. This article sheds light on the domestic political and institutional processes that led to the implementation and design of universal cash transfers in Hong Kong (China), Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan (China). Overall, the analysis reveals that, within the framework of universality, a nuanced, diverse and dynamic set of operational choices emerge. A range of factors shaped the adoption and evolution of these programmes, including, for example, political pressures stemming from political party competition and efforts to maintain political legitimacy. In general, design parameters are not only defined in technocratic terms, but are negotiated politically.
La réponse à la pandémie mondiale de COVID-19 a suscité l’essor des programmes de transferts monétaires universels à court terme dans le monde entier. Les économies à revenu élevé d’Asie de l’Est ont notamment été à l’avant-garde de ces initiatives. Bien que la nature innovante de ces allocations universelles ait été soulignée, il existe peu de publications détaillant leurs caractéristiques, leurs perspectives et leurs motivations sous-jacentes. Cet article met en lumière les processus politiques et institutionnels nationaux qui ont conduit à la mise en œuvre et à la conception de transferts monétaires universels à Hong Kong (Chine), au Japon, en République de Corée, à Singapour et à Taïwan (Chine). Dans l’ensemble, l’analyse révèle que, dans le cadre de l’universalité, un ensemble nuancé, diversifié et dynamique de choix opérationnels émerge. Une série de facteurs ont façonné l’adoption et l’évolution de ces programmes, y compris, par exemple, les pressions politiques découlant de la concurrence entre les partis politiques et les efforts visant à maintenir la légitimité politique. De manière générale, les paramètres de conception ne sont pas seulement définis en termes technocratiques, mais sont négociés au niveau politique.
Como respuesta ante la pandemia de COVID‑19, en varios lugares del mundo se pusieron en marcha una gran cantidad de programas de transferencias en efectivo universales a corto plazo, en especial en países de Asia Oriental con ingresos altos, los cuales encabezaron estas iniciativas. Si bien se ha hecho hincapié en la naturaleza innovadora de estas inyecciones de efectivo universales, apenas se han documentado sus características, perspectivas y motivos subyacentes. En este artículo se describen los procesos nacionales de índole política e institucional que se siguieron para elaborar y poner en práctica las transferencias en efectivo u
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