Social Security Mechanisms: Theories, Design and Practice

Living through hunger and physical hardship from infancy to premature old age; living through economic shifts that close factories and strip currency of its value in an instant; living through social turmoil, political upheaval, and war; through it all, poor men and women in communities around the world keep coming back to their deep longing for a better future for their children. And despite an age of unprecedented global prosperity and the existence of a worldwide network of poverty-reduction institutions, poverty persists and is intensifying among certain groups and in certain regions around the world. Again, while the 2008 financial crisis is global in nature, it is likely to have heterogeneous welfare impacts within the developing world, with some countries and some people more vulnerable than others. It also threatens to have lasting impacts for some of those affected, notably through the nutrition and schooling of children in poor families. These features point to the need for a differentiated social policy response, aiming to provide rapid income support to those in most need, while preserving the key physical and human assets of poor people and their communities. This paper therefore argued that attempts should be made in developing countries to establish institutions and financing mechanisms to assure permanent measures to insure against normal life-cycle contingencies. And for those countries considering alternative social protection measures, the choice should depend on the nature of contingencies experienced and on their administrative and financing capacities. Perhaps, prayer to Almighty God remains the key solution given the spiritual dimension of the social problem under consideration (and since righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any nation of the world).