A crucial step for Myanmar: Launch of social protection strategy

Myanmar kicked off the new year by adopting a new strategy that attempts to provide a social safety net to all its citizens for the first time. Created in consultation with various development partners, the Social Protection Strategic Plan aims to gradually phase in eight flagship social protection programs over the next 10 years: provide cash allowances to pregnant women and children up to age 2, gradually extend those allowances to older children, provide cash allowances to people with disabilities, administer school nutrition programs, implement public employment and vocational education programs, introduce social pensions, establish self-help groups for the elderly, and provide integrated social protection services. The result of a yearlong process, the strategy was devised with input from a large number of government ministries, U.N. agencies, and international and local nongovernmental organizations. These include UNICEF, the World Food Program, International Labor Organization, the World Bank, Save the Children and HelpAge International. Among the results of this consultation was that universal benefits are preferred to service not just the people living below the poverty line but even those hovering close to it. Local NGOs and trade unions were also involved in an ILO-led assessment-based national dialogue. The results of this dialogue were published in a draft, which includes a detailed costing of the plan. But while there was broad consultation early on in the process, participation in the later stages excluded some development partners and government agencies. Most initiatives in the strategy launched Dec. 30 came from the assessment-based national dialogue report, the final draft of which is yet to be published. At the strategy’s launch in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, DSW Deputy Director General San San Aye said the final stage of the process will involve input from development partners. “We need to look at different methods of implementation and will produce a detailed plan over the next three months,” she said, highlighting the difficulties in distributing cash given Myanmar’s weak financial sector infrastructure and the limited reach of mobile finance. It is an ambitious task, and more discussion is needed on how it will be rolled out, she said. “We need to have a dialogue with development partners and other ministries to identify the best method of implementation,” San San Aye said. Initial priorities: Mothers, children and the elderly Among the first of the eight flagship programs to be rolled out are grants for expectant mothers. The plan is to expand the maternity grant to cover children up to 2 years of age by 2017-18. Drafted with help of UNICEF, the strategy prioritizes child-focused interventions, which experts suggest will have the biggest impact on society. “If you don’t address the issue of child malnutrition, you are looking at irreversible damage and a future population that is less healthy, and has less ability to learn and develop the necessary skills to reach their full potential,” said Mathew Tasker, food security and livelihoods adviser with Save the Children in Myanmar. Rolling out social pensions for the elderly will be part of the first stage of implementation as well. According to research published by HelpAge in 2013, less than 1 in 5 older people in Myanmar have any savings at all, and only 55 percent feel their income is regularly adequate to meet their daily needs. This is being exacerbated by migration of young people to urban areas or abroad in search of higher wages, so younger family members are not around to care for their elders. The social welfare department is planning to water down the social pension element of its strategy, however. Initially proposed to cover everyone older than 65, officials have said that it might roll out the plan to citizens over the age of 90 — or even 100 — to keep costs low, at least in the early stages of implementation. Funding the strategy For fiscal year 2014-15, 19.29 trillion Myanmar kyats ($18.78 billion) have been budgeted for national government expenditure. But while the civilian-led government that took charge in 2011 has increased the budgets for education and health, spending on social protection has lagged far behind. Less than 0.5 percent has been allocated for the sector for the fiscal year, with much of it going to civil service pensions. As such, the question of how this new social protection program will be funded is key — especially since neither the government nor its development partners have approved funding for the scheme. But the strategy does provide detailed calculations of the expected cost of the program. Myanmar’s parliament will now discuss the proposals contained in the strategy as it considers the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins in April. The social welfare department hopes to be able to provide 25,000 kyats per month to people eligible for the pension and 15,000 kyats per month for a maternity grant in the first year. Programs are likely to be funded through the national budget, with development partners expected to contribute technical and financial assistance. One likely source of finance is the World Bank, which returned to Myanmar in 2012 to support reforms. The government has yet to make a formal request. But World Bank officials we spoke to said any such request would be considered as part of the financial institution’s broader partnership with Myanmar. World Bank economist Puja Vasudeva Dutta said in an email that the bank had advised the government to build an evidence base to inform the social protection plan, and to promote broad participation by government agencies, development partners and NGOs. “[I]t will be important to maintain the right balance between short-term 'quick wins' and long-term sustainable solutions,” she said. “Investing in long-term solutions means investing in sustainable institutional, financing and implementation arrangements that will allow public resources to reach the poor and vulnerable in the most efficient and transparent manner possible.” ‘Implementation will not be easy’ The strategy proposes establishing 330 social protection centers at the township level. Some 6,000 social workers will have to be recruited to staff the system. It is a mammoth undertaking in a country where child benefits are currently nonexistent and pensions only cover a tiny number of people. “Implementation will not be easy,” Save the Children’s Tasker said, “but it should be feasible if the government chooses manageable pilot programs and takes them to scale gradually.” One aspect observers find concerning is that the only administrative structure currently in place in all corners of Myanmar at the township level is the General Administration Department, which is part of the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs — deeply untrusted after a half-century of army rule. That is not to mention the risk of funds leaking out at a local level; experience elsewhere suggests this is likely, and graft is thought to be a severe problem throughout Myanmar’s bureaucracy. U Kyaw Linn Htin, an assistant deputy director at the Department of Social Welfare, said the manner of delivery was still being considered. “We are planning a feasibility study to identify the most appropriate delivery system, especially regarding cash transfers,” he said. “The [General Administration Department] is potentially an option, but we need more knowledge first, and we also need to enter into a dialogue with them.” Skeptics argue that the idea of a national strategy to be imposed by the central government is in itself flawed as it would fail to take advantage of existing welfare structures provided by traditional community-based social protection systems. “A universal system might look good on paper, but it requires very strong delivery systems and financial systems,” said Mike Griffiths, head of research at the Social Policy and Poverty Research Group, a local organization working on social protection in Myanmar. “We need a more flexible approach, with more responsibility in the hands of local authorities and the public.” SPPR has been working with state and regional government and township authorities on local social protection plans, and Griffiths proposed letting officials at a local level decide on the specific initiatives, based on local needs. He argued that the central government must specify the basic rights of the population as well as targets and indicators for local-level authorities to report on. “We need more dialogue about how best to meet local needs and how to finance measures through locally raised revenue,” he said. “The dialogue at the state and region level about this is just starting to happen now.” A step toward universal, ‘rights-based’ social scheme Lou Tessier, social protection technical officer at the ILO liaison office in Yangon, said the strategy’s publication was “the beginning of a process toward developing a universal and rights-based social protection system in Myanmar.” “In order to build a social protection floor for all in Myanmar, as in most countries, sustained political will and subsequent resource allocation will be key,” she said. “Done right, the extension of social protection ensures the effective access to a human right, which is an important component of the relationship between the government and the people. It also has the potential to reduce poverty and inequality and to enhance inclusive growth.” For development partners, the strategy’s publication is seen as a promising sign that the government is serious about sharing with the Myanmar people the increased revenues that the resource-rich nation is likely to reap as its economy opens to investment from the West. In comments published by Myanmar state media, UNICEF representative in Myanmar Bertrand Bainvel said the strategy would help make the case that the country should invest heavily in services for families and children. “It now all depends on policymakers, including the parliamentarians, to make social protection a reality for millions of children and their families, right now, right from the 2015-2016 budget,” he said. Check out more insights and analysis provided to hundreds of Executive Members worldwide, and subscribe to the Development Insider to receive the latest news, trends and policies that influence your organization.