Project report
Social Protection Financing Diagnostics for Mali
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Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This report looks at how social protection is financed in Mali. It notes that conflict, political instability and repeated shocks have worsened living conditions for most people. It describes the 2016 Social Protection Policy, which extends coverage to all groups, including children, and gives special attention to vulnerable people. The action plan for 2016-2018 is costed at CFAF 794 billion, but government money, international partner support and spending limits are constraints. The report says a review of spending is needed to improve efficiency and fiscal sustainability.
Key points
- Conflict, political instability and vulnerability to price and climate shocks have worsened living conditions for a large share of Mali's population.
- Without improvement, chronic malnutrition may rise, harming human capital and productivity over the long term.
- The 2016 Social Protection Policy extends coverage beyond public servants and the military to all, with special attention to children, women, seniors, persons with disabilities and others.
- The 2016-2018 action plan is estimated at CFAF 794 billion: about 11.3 percent from government, 82.4 percent from social security cost recovery and about 6 percent from international partners.
- Apart from the World Bank, most partner funding is for temporary or emergency schemes.
Limitations
Only the introduction or abstract is available, so the detailed spending analysis and recommendations are not visible. Child-specific outcomes or programme results are not reported here.
Abstract
Despite positive economic growth trends in the past years, Mali is supposed to spend more efforts to achieve the expected level of performance. In summary, conflict and political instability, coupled with Mali’s regular vulnerability to shocks (including both international prices and climate changes), have aggravated the already poor living conditions of a large majority of the country’s population. If this situation continues, the Malian population will experience a significant deterioration in well-being, including increased levels and prevalence of chronic malnutrition, which will have a negative impact on human capital and productivity in the long term. The 2016 Social Protection Policy expands its targets to all, moving away from a simple contributory scheme for public servants and military to protect all children; the unemployed; the workers (active or retired); the public servants (civilian and military, active, or retired); The workers from informal and agricultural sectors including the independents. Moreover, the policy gives special attention to certain categories of people in difficult circumstances, including seniors, persons with disabilities, children and women, pupils in Mali, the unemployed, and those who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive. Finally, the National Social Protection Policy also aims to adaptively help management of government responses to calamities, disasters, and other humanitarian crises. Nevertheless, the difficult economic situation of the country will have a negative impact on the implementation of this policy. Increase in spending on security, high vulnerability to world market, and limited economic growth are constraints to have adequate budget for social protection programs. The estimated cost for the operationalization of the action plan (2016–2018) is estimated at CFAF 794 billion over three years but the government contribution represents 11.3 percent while 82.4 percent is from the cost recovery of the social security system through institutions of social security and about 6 percent from international development partners. However, except for the World Bank support, most of the current international development partners’ financial support is for temporary or emergency schemes. Therefore, a deeper review of financial health of social protection is needed to help the government to achieve its objectives. To achieve the goal of having an articulated set of programs under a social protection system to reduce poverty, hunger, and food insecurity; promote resilience against shocks; and promote equity requires large investment or a budget reallocation from ineffective to effective policies. The review of the current government expenditures on social protection, including the emergency programs supported by international development partners, will help assess the financing structure of social protection programs in Mali and then provide recommendations on improving the efficiency of spending and fiscal sustainability of the Social Protection and Labor system (SPL system). (Mali)