Early Lessons from Social Protection and Jobs Response to COVID-19 in Middle East and North Africa Countries
Countries in the Middle East and North Africa region quickly introduced measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 following the first confirmed cases. These measures included curfews, lockdowns, and social distancing. As a result of COVID-19 induced...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/848721640246541979/Early-Lessons-from-Social-Protection-and-Jobs-Response-to-COVID-19-in-Middle-East-and-North-Africa-MENA-Countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36801 |
| Summary: | Countries in the Middle East and
North Africa region quickly introduced measures to limit the
spread of COVID-19 following the first confirmed cases.
These measures included curfews, lockdowns, and social
distancing. As a result of COVID-19 induced impacts,
countries in the region adopted social protection measures
to mitigate the human and economic impacts of the pandemic.
But most of the countries in MENA were already experiencing
poor macroeconomics brought on by the decline in oil prices
and by fragility, conflict, and violence. Illness and loss
of income due to the pandemic (largely from informal
sources) exacerbated the extreme vulnerability faced by the
poor and vulnerable groups. Social protection programs, and
particularly social safety nets (SSNs), can help households
absorb short-term consumption risk during periods of crisis
and build resilience to manage future shocks. In MENA, 21
countries and territories formally announced social
protection measures to cope with the impacts of COVID-19.
According to a Word Bank real-time review of social
protection and jobs responses to COVID-19 (updated May
2021), measures in MENA have spanned social assistance,
social insurance, and labor markets programs. Social
assistance measures accounted for 59 percent of overall
response, whereas social insurance and labor markets made up
23 and 18 percent, respectively. Since the World Bank
launched its COVID-19 response, Social Protection and Jobs
(SPJ) support to MENA countries has been fast, flexible, and
adaptive. The number of Bank-supported social safety net
beneficiaries increased from 2 million to 16 million in just
1.5 years of response which demonstrates that social
protection systems in MENA are scalable and that country
systems and programs are flexible to facilitate this
scalability. Early lessons suggest the World Bank
significantly contributed to addressing financing,
knowledge, and delivery needs based on existing lending and
policy dialogue platforms, drawing on the experience in MENA
as well as global learning. But lessons also suggest that
social protection policy dialogue in MENA is even more
important moving forward, to help countries strengthen and
boost policy reforms and to design and implement social
protection programs and systems that can adequately,
effectively, and efficiently target the poor and vulnerable,
and be able to respond to population needs during disasters
and shocks. This paper provides a documentation of the
context for SPJ COVID19 response in MENA countries’, a
framework for continued response and some of the early
lessons learned. |
|---|