Volume 18, No. 6, 2021
The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Global Call For Reviewing Social Protection Policies
Hamidou Taffa Abdoul-Azize
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic posed serious challenges to the global economy and deteriorated the living conditions of many people all around the world. Regardless of the economic level, many countries executed numerous measures to respond to the negative consequences of this pandemic. The purpose of this study is to examine how the pandemic led to global implementation of social protection programs. The systematic review was conducted and the data were collected from Web of Science, Google Scholar and some specific international Institutions websites (World Bank, WHO and ILO). The results revealed that social protection gained increasing importance during the global health emergency. Globally, many countries redesigned their earlier existing social protection schemes and implemented new ones targeting new types of beneficiaries. Moreover, the pandemic led to executing several non-contributory social protection programs to support vulnerable categories, enhance economic resilience from various shocks. Consequently, the COVID-19 pandemic showed that the social protection plays a strategic and flexible role in managing several impacts of global crises. The study draws up some recommendations for the practitioners and policymakers to reconsider social protection for more global solidarity in managing forthcoming pandemics and other shocks.
Pages: 4166-4185
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers, social protection, poverty