Latest Report: Digital Social Protection in Africa

The right to decent work and to social protection when we are unable to work is guaranteed to all citizens in international human rights law and in labour rights conventions. 

However, many marginalised workers, including informal, disabled and migrant workers, are effectively excluded from their social protection entitlements due to lack of awareness, literacies or affordability. 

The digitalisation of social protection promised to increase the convenience and efficiency of accessing social protection entitlements (and it does for many), but millions of workers are being further excluded by digitalisation due to lack of smartphones, connectivity or digital literacy.

This project conducted research in six countries with over seven hundred participants, making it the largest study of its kind to date. The report finds that marinalised workers were excluded from the design of the digital systems and that the digital systems present barries to access at the same time as introducing new digital rights risks including violations of privacy, data protection and disability exclusions. 

What is social protection?

Download the full report here