Power of data in extending social protection, including to migrant workers in ECCAS countries

Social protection is a fundamental human right and a key driver of social and economic stability. The International Labour Organization (ILO) and various United Nations instruments emphasize the need to extend social protection to all, including migrant workers, as a means to promote inclusive growth and reduce inequality. However, the achievement of this goal is often hampered by gaps in data collection and analysis, particularly regarding migrant workers, making it difficult to ensure comprehensive social protection coverage.

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems play a critical role in the development of national social protection strategies and in extending coverage to all workers. These systems provide the evidence needed for informed policymaking and program implementation, fostering public debate and strengthening political commitment. By identifying gaps and promoting effective strategies, M&E systems help enhance the efficiency and scope of social protection systems, especially in reaching migrant workers.

The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) is actively working to expand social protection coverage for migrant workers across its member states. In support of this initiative, the Joint Labour Migration Programme (JLMP) Action has introduced the ILO Social Security Inquiry (SSI) , which includes a specialized module on migrant workers to address data gaps. In close collaboration and consultation with the ILO Universal Social Protection Department (SOCPRO) in Geneva as well as the Regional Office for Africa (ROAF), and in partnership with JLMP Action, the Social Protection, Governance and Tripartism (SPGT) team of the International Training Centre of the ILO developed a capacity-building program for national focal points within ECCAS. This initiative aims to equip them with the necessary skills to collect, monitor, and analyse data on migrant workers, contributing to the implementation of the ECCAS Roadmap and advancing progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly target 1.3.

OBJECTIVES

• Increase awareness and knowledge of the international legal framework and ILO standards to provide adequate coverage for workers, including migrant workers;

• Enhance knowledge of social protection concepts and principles contributing to the design of a national statistical system;

• Become familiar with methods and definitions of social protection statistics, including ILO methodology for collection and monitoring social protection data and Social Security Inquiry (SSI) with the module on migrant workers;

• Improve capacity to collect, process and analyse social protection data in a coherent and systemic way, producing minimum and extended sets of social protection indicators;

• Become equipped with the knowledge of the social protection data cycle and step-by-step implementation plan for building and strengthening the national strategy;

• Enhance the capacity of disseminating and communicating statistical data for evidence-based decision-making, design and implementation of social protection policies and programmes to support better social protection coverage of migrant workers;

• Develop a set of action-oriented recommendations on migrant workers’ data collection and analysis.

CONTENT

• Module 1: Social Protection Concepts

• Module 2: Social Protection Statistics

• Module 3: Recent Developments in Social Protection

• Module 4: Extending Social Protection to Migrant Workers;

• Collecting and monitoring social protection data at the global, regional and on national level

• International legal framework for social protection statistics: ILO principles and definitions

• Challenges and opportunities for social protection data collection and analysis in ECCAS countries

• Relevance of establishing a national system of social protection statistics. Phases, stakeholders and guiding principles

• Social protection data cycle: Data entry, processing and production of data and statistics. SSI tool and Module on migrant workers

• Legal social protection coverage of migrant workers

• Mapping the landscape for extending social protection to migrant workers in ECCAS

• Relevance of the minimum parameters for national systems of social protection statistics. Indicators of effective coverage

• Disaggregation of social protection data and indicators: focus on migrant status

• Understanding coverage dimensions: trends and indicators, and monitoring progress in line with the ECCAS Roadmap

• How to guarantee reliable and quality data?

• Good practice using SSI online: on-distance collaboration and production of disaggregated SP data – experience of Tanzania

• ILO strategy to extend social protection to migrant workers. Obstacles and solutions in the context of the ECCAS Roadmap

• Social protection data collection and monitoring with focus on migrant workers: from theory to action points for ECCAS Roadmap

• Action points for ECCAS Roadmap

NUMBER OF HOURS: 30