High-Level Meeting on the progress and challenges of extending social protection within the ILO-Senegal-Belgium partnership, 22/11/2022, Dakar

The Belgian Embassy in Senegal has announced a new partnership between the ILO and the Belgian Ministry in charge of development cooperation to finance the implementation of the ILO Flagship Programme on Social Protection Floors in West Africa for the period 2023-2025. The announcement took place on 22 November in Dakar during the High-Level Meeting on the progress and challenges of extending social protection within the ILO-Senegal-Belgium partnership.

The event brought together representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Social Dialogue and Relations with Institutions; the Minister of Community Development, Social and Territorial Equity; the Belgian Embassy in Senegal; the General Delegation for Social Protection and National Solidarity; the National Agency for Universal Health Coverage; the National Social Mutual of Artisans; the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Senegal; the International Labour Office; workers' and employers' organizations and development partners such as the World Bank, the French Development Agency and GIZ. The representatives of the government and social partners expressed their support and thanks to the Government of Belgium and the ILO for the technical support provided so far and welcomed the new partnership, which will achieve a greater impact in terms of effective coverage of workers in the informal economy and their families.

Meeting with craft and related trades workers who are members of National Social Mutual of Artisans, Thiès, 23/11/2022

The new project, which is currently being signed, follows on from the project "Building robust national social protection systems to cover workers in the informal economy and their families, facilitate their access to health care and enable them to face the challenges of tomorrow" which ends on 31 December 2022. This project has enabled the creation and implementation of the Simplified Scheme for workers in the informal economy (RSPC), as well as the operationalisation of the health branch through the National Social Mutual of Artisans (Craft and related trades workers), which is responsible for the extension of social health protection to artisans and which currently has 8,000 memberships.

This new partnership will strengthen the implementation of the RSPC by supporting the decentralised structures of the National Social Mutual of Artisans, by building the capacity of socio-professional organisations in the informal economy to better participate in the implementation of the RSPC and by supporting the establishment of a National Social Mutual Insurance for the sales workers. The extension of social protection to workers in the informal economy is a key objective of Senegal's National Social Protection Strategy, the Decent Work Country Programme and contributes to achieving the targets of the ILO's Global Flagship Programme on Social Protection Floors, as well as the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Meeting with craft and related trades workers who are members of National Social Mutual of Artisans, Thiès, 23/11/2022