A market trader falls ill. No leave, no allowance, no fund to turn to: she goes back to her stall before she has recovered, or closes it for good. According to the International Labour Organization, about 3.8 billion people, nearly half of humanity, receive no social protection benefit of any kind. President Macky Sall makes this a commitment of his candidacy for the office of UN Secretary-General.
A net under the shocks. Family allowances, pensions, health insurance, unemployment support: such schemes keep an illness or a drought from pushing a household into lasting poverty. They also support local demand when crisis strikes, because a benefit paid out is spent at the neighbourhood market.
The informal economy. In Africa, more than four workers in five work in the informal economy, according to the International Labour Organization. Systems built for wage earners leave them out. What they need is simple contributions paid by mobile phone, and basic benefits open to everyone.
The Global Accelerator. Launched in 2021 on the Secretary-General's initiative, the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection aims to create four hundred million jobs and extend social protection to four billion people. The next office-holder will inherit it and will have to report on it.
Paying without borrowing. Lasting social protection rests on taxation. It therefore depends on the fight against illicit financial flows and on fairer global taxation, two subjects this candidacy also carries.
The budget trade-off. Twelve years as head of state teach what each line of spending costs and what it returns. The vision statement filed with the United Nations links development and peace: social protection that holds also keeps a country stable.
Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.
The International Labour Organization's World Social Protection Report 2024-26 and the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection are public. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net