The Role and Nature of Non-Contributory Social Security in the Design of Social Protection Strategies for Older People in DCs

Non-contributory social security is increasingly attracting the attention of developing country policymakers and observers, not least as a mechanism to help address the perceived failure of contributory social security to reduce poverty in developing countries. This development is most visible in relation to non-contributory social security's role in contributing to meeting the immediate cash income needs of a growing number of unprotected older (and disabled) people. Despite the opportunities for extending social security coverage and reducing poverty presented by non-contributory programmes, the insertion of such programmes, for instance, within developing country social protection strategies, presents fundamental challenges in terms of how social security, henceforth, should be organised, financed and administered. Not only do these challenges have implications for the global normative basis of social security but they also present the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and other organisations involved in international social security debates with important pointers regarding how the existing coverage gap in social security could be filled. [DSA 2003 Conference paper]