African governments must prioritise social policy to improve lives – Prof Anyidoho

The Gender Equitable and Transformative Social Policy for Africa (GETSPA) project is urging African governments to pay closer attention to social policies that directly improve the daily lives of citizens.

The group explained that although economic issues often dominate national conversations, governments must also focus on policies that support basic needs such as education, health, security, decent work, and general wellbeing.

Professor Nana Akua Anyidoho, a lead researcher on the GETSPA project and an Associate Professor at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana, made the call during a media interview at the group’s public lecture. The event was themed “From Streets to Systems: How Workers in Informal Employment are Building Social Policy in Africa from the Ground Up.”

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Speaking on the importance of social policy, Prof Anyidoho said:

The recommendation is that we need to pay attention to social policy. Social policy is really when you think about it, all the things that make our lives worth living.

She added:

We talk a lot about economic policy, about GDP and inflation and all these statistics, but when we ask anybody what kind of life you want to live, what kind of life will give you fulfilment and happiness, there are basic things you want the water to run.

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Laura Alfers, International Coordinator for WIEGO and Research Associate at the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit at Rhodes University, South Africa, also called for stronger cooperation between governments and citizens to solve social issues. She highlighted the challenges faced by women working in informal markets, especially when it comes to childcare.

She said:

So we conducted research on childcare in informal marketplaces and we found that in Accra, only seven markets out of forty-two in 2014 had childcare centres. I think there are sixty-six markets now in Accra. There are still only seven childcare centres catering to women working informally in these markets.

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She further noted the lack of clear rules for providing childcare in markets.

We also discovered that there were no regulations or guidelines which spoke to how we could create and regulate childcare centres in urban informal markets and we also discovered that there was a lot of division in the state about who would take responsibility for the issue of childcare provision.

The GETSPA project believes that paying more attention to social policy will help African countries build stronger, fairer societies where citizens’ basic needs are protected and supported.