Ndangwa Noyoo*
Introduction
The purpose of this policy brief is to advance the comprehensive and transformative social
policy concept for Africa, in the light of the continent’s desire to attain comprehensive and
sustainable social development. It serves as a counterweight to the ubiquitous ‘social
protection’ agenda that is being peddled across Africa by certain neo-colonial and neo-liberal
forces and other actors, who are passing it off as ‘social policy.’ It is argued in this brief that
the social protection agenda that is being rolled out across Africa is not only retrogressive but
will lock Africa in its current state of underdevelopment and will not liberate the mass of
Africans from inter alia, high levels of chronic poverty, social inequalities, unemployment, a
plethora of debilitating social ills and destitution. For this policy brief, social policy is taken as
liberatory and not a palliative tool that states should implement to raise the quality of life of all
their citizens and not a select few. It is based on extensive research in the social policy and
social development arena by SAPDN members which is also published in different research
reports, academic and peer-reviewed journal articles, chapters, and books.
Background and context
Since the late 1980s, policy attention has focused on social protection instruments to mitigate
the impact of adjustment: the so-called ‘social dimensions of adjustment’ issues. In recent
years, the focus has turned to cash transfer (conditional and non-conditional) as a policy
instrument of choice for addressing poverty and ‘vulnerability’1 and not paying attention to the
overarching concerns of redistribution, production, reproduction and protection working in
tandem with economic policy in pursuit of national social and economic goals.
2 Presently,
almost all African countries are strapped into the policy straightjacket of a residual, constrictive
and narrow perspective of social policy in the name of ‘social protection’ which is undergirded
by a neo-liberal ideology. Hence, social policy does not move from a broad and transformative
conceptual premise and thus resulting in palliative, ad hoc, temporal and means-tested types of
social services across Africa. It is important to note that these neo-liberal ‘social policies’
mainly stem from the World Bank’s and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Structural
Adjustment Programmes (SAPs).
Nevertheless, Africa has not always been in the present state of disarray in the light of public
and social policy choices. When African countries became independent in the 1960s, their
social policy agendas were geared towards building new societies altogether which were akin
to the ‘good society’:
* Ndangwa Noyoo is the Director of SAPDN and a Full Professor.2
In the good society all of its citizens must have personal liberty, basic well-being, racial and ethnic
equality, the opportunity for a rewarding life. Nothing, it must be recognized, so comprehensively
denies the liberties of the individual as a total absence of money. Or so impairs it as too little
(Galbraith, 1996, p. 4).3
To this end, social policy was meant to redress the colonial wrongs that had resulted in
deplorable socio-economic outcomes of mass poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, hunger, and ill-
health, to name but a few. Social policies during this period were driven by strong ideological
positions, chief among them, Pan-Africanism. Notably, social policies had strong normative
anchors. For example, in Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, many individuals who were either
combatants from the various liberation movements that were fighting to overthrow settler
colonialism and apartheid in southern Africa or were refugees, had benefitted from the free
education, health-care and other universal services in these countries.
Furthermore, a good number of the post-colonial states expanded their social sectors with
houses, schools, hospitals, clinics and universities being built across the continent after
independence. Social service provision emanating from this slant of social policy was universal
in content and outlook, which translated into ‘free’ education, health-care, housing and food
subsidies, among others. 4 Crucially, social policies served multiple developmental and
transformative purposes, which enabled most African countries to tackle in significant ways
the negative outcomes of colonial rule.5 But after the world recessions of 1973 and 1979,
African economies were plunged into states of perpetual crises, resulting in the erosion of most
of the social and economic gains which were attained in the 1960s and 1970s. What seems to
have exacerbated the problems for African economies were their imprudent and short-term
inspired responses, wrong policy choices on the part of bureaucrats and political actors, and
political misrule6
, which then facilitated the unfettered entry of the World Bank and IMF into
African nations’ affairs.
Moving towards a comprehensive and transformative social policy for Africa
In this discussion, we acknowledge that social policy is only meaningful if we (society, a group,
or an organisation) believe that we can affect change in some form or other. The word “policy”
is used here in an action-oriented and problem-solving sense.7 To this end, social policy should
fulfil three main functions in society, namely: social, political and economic. The social
function lies in reducing the impact of life cycle risks through social insurance and alleviating
poverty through social assistance. It helps people to stabilise their lives and support their
families. The political function lies in its stabilising effect, and therefore, social justice and
greater equality are vital factors for building trust and social cohesion and contribute to political
stability. The economic function of social policy lies primarily in widening the productive
capacity of a society through the inclusion of marginalised areas and social groups in the
growth process, and through investment in improved health and education8, among others.
Comprehensive and transformative social policies for a comprehensive and sustainable
development process across Africa are proposed in this policy brief as the most viable vehicle
that will uplift African societies and unshackle them from their current state of
underdevelopment and dependency. In addition, in a country like South Africa, where settler
colonialism and apartheid had perniciously socially reengineered its social, political, economic
and other spheres, to respond to the purposes and agendas of white supremacy, this social
policy slant must be able to socially reengineer the foregoing. When we mention social
development in this paper, we are referring to a broader conceptualisation of development.
Social development is thus an approach to development that leans heavily on the social3
dimensions of development on the one hand. On the other hand, social development is an
envisaged end state where social indicators and all the social dimensions of development would
have been raised to unprecedented levels. To get to this envisaged end state, countries would
have to rely on particular tools, instruments and vehicles, for example, social policies. It is
defined here as:
An approach to development that is underwritten by both economic and social goals in pursuit of
an inclusive process of development, while recognising the limitations placed on indigenous
African development processes by colonialism, apartheid and neo-colonialism. Social development
seeks to raise the quality of life of all people by bringing to bear their cultures, mind-sets, traditions,
values and belief systems in the development process. It puts people at the centre of development
by harnessing their strengths, capabilities and agency so that they become capable and self-reliant
actors who can shape their own destinies (Noyoo, 2025 – Forthcoming October).9
A new social policy model for Africa
We propose a new social policy model for Africa, which is buttressed by four pillars,
namely:
(i) (ii) (iii) Comprehensive and Transformative Social Policy
Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Development
African Indigenous Knowledge Systems/ Indigenous Social Security Systems and
Forms of Care
(iv) Evidence-Based Policy Decision-Making
The following figure illustrates the foregoing.
Figure 1: Comprehensive and Transformative Social Policy for Comprehensive and
Sustainable Social Development in Africa (SAPDN, 2025)
Comprehensive and
Transformative Social
Policy
Inclusive and
Sustainable Economic
Development
African Indigenous
Knowlege Systems/
Indigenous Social
Security sytems and
Forms of Care
Evidence-Based Policy
Decision-Making4
In the light of the model presented above, conceptual definitions of the foregoing are proffered
in the table below.
Figure 1: Defining the concepts in the model
Concept Definition
Comprehensive and Transformative Social
Policy
1. 2. 3. Social policy is understood as public action
designed to expand choices and
opportunities for people throughout the
development process. It simultaneously
addresses aspects of social production,
reproduction, protection and redistribution,
as well as issues of equity, inclusion and
rights. In that light, the report examines the
following: (a) the core of social protection;
(b) health, education and labour market
policy; and (c) broader issues, including
macroeconomic policy, rural development,
access to water and environmental
protection in so far as themes of equity and
equality are concerned (ESCWA, 2009).
Social policy is a type of State intervention
that directly affects social welfare, social
institutions and social relations. It involves
overarching concerns with redistribution,
production, reproduction and protection, and
works in tandem with economic policy in
pursuit of national social and economic
goals (Mkandawire, 2005).
Central to our idea of transformative social
policy is its grounding in the norms of
equality and social solidarity. Universal
membership and coverage in provisioning
are outcomes of such a normative
commitment. Social policy framed by these
norms serves many functions: production,
protection, reproduction, re-distribution, and
social cohesion or nation-building. The
transformative social-policy instruments
range from education to healthcare, agrarian
reform, child-care, old-age care, and to fiscal
instruments. The development outcomes
feed not only social and economic
development (growth with structural
transformation) but also political
development, as well. The outcomes,
themselves, go on to reinforce and deepen
the normative framework of the social-
policy regime. Central to the model is the
immanent link between social policy and
economic policy, bound by the shared norms
of equality and solidarity (Adesina, 2011).Inclusive and Sustainable Economic
Development
African Indigenous Knowledge Systems/
Indigenous Social Security Systems and
Forms of Care
Evidence-Based Policy Decision-Making 5
4. Social policy as public interventions that
guarantee adequate and secure living
standards that enable all people to strive
toward and develop their full potential. It
comprises basic social services such as
education and health, income transfers
(including social insurance, child benefits
and social assistance), and labour market
policies. In a development context, social
policy plays a key role in production,
reproduction, redistribution and protection
against life and market risks while fostering
social cohesion.
10
The concept of inclusive economic development
is taken as a sub-concept of inclusive
development. Inclusive economic development
refers to the capacity to advance economic
growth, developed with the contribution of all
citizens, without excluding any important group
of society.11
These are mechanisms of care and organic
safety-nets emanating from Africa’s pre-colonial
past, which survived colonial onslaughts and
post-colonial state neglect, which are employed
by Africans to support each other in times of need
and during social and economic crises, and which
assist the most vulnerable, marginalised, and
excluded members of African societies to sustain
their livelihoods. They are naturally occurring
and intrinsic to communities across Africa and
are characterised by strong bonds of solidarity
and buttressed by value-systems, philosophies,
cultures, and traditions, which enjoin all
members to relate to each other in a mutually
obligatory and reciprocal manner.12
Evidence-based policymaking is not just about
the need for policymakers to understand how
evidence is produced and should be used. It is
also about the need for academics to reflect on
the assumptions they make about the best ways
to gather evidence and put the results into
practice, in a political environment where other
people may not share, or even know about, their
understanding of the world; and the difference
between the identification of evidence on the
success of an intervention, in one place and one
point in time (or several such instances), and the
political choice to roll it out, based on the
assumption that national governments are best
placed to spread that success throughout the
country.136
Conclusion
SAPDN is proposing this new social policy pathway for Africa, after gleaning perspectives
from the foregoing sources in the table above. We move from an understanding that social
policy is not only about mitigating social ills, but it is also about building inclusive and
sustainable societies where citizens flourish and are free to decide their own destinies. It is not
merely about ‘safety-nets’ and poverty alleviation, it is more than that, because it is about
investing in people, and making sure that everyone has access to universal and high-quality
health-care, education and employment opportunities. Social policy is about making sure that
economic imperatives are geared towards social development, while bringing into play
macroeconomic policies, economic and governance systems strongly influence the direction
and the content of social policy. While accepting the foregoing standpoints, we argue
nonetheless that social policy cannot resonate with African people’s aspirations if it solely
moves from a Western premise. And thus, social policy must be underpinned by African
Indigenous Knowledge Systems/ Indigenous Social Security Systems and Forms of Care.
Lastly, all the aforementioned must be informed by a robust research process that is tilted
towards the gathering of data and information to inform policy decision-making. In this way,
the development of policies in Africa, which seek the attainment of comprehensive and
sustainable social development, will not be left to the caprices of guess work or blind ideology,
but hard data and evidence which mirror African conditions and realities. Furthermore,
Indigenous Knowledge Systems/ Indigenous Social Security Systems and Forms of Care and
evidence-based policy decision-making must continue reinforcing each other while buttressing
comprehensive and transformative social policy and inclusive and sustainable economic
development.7
References
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