DISCUSSION PAPER ON SUSTAINABILITY OF APPROACHES ON LOANS FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION IN AFRICA

The document argues that while loans from development partners have helped launch social protection schemes in Kenya and Tanzania, they create long-term debt sustainability risks and may undermine national autonomy. It advocates for a shift toward grant-based financing and domestic resource mobilization to ensure the sustainability of social protection floors.

• Financing for social protection in developing countries is often inadequate, with governments allocating an average of 2.1 per cent of GDP, leading to a reliance on Official Development Assistance (ODA) grants and loans from the World Bank (IBRD/IDA) and IMF.
• There is a fundamental ideological divide between universalist approaches to social protection, which are based on human rights and tend to be more politically sustainable, and targeted transfers promoted by the IMF and World Bank, which often include work obligations and can exclude vulnerable groups.
• In Kenya, social protection is financed through both government and non-state actors, with the government spending approximately 0.9 percent of GDP on social assistance. Since devolution in 2012, the Kenyan government's contribution to social assistance has increased, while external partner contributions declined by nearly 45 percent.
• Tanzania's social protection is heavily dependent on external funding, with development partners financing 68.7 percent of social assistance spending. The Productive Social Safety Nets (PSSN) program is described as being almost entirely donor-financed.
• Kenya's public debt has risen significantly, from 48.6 percent of GDP in 2014 to an estimated 69 percent by the end of 2021, exceeding the 50 percent threshold previously set by the government under the Public Finance Management Act 2012.
• The IMF assessed Kenya's public debt as sustainable but with a high risk of debt distress in March 2021, citing factors such as the COVID-19 shock, high past deficits, and financial weaknesses in state-owned enterprises.
• The COVID-19 pandemic increased social needs and strained budgets; in Kenya, the government allocated over Ksh 21.8 billion for response measures, supported by a US$1 billion loan from the World Bank.
• The document argues that loans for social protection can impoverish less developed countries because a significant portion of collected revenue is diverted to repay the loans rather than funding social services.

APA

African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (n.d.). DISCUSSION PAPER ON SUSTAINABILITY OF APPROACHES ON LOANS FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION IN AFRICA. https://afrodad.org/sites/default/files/publications/Discussion-Paper-on-the-Sustainability-of-Approaches-on-Loans-for-Social-Protection-in-Africa-Cases-of-Kenya-and-Tanzania-1.pdf

Chicago

African Forum and Network on Debt and Development. DISCUSSION PAPER ON SUSTAINABILITY OF APPROACHES ON LOANS FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION IN AFRICA. n.d. https://afrodad.org/sites/default/files/publications/Discussion-Paper-on-the-Sustainability-of-Approaches-on-Loans-for-Social-Protection-in-Africa-Cases-of-Kenya-and-Tanzania-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=African Forum and Network on Debt and Development |title=DISCUSSION PAPER ON SUSTAINABILITY OF APPROACHES ON LOANS FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION IN AFRICA |url=https://afrodad.org/sites/default/files/publications/Discussion-Paper-on-the-Sustainability-of-Approaches-on-Loans-for-Social-Protection-in-Africa-Cases-of-Kenya-and-Tanzania-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{africanforumandnetworkondebtanddevelopmentnddiscussion, author = {{African Forum and Network on Debt and Development}}, title = {{DISCUSSION PAPER ON SUSTAINABILITY OF APPROACHES ON LOANS FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION IN AFRICA}}, institution = {African Forum and Network on Debt and Development}, url = {https://afrodad.org/sites/default/files/publications/Discussion-Paper-on-the-Sustainability-of-Approaches-on-Loans-for-Social-Protection-in-Africa-Cases-of-Kenya-and-Tanzania-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }