Restructuring social safety nets in the AU-EU partnership: Why a youth-inclusive framework is a must
Social safety net policies and programmes are designed to protect vulnerable households from exclusion, shocks, and poverty. They encompass social insurance schemes, food and nutrition programmes, public works employment, and subsidies. Although the concept originates from post-World War II welfare systems, in Africa safety nets became prominent and expanded significantly in the 2000s. Ethiopia and […]
Social safety net policies and programmes are designed to protect vulnerable households from exclusion, shocks, and poverty. They encompass social insurance schemes, food and nutrition programmes, public works employment, and subsidies. Although the concept originates from post-World War II welfare systems, in Africa safety nets became prominent and expanded significantly in the 2000s. Ethiopia and Ghana were among the early adopters, supported by the World Bank, UNICEF, and the ILO, while Nigeria joined later in 2012 with schemes such as the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), followed by the National Social Safety Nets Project (NASSP), which experimented with conditional cash transfers.
The AU-EU partnership, with the EU as the largest donor to the AU and Nigeria as the biggest contributor among AU member states, provides a broad platform to strengthen such systems. With a shared commitment to human development, the AU-EU framework—renewed during the Brussels Summit in 2022—focuses on social protection, digital transformation, migration, peace, and climate action. However, the partnership’s potential to build inclusive, technology-driven safety nets remains largely untapped.
To achieve equitable development, AU-EU social safety nets must prioritise four key areas: digital inclusion, education, climate action, and dignity. Digital inclusion ensures that every citizen has unrestricted access to digital services and opportunities. Education equips individuals with the tools for civic engagement and economic participation. Climate action, when integrated into safety planning, is vital for mitigating the effects of extreme weather, food insecurity, and other climate-related challenges. Dignity, meanwhile, demands that fundamental rights are protected and prioritised. Recognising that these elements—education, climate action, dignity, and digital inclusion—are interconnected, the partnership can foster resilient, inclusive societies.
The role of young people in building sustainable social safety systems cannot be overstated. Particularly in fragile and displaced communities. The AU-EU partnership must harness youth potential to provide innovative solutions and long-term engagement. Youth integration, which entails involving young people in social safety planning, offers several benefits. For instance, youths in conflict-affected communities can provide first-hand knowledge of challenges as well as insights into their specific communal needs. By playing active roles, especially in fragile and displaced settings, young people can help design resilient and responsive safety nets capable of tackling violence, displacement, and climate-induced disasters. To achieve long-term social equity and intergenerational collaboration, the AU-EU partnership must, therefore, prioritise youth inclusion in the design and implementation of social safety programmes.
In Africa, however, social safety systems often fail to cater to key groups such as informal sector workers, digital gig workers, and youths in conflict-prone areas. In Nigeria in particular, the social protection framework excludes online freelancers, informal workers, and displaced youths from empowerment schemes, emergency cash transfers, and other initiatives. This exclusion is significant, as informal workers make up over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s workforce, yet remain largely outside the system. The problem is especially acute in the North East, where insecurity has displaced many young people. Nigeria’s social protection system largely ignores the informal sector, leaving freelancers, vulnerable youths, and informal workers in a persistent state of marginalisation.
Despite being created to support poor and vulnerable populations, Nigeria’s National Social Register (NSR) has under-performed. It struggles with vague data collection methods, lacks community oversight, and fails to uphold digital transparency. Consequently, the NSR has been unable to accurately document vulnerable youths in conflict-affected states such as Zamfara and Borno. This shortfall hinders the ability of Nigeria’s social safety system to identify and respond to the specific needs of unemployed youths, school dropouts, and displaced persons. The consequences are stark: thousands of young people in the North East face insecurity that deprives them of educational and employment opportunities. The situation is worsened by the fact that Nigeria has more than 10 million out-of-school children, with poverty driving even more youths away from school.
The AU-EU partnership holds great promise for Africa. It could serve as a platform for integrating the EU’s best practices into Africa’s social protection framework. The EU’s expertise and technological sophistication could be critical in establishing data systems to effectively document informal workers, displaced youths, and other marginalised populations.
Equally important is recognising Africa’s vibrant youth population as a resource. Young Africans have the skills and capacity to manage electronic registration systems, social safety databases, emergency cash payment systems, and other platforms needed to sustain effective social safety nets. For the AU-EU partnership, youth integration should not be a matter of debate; it is the catalyst required to build resilient and impactful social safety systems.
Abdullateef is the Executive Director of the Saving African Youths Dream Initiative (SAYDi) and a European Union Youth Adviser in Nigeria and ECOWAS.