The World Bank, in collaboration with the ARCH coordination unit in Benin is organizing a workshop on « Extending Pension Coverage to Informal Sector Workers in Africa » in Cotonou during May 29-31, 2019. The coverage of pension systems in the region continues to be limited to the small segment of people in the formal sector who can afford to pay contributions to the existing pension systems to save for retirement. As a result, extending pension coverage to the large informal sector remains a challenge in Africa. Informality poses some distinctive issues in providing retirement income that cannot be addressed merely by extending conventional pension systems to these workers. Different solutions are needed to tackle the unique characteristics of this group.
An increasing number of governments in the region are examining initiatives to extend pension coverage to informal sector workers. The objective of this workshop is to bring together government stakeholders and regional institutions to promote an open discussion about extending pension coverage to the informal sector.
The workshop will bring together government officials from pension institutions, ministries and supervisory agencies from fourteen countries (Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Uganda) as well as representatives of regional supervisory organizations in West Africa, (CIPRES: Inter-African Confederation of Social Welfare, and CREPMF: Regional Council of Public Savings and Financial Markets).
The Social Protection and Jobs team of the World Bank wishes to recognize the generous award of a grant from the World Bank’s Rapid Social Response Trust Fund Program, which is supported by the Russian Federation, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Australia, and Denmark, without which this event would not have been possible.