Social Protection

Near East and North Africa

RNE_resized

Poverty and food insecurity in the Near East and North Africa are rising due to political instability, climate change, conflicts, displacement, and economic crises from COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. The region needs coherent, evidence-based social protection policies and programs for all, focusing on vulnerable groups like women, youth, and persons with disabilities within agrifood systems. Although social protection has expanded over the last decade, coverage remains below 40 percent of the population.

FAO's work in the region focuses on generating socioeconomic data on vulnerable groups within agrifood systems. The Organization facilitates national social dialogues with rural non-state actors and strengthens governments' capacities to expand the coverage, adequacy, and comprehensiveness of social protection systems. This is crucial in addressing lifecycle events and covariate shocks that affect rural populations, especially agricultural workers.

Countries
News
Near East and North Africa: FAO and ILO host the launch of the Policy incubator to boost social insurance for agricultural workers
28/06/2024

A community of practice has been created to facilitate interactive peer-to-peer knowledge exchange...

FAO and Tunisia sign a new project to strengthen the coherence of agricultural and social protection policies to improve social coverage for agricultural workers
30/01/2024

Social protection is the only guarantee of farmers’ resilience to shocks; fishermen and the most vulnerable populations

Feature story -Expanding social protection coverage for fishers and fish workers in Tunisia
27/07/2023

Social protection offers workers economic and social stability.

Farmers' Registry– a key tool to expand coverage of social protection among farmers
24/03/2023

The Government of Lebanon has launched a Farmer Registry. This registry is being used for expanding social protection coverage to farmers as well as...

Publications
Publication
The role of social insurance schemes in addressing the risks faced by agricultural workers in the Middle East and North Africa
23/03/2023

The majority of agricultural workers in the MENA region are in informal employment. These workers are usually not covered by social insurance schemes...

Publication
Administrative barriers, capacity constraints and solutions for the inclusion of agricultural workers in social insurance schemes in the Middle East and North Africa
23/03/2023

Extending the coverage of social insurance schemes to rural areas of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is challenging because of high administrative...

Publication
Financing social insurance schemes for agricultural workers in the Middle East and North Africa
23/03/2023

Some of the main barriers preventing the expansion of social insurance (SI) schemes to agricultural workers(AWs) in the region are of a financial nature....

Publication
The state of social insurance for agricultural workers in the Near East and North Africa and challenges for expansion
23/03/2021

Agricultural workers are exposed to many risks during their life cycle and are particularly vulnerable to covariate risks, such as droughts, armed conflict...