Memorandum submitted by HelpAge International
INTRODUCTION
1. This Memorandum sets out HelpAge International's
concerns and evidence in response to the International Development
Committee's request for evidence on the outcome of the annual
autumn meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, and on the United
Nations World Summit 2005. We have focussed our response on following:
— the commitment at the Summit to the
provision of social safety nets to protect the vulnerable and
disadvantaged and the commitment to reducing the vulnerability
to HIV/AIDS of older people and orphaned and vulnerable children,
— the commitments in "Meeting
the Challenge of Africa's Development: A World Bank Group Action
Plan" (Africa Action Plan), agreed to by the World Bank
and IMF Development Committee at their annual meeting in September
2005, to develop social protection measures to lessen the impact
of shocks and to use transfer mechanisms for orphans and/or their
carers.
HELPAGE INTERNATIONAL
2. HelpAge International is a global network
of not-for-profit organisations with a mission to work with and
for disadvantaged older people worldwide to achieve a lasting
improvement in the quality of their lives. With our network of
partner organisations we support older people to become active
participants in development and aim to mainstream ageing as a
development issue into policies and programmes for poverty reduction,
HIV/AIDS, human rights and emergency assistance around the world.
This submission is based on HelpAge International's 20 years practical,
research and policy experience of working with disadvantaged older
women and men around the world and 10 years experience in supporting
them in their role as primary caregivers of orphaned and vulnerable
children, largely as a result of the impacts of the AIDS epidemic.
SOCIAL PENSIONS
TACKLE OLD
AGE AND
CHILD POVERTY
3. In paragraph 25 (b) of the 2005 World
Summit Outcome national governments committed to "put in
place policies to ensure adequate investment in a sustainable
manner . . . in the provision of public goods and social safety
nets to protect vulnerable and disadvantaged sectors of society".[82]
In the Africa Action Plan the World Bank and IMF agreed to "work
to develop a more systematic and effective global response to
mitigate the impact of exogenous shocks, including social safety
nets" (para 124).
4. There is an urgent need for the introduction
of such social safety nets in the form of social protection measures
that are targeted to reach the very poor and socially excluded,
including older people, children, women, and people living with
disabilities. Such safety nets should not be limited to mitigating
the impact of exogenous shocks but should be used as an effective
measure to reduce long term chronic poverty. Universal non-contributory
pensions (sometimes known as social pensions) are one such measure
that can be seen as part of a comprehensive social protection
package designed to protect poor children, women and men throughout
their lives. Today, 375 million people over 60 live in developing
countries but by 2050 that number will rise to 1,500 million.
And of those 375 million older people, 80 per cent have no regular
income and 100 million live on less than one dollar a day. [83]With
no savings, assets or capacity to generate income older people
are particularly vulnerable to economic change, have difficulties
in supporting young dependants and are among the least able to
withstand economic shocks.
REDUCING CHRONIC
POVERTY
5. Social pensions play a significant role
in reducing chronic poverty. They contribute to more equitable
distribution of development aid and subsequently result in more
equitable development outcomes. Regular income support to older
people can reduce the number of people living below a dollar a
day and have direct social and economic benefits. With a pension
older people can afford to eat at least one meal a day, support
dependants and even save. Regular payments allow for long term
planning and risk management, and encourage economic regeneration
in the poorest of communities. In South Africa, pensions reach
1.9 million older people at a cost of 1.4 GDP. But it is not only
the older people who benefit. Research shows that older people
spend their pensions on income generating activities and on the
health and education of their dependents. In households in South
Africa that pool their income, the health of all the family improves
when a member of the household receives a pension. [84]In
Zambia, whilst 4% of a pilot cash transfer pension scheme was
spent on food, 12% was spent on schooling, and 16% on agriculture
and animals. [85]School
attendance of the orphans in the older people's care has improved.
In rural Brazil pensions are strongly associated with the increase
in school enrollment, particularly of girls aged 12-14. In South
Africa having a pensioner in the family reduces a household's
probability of becoming poor by 11% and reduces the number of
people living below the poverty line by 5%, or by 2.24 million
people.
EFFECTIVE AID
AND THE
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT
GOALS
6. Introducing social pensions would make
a significant contribution to the achievement of Millennium Development
Goal (MDG) 1, namely halving by 2015 the proportion of people
living on less than a dollar a day. Social pensions target development
aid to the poorest, at a minimum cost. In Brazil, pensions reach
5.3 million poor older people with 1.4% of South Africa's GDP.
Speaking at a panel event at the Millennium Summit organised by
UNDP and DFID, Dr Zola Skweyiya, Minister for Social Development
in South Africa, said that "Not only is our social program
redistributive, according to a recent study, social grants reduce
poverty by 66.6% when the destitution poverty line is used a benchmark."
FURTHERING HUMAN
RIGHTS THROUGH
SOCIAL PENSIONS
7. The World Summit Outcome recognized that
"development, peace, security and human rights are interlinked
and mutually reinforcing." (para 9). As well as contributing
to the achievement of the MDGs, social pensions further government
obligations to fulfilling the human rights of older people. Social
protection is a right established in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, which states that "everyone has the right
to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being
of himself and his family . . . and to security in the event of
unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other
lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control" (Article
25.1). Until recently the introduction of the social pensions
had not been considered as an option in mainstream development
policy, often associated with short term palliative measures and
thought to be unaffordable. Studies undertaken by the ILO (Pal
et al 2005) have illustrated the affordability in the poorest
of countries of a minimum benefit package comprising a social
pension, enhanced education and health provision and a disability
benefit. There is a growing consensus that older people have the
same right to the benefits of development as everyone else[86]
and a growing recognition of, and commitment to enhancing, their
contribution to development. Universal non-contributory pensions
deliver essential development outcomes across generations and
are a right. Regular provision also directly increases state accountability
to their older citizens with direct benefits across families and
communities.
REDUCING THE
VULNERABILITY TO
HIV/AIDS OF OLDER
PEOPLE AND
ORPHANED AND
VULNERABLE CHILDREN
8. In paragraph 57 (d) of the 2005 World
Summit Outcome national governments committed to "the
reduction of vulnerability of persons affected by HIV/AIDS and
other health issues, in particular orphaned and vulnerable children
and older persons. " In paragraph 23 of the Africa Action
Plan, the World Bank and IMF agreed to "emphasize . .
. the use of transfer mechanisms including targeted public works
programs and conditional transfers for orphans and/or their carers.
"
9. In March 2004 HelpAge International submitted
evidence to the International Development Committee for its inquiry
into AIDS Orphans. We provided details on the core issues relating
to HIV/AIDS in Africa and its impact on older people and their
families, including economic vulnerability, psychosocial impacts,
reduced access to education, health and exclusion from HIV programmes,
including lack of access to essential information. The UK Government
launched its new strategy on HIV/AIDS in developing countries
in July 2004. [87]Whilst
it acknowledges social protection as central for responding to
orphans and vulnerable children and support for their caregivers,
it does not explicitly acknowledge older people as a target group
for support.
10. Supporting a universal social pension
is an important strategy for reaching vulnerable children because
large numbers of children, particularly orphans, live with grandparents
and older people play an important caring role in nursing chronically
ill parents and/or children. In particular, in some of the African
countries most affected by HIV/AIDS up to 60% of orphans and vulnerable
children are cared for by older people. [88]The
pension is a simple, often very cost-effective, scheme because
it is targeted at a universally identifiable group without the
costly administrative problems of means testing. A government-run
universal pension, once in place, is arguably more difficult to
remove and is politically attractive. Lesotho for example introduced
a universal social pension as recently as November 2004 as part
of its poverty reduction strategy. Speaking at an event organised
by Save the Children and Help the Aged at the 2005 Labour Party
Conference, Thembekile Hlubi of the Muthande Society for the Aged
(an affiliate organisation of HelpAge International) said that
"In South Africa we are proud of our pensions policy, which
makes small, regular payments directly to over 60's . . . they
reduce poverty and enable access to development benefits such
as health, water, education and improved nutrition—not just
for the older recipients but also for children in their care."
11. Based on these commitments and on the
evidence above, HelpAge International recommends that the International
Development Committee:
— Makes a recommendation to the UK
Department for International Development to specify the content
of its policy on older carers of orphans and vulnerable children
and people living with HIV/AIDS, and request that DFID resources
are specifically dedicated to direct transfers, including cash
transfers, that will benefit older carers and those who they care
for.
— Makes a recommendation to the UK
Department for International Development that they assist and
support national governments to dedicate resources to incorporate
social protection measures, including social pensions, into poverty
reduction strategies.
— Makes a recommendation to the UK
Department for International Development that a key mechanism
for furthering the UK's human rights obligations to the vulnerable
and chronically poor will be by supporting the introduction of
universal pension schemes and other social transfers.
— Makes a recommendation to the Bretton
Woods Institutions that they support and assist national governments
to provide universal, unconditional social protection mechanisms,
including social pensions, to reduce poverty on a sustainable
basis rather than simply to mitigate short term risk.
October 2005
82 United Nations General Assembly 2005 World Summit
Outcome, A/60/L.1, 15 September 2005. Back
83
HelpAge International, Age and Security: how social pensions
can deliver effective aid to poor older people and their families,
HelpAge International, 2004. Back
84
Case, A and Wilson, F, "Health and wellbeing in South
Africa: evidence from the Langeberg survey, " unpublished
report, Princeton University, 2000. Back
85
Shubert, B, "Test phase results of the Pilot Cash Transfer
Scheme, Kalomo District. 4th Report". Zambia, 2004. Back
86
United Nations, Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing
2002, New York, United Nations, 2003. Back
87
Taking Action, The UK's strategy for tackling HIV and AIDS
in the developing world, Department for International Development,
July 2004. Back
88
Fiona Clark and Roeland Monasch, "Grandparents' growing
role as carers", Ageing and development, Issue 16, June
2004. Back
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