National Dialogue on the Social Protection System in Tunisia

FromSep 07, 2021 To Sep 27, 2021

Online Webinar

Tunisia is considered among the countries with the most comprehensive social protection system in the MENA region. However, taking into account the current levels of legal and effective coverage in addition to the wide geographical spread of non-contributory programs, more than 44% of the working population were still outside the social protection systems in 2019. Moreover, the health crisis of COVID-19 has exposed the current limitations of the social protection system despite the government deployment since the beginning of the crisis of eight urgent measures (2 contributory and 6 non-contributory) to mitigate the socio-economic and health impacts of the crisis.

Tunisia must now embark on reforms to better extend the coverage of programs especially to categories not yet covered and, more specifically, to active people in the informal economy; it must also account for the challenges faced by the social protection system such as the performance and the targeting quality of non-contributory programs, inequality of access to care services, the problem of financial imbalance of funds and the exclusion of some vulnerable categories from the social protection system.

As part of the project “Reimagining social protection in Jordan and Tunisia” a first national consultation was organized in January of 2021 around the social protection system in Tunisia. The event brought together social protection experts, academics and civil society actors to discuss the different schemes and programs, the limitations of this system especially in the face of the health crisis, identify key challenges and suggest practical recommendations. This national dialogue workshop is intended as an opportunity for dialogue between the various actors of civil society, policy makers, politicians and experts to better reflect on the reforms and measures needed for a more inclusive social protection. The discussion will be based on the draft paper “The landscape of social protection in Tunisia.”

Agenda

National Dialogue on the Social Protection System in Tunisia

Date

07/09/2021

Location

Online Webinar

Time

From 3:00 pm To 5:00 pm

Register here!

 

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES 

The national dialogue workshop will be an opportunity for experts, politicians, civil society representatives and policy makers to:
  1. Exchange on the outputs of the paper on the current state of social protection in Tunisia elaborated by the Economic Research Forum (ERF) project.
  2. Discuss the main challenges of the current social protection system in general and in the context of the current health crisis.
  3. Discuss the main policy recommendations.
  4. Determine the main priorities in terms of reforms for a more inclusive social protection system in Tunisia.

Speakers

Ibrahim Elbadawi

Research Fellows

Ibrahim Elbadawi

Managing Director, Economic Research Forum

Ragui Assaad

Research Fellows

Ragui Assaad

Professor and Freeman Chair for International Economic...

Asma Ben Hassen

Speakers

Asma Ben Hassen

Founder and President, Tunisia Inclusive Labor Institute...

Nidhal Ben Cheikh

Research Associates

Nidhal Ben Cheikh

Independent Consultant & University of Paris

Khaled Nasri

Research Associates

Khaled Nasri

Researcher, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management...

Imane Helmy

Research Associates

Imane Helmy

Senior Economist at World Bank’s Poverty and...

Mohamed Amara

Research Fellows

Mohamed Amara

Associate Professor, Higher School of Economic and...

Chokri Arfa

Speakers

Chokri Arfa

Professor, National Institute of Labor and Social...

Mounir Sherif

Speakers

Mounir Sherif

Director of Study, National Social Security Fund