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Extending social protection to informal workers in Burundi

As part of the Burundi component of the Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All, the ILO supported a feasibility study on extending social protection to informal workers. The study revealed several legal, administrative, and financial barriers that prevent access to existing social security schemes in Burundi.

To address these challenges, a two-day capacity-building workshop was held, bringing together 24 representatives from various ministries and organizations. These included the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Security, the Ministry of National Solidarity, Social Affairs, Human Rights and Gender, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Employment, the Prime Minister's Office, the Permanent Executive Secretariat for the National Social Protection Commission, social partners, informal economy workers, employers' representatives (federation of fishers, federation of informal economy trade unions), the National Social Security Institute (INSS), the community-based health insurances platform (PAMUSAB), and development partners such as UNICEF and the Embassy of Belgium.

The workshop aimed to strengthen the technical capacities of key stakeholders and transform the study's recommendations into specific actions. The participants of the workshop were supported to identify five categories of workers that the extension of social protection will focus on such fishery, transport, domestic work, self-employment, and agri-food cooperatives.

Furthermore, participants developed a roadmap that includes a list of priority actions to guide tripartite partners in their efforts to extend coverage. This roadmap was validated by the tripartite steering committee established to pilot the extension of social security to informal economy workers on 10 October 2024. Implementation is planned for early 2025, initially focusing on legal review to address barriers related to the current provisions of the social security code and specific regulations for pension and occupational hazards schemes managed by INSS on procedures for registration, declaration of workers, and modalities of payment of contributions, considering the specific work environment of informal economy workers.