From jobs to decent work: integrating job creation and social protection
A partner approach by the Special Initiative “Decent Work for a Just Transition” of the German Ministry on Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the ILO Universal Social Protection Department
Duration: February 2023 – September 2024
Objective: the extension of social protection and the promotion of decent job creation at the enterprise level, by prototyping innovative solutions in enterprises in Rwanda
Rationale and Approach
Social protection as a key pillar of decent work is a crucial consideration for the sustainable creation of quality jobs. Social protection systems allow enterprises and workers to be more productive by helping to manage life cycle risks, access health care and have greater income security; they are investments with positive returns on the economy.
Employers and business owners have a crucial role to play in the ongoing efforts to extend social protection. Enterprises have a direct relationship with their workers, suppliers and sub-contractors and high visibility on the needs and challenges of their workers, making them indispensable partners.
The project approach focuses on the direct engagement of enterprises to help identify and pilot innovative approaches, with social partners and policy makers, for the promotion of decent work and social protection coverage extension in Rwanda, working directly at the enterprise level.
The collaboration happened in three phases:
- co-creation, which saw social partners, policy-makers, and enterprise managers collectively developing “prototypes” for social protection extension;
- implementation, during which selected prototypes were piloted with direct engagement of the enterprises themselves;
- knowledge management and dissemination, which focused on capturing and sharing the lessons of the project experience.
Results
1. Increased awareness of the challenges and opportunities to facilitating access to social protection
The project organized two co-creation workshops with all stakeholders, including managers of enterprises and cooperatives, representatives of workers’ and employers’ organisations, and government representatives to raise awareness on the need for universal social protection at the macro and enterprise level, understanding possible gaps in coverage and adequacy, and identify practical solutions.
The workshops were co-designed in close partnership between ITC-ILO, the Special Initiative “Decent Work for a Just Transition", and the ILO, and facilitated by ITC-ILO. The first workshop was organised in Turin in July 2023, with participants from Rwanda, Senegal and Morocco and the second one was held in Kigali, Rwanda between the 17th and 19th of October 2023.
Being in the workshop, trying to brainstorm, trying to see areas of improvement. I ended up finding out something new that we can do to improve our social protection contributions.
Blandine Umuziranenge CEO, Kosmotive
The outcomes of this process has been a shared understanding of the obstacles to and opportunities for social protection extension to workers in selected enterprises, and targeted solutions to address these realities, known as “prototypes”. In total, seven prototypes were developed during Phase I, of which three were selected for implementation during Phase II in Rwanda.
2. Piloting and implementing the prototypes with enterprises in Rwanda
The implementing enterprises have received support from national and international development partners to become leaders in their respective sectors to promote and facilitate access to social protection for their workers, specifically to old-age, work injury, and maternity benefits. The following prototypes were chosen for implementation at the enterprise level:
Partner enterprise |
Target group |
Prototype mechanism |
Beyond the prototype | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype 1: Sales Agent Social Security Scheme | Kosmotive, a social enterprise that produces menstrual and sanitary products, promoting women’s health and employment. | 60 sales agents, previously uncovered, as they were not considered employees. 18 participated in the pilot. | Integration of enrolment and contribution payment mechanisms within the contracts of the sales agents. | The mechanism for extension is being taken up by other companies, including by the state-owned company IREMBO. |
| Prototype 2: Farmers’ social protection for growth initiative | Burera Dairy, a small-size enterprise specializing in dairy products, and Sina Gerard, a larger agro-food enterprise participated in the workshops. Burera Dairy took part in the piloting phase. | 69 dairy farmers, regular suppliers of dairy products to Burera and affiliated with farmers’ cooperatives. | Contributions to be paid by each contractual party, according to the following distribution: 50 per cent by the farmer, 50 per cent by Burera and the farmers’ cooperative. | Discussions held with the RSSB to clarify calculations of farmers’ incomes, and a study on adjusting contribution payments nationally, removing obstacles to access for all farmers. |
| Prototype 3: Voluntary pension scheme for moto vehicle cooperative members | YEGO Motor, a ride-hailing digital platform, was identified at a potential partner. However, YEGO Motor did not participate in the workshop phase. | Moto drivers, organised in cooperatives. The prototype is still at the outreach phase as there was no immediate take up. | Inclusion of contribution payment mechanisms within digital platforms, so as to alleviate administrative and transactional costs of extension. | Capacity-building, communication, and outreach campaigns to moto drivers and cooperatives, with the RSSB and the City of Kigali. |
Lessons learned
- The participatory co-creation approach, with solutions designed from the bottom up, by enterprises themselves, engaged in tri-partite dialogue with social security organizations, employers and workers representatives.
- The complementary partnership between the ILO, ITCILO, and the Special Initiative “Decent Work for a Just Transition”, each leveraging their comparative advantages, institutional knowledge, and strong relationship with stakeholders in Rwanda.
- In Rwanda, engagement of the RSSB throughout the process, especially du ring stakeholder consultations, to ensure alignment of identified solutions to the national system, as well as flexibility of the latter to accommodate innovations where possible.
- Emphasis on knowledge creation and sharing, to ensure the sustainability and reproducibility of identified mechanisms for working with the private sector, which can inform global efforts, including of the UN Global Accelerator
Participant testimonials
“We are engaging with dairy farmers on a daily basis, so anything that would help so that we strengthen that social protection, so that we are in a win-win position where we are not just getting milk […] in a way so that they are also winning, not just money-wise, but benefiting from the company”.
Julienne Sina, Marketing Manager,
Sina Gerard
“In doing this, we want also to mobilize other enterprises to enrol their sales agents, because in Rwanda we have more than 500,000 sales agents that are there, working like that, that are not registered in any social protection scheme”
Blandine Umuziranenge, CEO,
Kosmotive
“If we take care of our workers, they will take care of your product, if your products are well-made, they will take care of your costumers”
Maryse Mbonyumutwa, CEO,
Pink Mango
“This was an opportunity for us to explore what is possible […] and to maybe even adjust our structure to be able to respond to the needs of potential members. […] This initiative allows us to think about informal sector workers: who are they, what are their characteristics, and how can we integrate social protection into their everyday work”
Regis Hitimana, Chief Benefits Officer,
Rwanda Social Security Board