Résumé

This paper provides an overview of the recent extension of social protection in sub-Saharan Africa. It identifies two main "models" of social protection in the region: theSouthern Africa and Middle Africa models. It then assesses the contrasting policyprocesses behind these models and examines the major challenges they face as regardsfinancing, institutional capacity and political support. It concludes that, for an effectiveinstitutional framework for social protection to evolve in sub-Saharan African countries, thepresent focus on the technical design of social protection programmes needs to beaccompanied by analyses that contribute to also "getting the politics right."