Ambassadors Series

Cuba’s education system is a global leader in the realm of publicly funded education: It contributes 7% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to education, allowing it to be fully state subsidised from primary school to university, while enjoying some of the highest teaching standards in Latin America. Dan Domenech, Executive Director of the School Superintendents Association (AASA) stated that “Cuba’s education system might as well be considered the ultimate wrap-around institution for children”. How has Cuba created such as system and can it be replicated? The Cuban education system Cuban education starts from the age of 1 at a preschool, in both formal and informal settings, which includes education from a number of local experts, including tuition from...Read more

In my previous three blogs, I looked at social protection targeting education in Latin American countries, including Mexico , and Brazil . In this blog, I will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of various programme approaches of the systems discussed previously in an effort to extrapolate lessons going forward. The strengths: With respect to successful public education systems, Cuba is a stand out case. Their mass mobilisation of 280,000 social workers to educate hundreds of thousands of Cubans has allowed the country to achieve exceptionally high literacy rates. The comprehensive system of teacher training, involving on-site training and thorough university training for teachers, has also been shown to be effective. Cuba makes efforts in international cooperation...Read more

According to the United Nations World Population Prospects 2019 report, the world’s population is projected to increase by two billion people in the next 30 years – from 7.7 billion people in 2019 to 9.7 billion in 2050 (United Nations, 2019). The report offers a comprehensive outline of global demographic patterns and prospects and concludes that nearly 11 billion people are predicted to inhabit our planet by the end of the 21st century (United Nations, 2019). While countries such as Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the United States of America are expected to make up half of the projected growth, the populations of countries in Europe and the Carribean are expected to deplete (United Nations, 2019). While most Asian countries’ populations are expected to grow...Read more

A 2018 study by the Refugee Centre of the University of Oxford explains that the global narrative on social protection for refugees and asylum seekers is still mainly one-sided, with a common understanding that “international organisations are the protectors and refugees are the protected” (University of Oxford 2018, p.1). Refugees are seen as passive in the system of social protection in that little recognition is given to refugee-led initiatives for the latter. So-called refugee-led community organisations (RCOs) generally lack funding, support, and recognition even though often providing essential social protection help in national groups of refugee communities or across nationalities (Ibid, 1 and 3). This blog series has explored and analysed the field of actors in the Danish social...Read more

In an article written by Tim McDonnell of The New York Times in March 2018, “ What’s the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy? Ghana Contends for the Crown ”, Ghana is recognised among the fastest growing economies in the world by the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (McDonnell, 2018), with an expected growth rate between 8.3% - 8.9%. Youth unemployment Amidst this rapid growth, the youth of the country are calling into question the “trickledown effect”, as economic growth has not translated into grass-roots growth. While unemployment in Ghana is well below the sub-Saharan average of 7.4%, it increased from 4% in 2011 to 5.8% in 2017 (McDonnell, 2018). What is disconcerting is the youth unemployment rate looms at 11.5%. According...Read more

Pakistan faces several prominent healthcare challenges. These include: lack of basic healthcare services, a shortage of healthcare professionals, and insufficient infrastructure (Meghani, Sehar & Punjani, 2014; Abdullah, Mukhtar, Wazir et al., 2014). Many individuals in impoverished neighbourhoods in Pakistan endure high risks of infectious diseases, low immunisation rates, lack of medication, and limited nutrition (Shela, 2012; Asim & Nawaz, 2018; Zaidi, Murtaza, Mustafa & Awan, 2015). Considering the high level of female unemployment in the country, female healthcare workers can mitigate these problems by improving access to healthcare services for poor communities while empowering women. This is especially relevant to low-caste women who face the greatest vulnerability to...Read more

An important, yet often neglected, consideration in the design and implementation of social protection programmes is gender. It is widely understood by most international organisations that universality, not uniformity, is the ultimate goal in social protection provision. This important distinction is necessary to cater to multiple vulnerable groups with effectiveness and efficiency. What’s more, gender-targeted social protection caters to women and girls, who are historically disadvantaged and encounter unique challenges and needs, which impact human development and economic growth at large (Deschutter, 2013) In this blog post, the intersection between gender and food and nutrition security will be explored using the following reports: Gender-Sensitive Social Protection for Zero Hunger...Read more

Youth labour has been an increasing issue worldwide, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Youth are generally defined as the population group between the age of 14 and 25, accounting for the transition from childhood and adulthood. An increase in the demand for youth labour opportunities is mainly attributed to an increase in the population of youth in the region. To compound this issue, families living below the poverty line are unable to rely on the wages of the household’s adults alone, sharing the livelihood responsibility with the youth in the family. This blog post examines the different factors affecting social protection programmes targeting youth labour in the MENA region. The main insights are provided by the following reports: Guidance Note on Options...Read more