Guinea-Bissau seeks wider social protection for informal workers
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Ang
Cheikh Amadu Bamba Koté, director general of Guinea-Bissau’s National Social Security Institute, wants to extend social protection to self-employed and informal-sector workers. Coverage currently reaches less than 3% of the population, and the first targeted groups include traders, livestock breeders, drivers, farmers and domestic workers, according to the institution’s Facebook page.
Guinea-Bissau is preparing a social protection system aimed in particular at self-employed workers and those in the informal economy, Cheikh Amadu Bamba Koté, director general of the National Social Security Institute (INSS), announced on Monday, according to the institution’s Facebook page. The current coverage rate is below 3% of the population, he said at the close of an awareness campaign in Quebo, in the south of the country.
Five groups have priority for enrolment: traders, livestock breeders, drivers, farmers and domestic workers. The scheme for workers without an employer is expected to offer, as options, retirement, sickness, maternity, educational assistance and workplace accident benefits.
A commission is currently working on the legislation and benefits to be offered at the time of enrolment, Cheikh Amadu Bamba Koté said. He indicated that comparable systems exist in particular in Ivory Coast, Cape Verde and Rwanda.
The initiative comes amid social assistance schemes already rolled out in the country. The fifth instalment of social assistance was due to be paid from 19 to 23 October, while assistance for vulnerable families was announced from 20 October.
Summary produced with the help of artificial intelligence tools, under AFREEQUE’s editorial responsibility.
