The first ever regional social security forum for Africa was held in Kigali with the aim of examining ways of improving social security protection and its contribution to development.

While officially opening the Social Security Forum, Prime Minister Bernard Makuza pointed out that social security organizations have a clear role to play in developing countries. Political will coupled with the policy reforms, he said, had been turning points of national social security fund of Rwanda (CSR).

He however noted that the reforms are still underway, and CSR has a long way to go in terms of increasing social coverage-the current rate being only 10%.

"There is a need to extend social protection to both the informal and the rural sectors, so as to cover more people," Premier Makuza said.

In this regard, Finance Minister James Musoni said that the social security structure is being redesigned, and the informal sector will be pulled into the net through cooperatives. He added that the project is almost complete and would be sent to the parliament where legal instruments to support the policy will be put in place.

"By 2012 we will have a clear picture on the way the new policy will be implemented," the minister said.

He further remarked that the population in Rwanda is very young with more than 95% under the age of 65. "This has led to the decrease in old age dependency ratio," Musoni said. The main challenge, he pointed out, is to adopt systems in accordance with the economic situation.

Political will

As regards health insurance, CSR director general Henry Gaperi pointed out that the capacity for the sustainability and affordability of drugs is still low. He however remained optimistic that this will progressively increase.

He further highlighted the importance of the political will that the government has put in the overall in the strengthening the social security fund of Rwanda. "With the political will at the core and the government's determination, we can be able to collect more contributions in the medium and long term," Gaperi said.

Corazon S. de la Paz-Bernado, the president of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) which was co-organizer of the forum, acknowledged the importance the Rwandan government gives to CSR.

She said that the forum would look at the best ways to expand social security, identify specific hurdles and design appropriate vehicles to achieve a wider coverage.

De la Paz-Bernado also pointed out that the financial crisis was a harsh reminder of the importance of social security in peoples' lives.

Corruption and good governance were also top priority on the forum's agenda. According to Hans- Horsts Konkolewsky, ISSA's executive secretary, there is a need to reduce excessive administrative, citing the example of a certain social security administration which used 80% of contributors' money for covering of administrative costs.

"Many aspect of internal administration need to be streamlined in order to reduce costs," Konkolewsky said.

Good practice awards

To stress and promote the importance of good governance and best practices, ISSA set up the Good Practice Awards, which were given out for the first time this year.

During the ceremony, Konkolewsky said that identifying and sharing good practices helps social security organizations to improve their operational and administrative efficiency, and that the awards will be given on a regional basis every three years at each ISSA regional forum.

The ISSA good practice awards focus on priority areas such as governance and leadership, risk and change management, ICT, compliance and contribution collection, extension of social security coverage as well as responding to demographic changes.

For the 2008 best practices awards, there were 27 entries of whom 18 met the competition's criteria.

The winning entries were the social security funds of Kenya and Morocco. Certificates of merit with a special mention went to the pension fund of Morocco and the social security funds of Rwanda and Uganda. Finally, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Morocco, Zambia and Uganda receive a certificate of merit.