Old age protection for informal workers feasible or too far away?

Transcription

1 Discussion Papers on Social Protection Old age protection for informal workers feasible or too far away? By Matthias Meißner I. Introduction In developing countries more than 900 million workers can be considered informal they represent more than half of all jobs in the non-agricultural sectors. The estimates rise to some two billion people if agricultural workers in developing countries are included (OECD 2009). The phenomenon of informality seems to come up everywhere: in all institutional or business sectors, in all age groups, in all social classes, say: in the whole society. Because of this, it is a huge challenge to describe it comprehensively and to understand its characteristics. But in contradiction to the prevalence of informal sector work and informal employment it very often remains a non-tackled issue from policy perspective. This applies also for specific social protection policies or for old age protection of informal workers. But what do we mean when we talk about informal sector and informal employment? The starting point of each definition is different. The informal sector is broadly characterised as comprising production units that operate on a small scale and at a low level of organisation, with little or no division between labour and capital as factors of production, and with the primary objective of generating income and employment for the persons concerned. Operationally, the sector is defined on a country specific basis as the set of unincorporated enterprises owned by households which produce at least some products for the market but which either have less than a specified number of employees and/or are not registered under national legislation referring, for example, to tax or social security obligations, or regulatory acts (cp. UNSTATS). In contrast, the definition of informal employment ties up with certain modes of employment. Informal employment refers to jobs or activities in the production and commercialisation of legal goods and services that are not registered or protected by the state and, accordingly, are not covered by the social security system (cp. OECD 2009). Usually, informal employment comes up in any institutional sector, not only in the informal sector. To a certain extent, we find informal employment for example also in the public sector or in registered enterprises. In order to simplify matters, the term informal workers will be applied in this paper. It shall describe all informally employed in any institutional sector. Anyhow, it is a huge challenge to provide even basic social services, labour rights or work safety to informal workers. Usually, they do not have a written labour contract and limited access to social protection. Pensions are usually directly deducted from the salary. The administrative burden of a monthly payment can therefore be very cumbersome for the informal worker. So why think about old age protection? It seems to be far away from reality. But the time is now to think about and to start as this paper will demonstrate. In many developing countries we recognize a fast aging society. This demographic transition is caused by a downward trend in fertility coupled with an increase in life expectancy (cp. UN 2013). Furthermore, the traditional model of joint families is being eroded. Young people and young couples are migrating from rural areas to cities, leaving their parents to cope on their own. In contrast to developed countries, the fast aging society in developing countries meets rather fragmented and underdeveloped social protection systems. This is a precarious mixture and poses a huge challenge. This paper will go on with a short overview regarding the demographic and social challenges in selected South and Southeast Asian countries. Afterwards, different approaches for old age protection of informal workers will be presented and discussed. 1 Not all approaches seem to achieve broad coverage of informal workers. They require further efforts regarding implementation, data collection and analysis as will be pointed out at the end. 1 This paper highlights certain examples but does not provide a comprehensive overview regarding GIZ projects and international experience on old age protection for informal sector workers.

2 II. Aging societies also in developing countries The fast aging society poses a huge challenge for many South and Southeast Asian countries. Vietnam, for example, has an estimated population of around 92 million with an annual population growth of 1.03%. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR 2 ) decreased from 5.25 in 1975 to 3.8 in 1989 and to 2.03 in Indeed the population is still young as the median age is 28.7 years and nearly one quarter of the population is aged 0-14 years (cp. CIA). But results from the population projections by the General Statistics Office for the period indicate that the percentage of the elderly aged 60 and over will triple in that period (from 8.69 to of the total population). Vietnam started its aging phase when over 60-year-olds accounted for more than 10 per cent of the total population in 2012, five years ahead of prediction. The country s fast aging process poses a serious long-term problem as the ongoing discussion about getting old before getting rich points out. Currently, there is a total labour force about 53.9 million people (aged 15 and above), and an effective unemployment rate of 2.22%. But in 2012, only 10.4 million workers were enrolled in compulsory social insurance, less than 20% of the total workforce (ILO 2013). Informality is the norm, not the exemption. Both, compulsory as well as voluntary social insurance is underperforming massively. We see a similar picture in Indonesia: Only 13% of the Indonesian workforce participates in any old age security system while the country is undergoing a significant demographic change. Indonesia has an estimated population of more than 251 million people with an annual population growth of 0.99%. Its TFR declined from 5.5 births per woman in 1970 to 3.1 in 1990 and to 2.2 in 2013 (estimated). At the same time, life expectancy increased from 52.5 years in 1980 to 59.8 years in 1990 and to 70.5 years in The population is still young as the median age is 28.9 years and more than one quarter of the population is aged 0-14 years (cp. CIA). But with an estimated number of more than 70 million elderly people in 2050, the population aged 60 years or above will more than triple an increment of growth that is higher than the average in Asia and the world. India has an estimated population of more than 1.2 billion and an annual population growth of 1.28%. The median age is only 26.7 years and nearly 29% are in the age group from 0-14 years (cp. CIA). The TFR declined from 4.7 in 1979 to 3.3 in 1997 and 2.55 in 2013 (estimated). The percentage of elderly people (60 upwards age group) is expected to rise from 8.3 % in 2013 to 12.4 % in 2026 and to 18.3 % in 2050 (GIZ 2013). It will more than double. Currently, more than 90% of the labour force works in the unorganised (informal) sector and the large majority of these workers do not have adequate social security or old-age protection. The demographic window when the share of children in a population falls permanently below 30% and the share of 2 TFR is the average number of children a woman would bear during the course of her lifetime if the current age-specific fertility rates remained constant throughout her childbearing years (normally between the ages of 15 and 49). older people is still less than 15% - only stays open for a certain time. This limited time with fewer dependent children and a small share of older dependents may cause a demographic bonus, as it can result in higher productivity, savings and wealth for the working population. This is the best time to implement (social) insurance or savings schemes. After a certain time, the demographic window closes again, as the population ages and the dependency rates increase. The demographic window is still open in Vietnam, Indonesia and India (GIZ 2013a). In other developing countries, such as Nepal, Cambodia and the Philippines it will open in the next years. So the time is now to take certain steps regarding social protection and in particular regarding old age protection. Only in this manner the demographic bonus is turned into a demographic dividend, which means that the demographic bonus will pay off for the future generation. But the key question is how to start and how to deal with the huge number of informal workers in developing countries. III. Experiences from South and Southeast Asia In the last years, increasingly new and innovative microinsurances as well as micro-savings products were developed and tested in several developing countries (covering different risks such as death, sickness, crop-failure or old age). They pose a counter concept to traditional approaches, such as social pensions, which are usually governmentfunded and tax financed. But both play a role for old-age protection of informal workers. Currently, there are more than 100 social pension schemes running across the globe in low, middle and high-income countries (cp. HelpAge International). 1. India a) Micro-pensions with public subsidies In January 2004, the Government of India established the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and extended it to informal workers in 2009, the National Pension Scheme for informal workers (NPS-Lite). It is a voluntary defined contribution scheme that works through a group-based approach. Microfinance institutions and others (called aggregators) administrate individual contributions by informal workers. Furthermore, the central Government has launched an incentive scheme in order to encourage people from the informal sector to voluntarily save for their retirement and to lower the cost of operations of the New Pension Scheme. This top-up for NPS beneficiaries is called Swavalamban. It was initially announced for three years for the beneficiaries who enroll themselves in It now has been extended to five years for the beneficiaries enrolled in , and (cp. Press Information Bureau 2014). In the scheme, the Government will contribute a sum of INR 1000 (around 16 USD) to each eligible NPS subscriber who contributes a minimum of INR 1000 and a maximum of INR (around 193 USD) per annum. It is open to eligible citizens of India in the age group of years. Subscribers are free to choose the amount of the

3 contribution. The scheme provides transparent investment norms and regular monitoring and performance review of fund managers by NPS Trust. It is designed to ensure very low administrative and transactional costs. Furthermore, subscriber can operate their account from anywhere in the country, even in case of a change of their location, their employment or their aggregator. In this manner, portability in the whole country is achieved. Around 2 million beneficiaries have registered until August 2013 (Mukul Asher 2013). This is 0,5% of the around 400 million workers in the unorganised sector in India. b) Commercial insurance The social enterprise Invest India Micro Pension Services (IIMPS) encourages and enables informal sector workers to accumulate micro-savings for their old age (cp. Invest India Micro Pension Services Private Limited 2014). It was promoted with capital from different stakeholder, amongst others from the German KfW Development Bank. IIMPS provides several financial services in collaboration with national and regional banks, microfinance institutions, employers, self-help groups, NGOs, cooperatives, workers associations and unions. IIMPS is now also part of NPS (as a so called aggregator) and they partly invest the money in the NPS scheme. By means of its micro-pension model and its partnership network, IIMPS wants to enable millions of low income workers with modest savings to access customised pension and insurance products in a secure, affordable, convenient and well regulated environment (cp. Invest India Micro Pension Services Private Limited 2014). Currently, around 680,000 people from urban and rural areas (in over 100 districts of 14 States of India) save for their old age in line with IIMPS. c) Social pension The Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IG- NOAPS) has been introduced in 1995 under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP). It is one of the oldest pension schemes in India. In this scheme, the Government provides INR 200 (around 3,30 USD) to older people below the poverty line (BPL) aged 60 to 79 years and INR 500 (8,30 USD) to those aged 80 years and older. Additionally, the states top up the government contribution with varying amounts (around INR ). In 2010/11 about 17 million elderly were covered under this scheme. d) Self-help groups In cooperation with the NGO HelpAge India, the Indo- German Social Security Programme (IGSSP) is supporting a pilot project for social protection of the elderly (GIZ 2013). It is implemented in the state of Bihar, where elderly women and men are mobilised to form groups, the so-called Elderly Self-Help Groups (ESHGs). They are supported with a small amount of seed money. These self-help groups are an important approach to generate livelihood opportunities for its elderly members and to promote collective action. It turned out, that they can be a useful and efficient channel for disseminating information on social security schemes and regarding access to social insurance. The ESHGs also provide monthly or fortnightly savings opportunities. The generated funds are used for loans to group members (at an interest rate fixed by the group) and for investments intro micro-business ventures. In this manner, the elderly do not get dependent on local money lender who charges extortionate interest rates, sometimes up to 100%. With funding from also other organisations, 490 groups with more than 7500 active members have been formed till date (GIZ 2013). A total of more than INR million (USD 1.282) of savings is in circulation and is used to give loans to members. GIZ is striving for the expansion of the model to other states in India. e) The contribution of German development cooperation In India, GIZ on behalf of German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) carries out the Indo-German Social Security Programme (IGSSP). It provides policy advice and technical support in order to improve old age income security by means of livelihood support and improved access to social security benefits (cp. GIZ 2013). The programme cooperates, amongst others, with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) and the Ministry of Rural Development. It includes policy advice, pilot initiatives and coordination of stakeholders in introducing pension products. IGSSP supports the above mentioned ministries in developing a comprehensive social security scheme for the informal sector, including old age pension, health, life and accident insurance. A study showed that a combined product seems to be more attractive to beneficiaries than a single pension claim. Therefore the Government of India is considering to develop a comprehensive social security product for informal workers. 2. Indonesia In Indonesia, GIZ on behalf of BMZ gives advice to the National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS) in the overall design of the social security reform process and the associated institutional coordination a) Flexible micro-insurance and micro-savings in Indonesia In the last years, the Government has started several efforts to enhance old age protection, including saving for formal and informal workers through PT Jamsostek-scheme, the access of older people to social services and day care, as well as the access of all Indonesian citizens to social security. The core processes are to further develop the existing law, to support institutional reforms at all levels and to design an effective income support system. Institutional reforms at all levels accompanied the legal progress, such as decentralisation policies, capacity building on central, district and local levels and the creation of a Poverty Reduction Committee.

4 PT Jamsostek launched a pilot project in order to open the social security programme to informal sector workers. The program provides health insurance, work accident insurance, life insurance and old age savings and is targeted at informal sector workers (ILO 2012). Contributions are set at 0.3% of income for life insurance, 1% of income for work accident, minimum 2% of income for old age savings, while health insurance contributions are set at 3% of wage for single workers and 6% of wage for workers with families. The respective income is set at the minimum wage of IDR 1 million per month (with variations across the provinces). The lump-sum benefit consists of the accumulated contributions and the return on the investment. The number of members constantly changes, as members can sign in and out of the programme anytime. From 2006 to 2009 there were around 223,000 members. In 2010, the programme had around 180,000 members. At least, approximately 400,000 members were covered from one of the four programmes. There are some challenges for the Jamsostek programme: In most cases members do not continue their membership after the subsidized pilot phase ends and many workers lack information and guidance on how to enroll (cp. ILO 2012). Furthermore, there is only limited human and technical capacity to reach and to provide services to workers in remote areas. The same applies for Askesos, a subsidized income replacement scheme for informal sector workers, which provides cash benefits to members in case of sickness, work accident or death (cp. ILO 2012). The programme covers only a very small part of the informal economy workers and the benefits are small. The death benefit is from IDR 400, ,000 (USD 34 69, depending on the period of membership). In case of work accident, members receive IDR 300,000 (around USD 26). But members can only claim one benefit per person and year. In 2011, the Askesos scheme covered 358,000 members and was administered through 1,790 social organisations in 33 provinces. The new Askesos programme which was launched on a pilot basis in 2012 aims to meet the challenges and is administered by Jamsostek. b) Social pension pilot programme The non-contributory minimum pension programme, managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs is called Jaminan Sosial Lanjut Usia (JSLU). It provides cash transfers to the most vulnerable elderly, such as the elderly poor, who do not receive support from other programmes. The amount of the minimum pension is IDR 300,000 (around USD 25) per month, which is on average above the poverty line. The programme covered only around 13,500 beneficiaries in 28 provinces in 2011 as the number of beneficiaries depends on the available funds from the central level. In contrast, the estimated number of the vulnerable elderly is around 1.7 million. It had positive effects as the money was spent on food, health and family support. Because of this, the Government is exploring how to expand the programme. The Ministry of Social Affairs also provides subsidies to old people s homes called Panti Sosial Tresna Wredha. The programme pays IDR 3,000 (around USD 0.25) per person per day to these homes. But this subsidy is too low to cover even the daily food expenditures. Because of this, some provinces have initiated additional programmes in order to bear the full cost. 3. Philippines a) Regulatory Frameworks für insurances In the Philippines, GIZ (on behalf of BMZ) works on Regulatory Framework Promotion of Pro-poor Insurance Markets in Asia (RFPI Asia). Its objective is to support consumer protection measures in particular in the field of micro-insurances, further assistance in the dialogue process and the information dissemination campaign for the alternative dispute resolution for micro-insurance. Certain procedures have been designed for commercial insurance companies, for mutual benefit associations and for cooperative insurance societies. b) Micro-savings programme In 2012, the Social Security System (SSS) launched its AlkanSSSya programme for self-employed and informal sector workers in the Philippines. It is targeted, amongst others, at workers with a low or limited income, such as tricycle drivers, farmers, market vendors, fishermen and other selfemployed individuals (cp. Philippine Information Agency). Members of the programme need to pay at least P10 P12 (USD 0,22-0,26) per day in order to realize a minimum monthly contribution of P312 (around USD 7). The concept stems from the piggy bank like savings system, which is usually practiced by Philippine households. Once the minimum monthly contribution has been paid, members receive the same benefits as regular SSS members. After 3 months of contributions, members are entitled to sickness, maternity or funeral benefits (up to P20, 000 or USD 446 in case of death). The educational loan is provided after 12 months of contributions, disability loan after 36 months and a pension claim after 120 months of contributions. Currently, the AlkanSSSya programme has more than 80 partner associations across the country that represent self-employed and informal sector workers, such as associations for tricycle operators and drivers, ceramic and pottery workers and organic farmers. 4. Vietnam a) Voluntary insurance and social pension in Vietnam In Vietnam, voluntary insurance was introduced in While compulsory social insurance covers five different risks, voluntary insurance only acknowledges two, namely old age and survivorship. The insured persons have to bear the entire contribution. Up to now, only around 140,000 persons contribute to the scheme, equivalent to 0.3% of the total workforce (ILO 2013). For this reason, voluntary insurance has been discussed broadly with view to access, inequalities and disincentives.

5 Unmarried or widowed elderly in Vietnam (aged 60 and over) can claim for a means-tested social assistance benefit, as well as elderly persons aged 80 and over or persons with disabilities in case they live in poor households and do not have relatives who support them. Only around 1.8% of the population benefits from the cash transfer. The level of support is very low, being equal to 50% of the minimum living standard. For example, the social assistance benefit for people aged 60 and over and the social pension for people aged 80 and over amount to VND 180,000 per month (which is equivalent to USD 8.40 per month and person). This poses a first step but the benefit level is far too low. b) Social risk funds and self-help groups GIZ (on behalf of BMZ) piloted community based social risk funds in selected poor provinces of rural Vietnam (GIZ 2013b). These commune funds were managed by the local authorities in a participatory and transparent manner with the aim to provide immediate support to households in case of certain income shocks. Households with up to five members had to pay VND 50,000 (USD 2.30) per year. In addition to the money contributed by the member households and local authorities further contributions were mobilized from the private sector. For the communes, the minimum contributions were based on the total number of its households. For communes with less than 1,000 households the contribution was VND 10 million (USD 476) per year. Currently, two risks are covered by these SRFs: death of the bread winner and more than 5 days in-patient treatment. Between VND 50,000 / USD 2.3 and VND 100,000 / USD 4.8 for transportation to the hospital and payment of VND 20,000 / USD 1 per day to partially support accommodation costs and food for one caregiver can be claimed. In case the bread winner died, the relatives were given a lump sum of VND 1 million (USD 47). Payment must not exceed VND 400,000 / USD 19 per case. The model covered more than 3,000 households for two years. Furthermore, HelpAge International supports Intergenerational Self-help Clubs (ISHC). Their activities are directly managed through a board of five persons, who were elected by the members. Each club has its own bookkeeping and filing system and must produce a monthly financial plan and report. The clubs tackle any issue of interest to members, from health exercises to social services (e.g. homecare). They also offer small loans for its members. The project operates in 320 communities in four rural provinces. In the long term, it is estimated that 960,000 people benefit from the project impact (HelpAge International et. al. 2013). IV. Old-age protection as challenge Concerning old age income security is has to be elaborated further, why only very few informal workers choose microinsurance or micro-savings products. The same applies for voluntary or commercial insurances. Even with subsidies, the schemes do not perform sufficiently yet. The top-up for NPS beneficiaries in India, for example, covers with 2 million beneficiaries only 0,5% of the around 400 million workers in the unorganised sector. The market seems to develop, as different stakeholder and investors already perceived the enormous economic potential of micro-insurance and micro-savings. But there is still a lot of work to do, in particular regarding the awareness and the trust of informal workers. There seems to be a lack of awareness as well as a lack of trust in the system that will store the money for a few decades. Further in-depths analysis is required in this regard in order to develop adequate additional policies on the respective national level. Anyhow, micro-insurances, voluntary insurances or microsavings are not a real option for the poorest workers in the informal economy, as these workers have no sufficient, regular or stable income. Usually, they spend their earnings for their daily (basic) needs such as food, water or medicine. Unsteady income is a general challenge for informal sector workers. They would rather need flexible insurance or savings solutions, as realised in the Indonesian PT Jamsostek scheme. The number of members constantly changes in this scheme, because members can sign in and out of the programme anytime. An inconstant flexible contribution or easy opt-out mechanism appears as advantage and disadvantage at the same time. It is highly required but it can also be misused. Because of that, the mechanism to sign out should be limited to certain exceptional cases. Furthermore, for the most vulnerable informal workers e.g. the working poor or unpaid family workers social pensions have to be implemented additionally. But if these are not funded or implemented sufficiently, they will not achieve the desired impacts, as the Vietnamese case teaches. Primarily, it is a question of political will how broad a social pension is implemented, how many funds are provided and how successful it will be in practice. In the future, each country will have to develop and find the right mix of social pensions and voluntary insurance instruments for the formally and informally employed as well as for the workers who change between formal and informal employment. Regarding the social risk funds or the self-help groups it is evident that these may provide additional measures for oldage protection, such as grants, information or social services but they cannot replace a regular and sustainable pension from a public or private (micro-) insurance scheme as they do not provide regular benefits for the elderly. V. Evidence-based policy design as challenge In developing as well as in developed countries the informal sector is manifold. Because of this, it is a huge challenge to develop appropriate policies for the social protection of workers in this sector. Due to its heterogeneity it can be stated that there will be no one-size fits all solution. Instead, each country will have to develop and implement specific adapted policies, which target certain sub-groups in the informal sector acknowledging the different challenges and needs of these sub-groups (cp. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong et. al., 2013). In order to realize an evidence-based policy

6 design certain data and information regarding the informal sector, its needs, strengths and weaknesses are required. But in most developing countries policy makers still lack comprehensive knowledge concerning household businesses, informal workers and informal sector characteristics including social protection needs of respective units and persons. Usually, the national surveys only provide a general picture regarding enterprises, household businesses, labour force and living standards. The labour force surveys dig deeper as they acknowledge further individual indicators, such as educational background, status of employment or social insurance. With these data it is possible to measure e.g. employment, underemployment, the size of the informal sector and the people s level of education. But it is not possible to discover informal sector characteristics regarding working conditions, certain needs, strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge gap requires regular surveys covering household businesses and the informal sector including social protection and further characteristics of household businesses and informal workers. Only along these lines it is possible to monitor development of the informal sector, to develop evidence-based policies for formalisation and social protection and to review the success of these policies. In several developing countries, there is strong evidence that women in the informal sector are in charge of most own account or unpaid family work and for this reason they are overrepresented in vulnerable employment (cp. OECD 2009). Furthermore, women tend to work in occupations requiring lower skills or lower technical qualifications. It has to be elaborated, whether adapted social assistance policies (e.g. conditional cash transfers) could act as incentive for formalisation or participation in social insurance schemes. These transfers should be targeted at the most precarious household businesses or at the vulnerable groups. In this way they would get a real incentive to formalise their business or to choose a social insurance product. Such a social insurance product should cover different risks, such as sickness, work accidents, old age and death. It should not focus only on one risk. VI. Conclusions In the presented South and Southeast Asian countries the coverage and impact of micro-pensions, voluntary insurances or micro-savings solutions for old-age protection of informal workers is still very low too low to declare a promising approach. Because of this, further in-depths analysis is required in order to adapt the existing instruments for old age protection or combine them with additional instruments for old age protection. Currently, there is still a huge knowledge gap regarding informal work. From this follows the need for regular surveys covering household businesses and informal work including certain social protection needs. Only along these lines it is possible to monitor development of informal work, to develop evidence based policies for formalisation and social protection and to review the success of these policies. Regarding the key question how to start and how to deal with old age protection for informal workers there is no standard solution. The protection of old people can be achieved through dedicated social insurance systems with adequate contribution and benefit conditions, through funded systems with participation of the private sector, through taxfinanced universal basic pension systems, or through a combination of these approaches (BMZ 2009). In line with a (means-tested) social pension for the elderly broad coverage of informal workers could be achieved. A well-designed and appropriate funded social pension has many advantages, in particular in terms of coverage, equality and the human right to social protection. But its impact depends very much on the political will and the allocated budget. In the Vietnamese case, for example, the coverage of the social pension is very low and the benefit is not sufficient. Also market oriented solutions, such as micro- or voluntary insurances or micro-savings will run the risk of a fragmented coverage, as not all people are able or want to take the opportunity to enroll and participate. But if sufficiently subsidized and effectively promoted, micro-insurance may hold some potential for broader coverage. In the future, each country will have to develop, implement and find out the right mix between different solutions and instruments for the formally and informally employed as well as the workers who change between formal and informal employment. Additionally, specific measures for information dissemination, awareness raising as well as improved acceptance and trust for old age protection are required. The presented examples are a first step into the right direction. But many further steps have to follow until effective old-age protection is achieved for informal workers.

7 Literature ADB (2012): Social Protection for Older Persons - Social Pensions in Asia. Manila: ADB. BMZ (2009): Sector Strategy on Social Protection. Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Bonn: CIA: The World Factbook, East & Southeast Asia. (last accessed: 2 March 2014). GIZ (2013): Old Age Income Security - Indo-German Social Security Programme (IGSSP). New Delhi: GIZ. GIZ (2013a): Demographic Megatrends in Asia and Eastern Europe Challenges and Opportunities for Health and Social Protection. Hanoi: GIZ. GIZ (2013b): Commune Social Risk Funds in Viet Nam. Hanoi: GIZ. GSO (2013): Press Release: Socio-economic situation in nine months of Hanoi: GSO. HelpAge International. pensions/ country-fact-file/ (last accessed: 1 March 2014). HelpAge International et. al. (2013): Why join us? Real-life stories from intergenerational self-help clubs in rural Vietnam. Vietnam Women s Union (VWU), Vietnam Association for the Elderly (VAE), Center for Ageing Support and Community Development (CASCD), Southern Institute of Sustainable Development (SISD), HelpAge International. Hanoi: ILO (2012): Social protection assessment based national dialogue: Towards a nationally defined social protection floor in Indonesia. Jakarta: ILO. ILO (2013): Press release. Project launched to address demographic challenges for national social insurance system. Hanoi: ILO. Invest India Micro Pension Services Private Limited (2014): About. (last accessed: 2 March 2014). Mukul Asher (2013): Finally, a modern pension system. (last accessed 12 March 2014). Nguyen Thi Lan Huong et. al. (2013). Social Protection for the Informal Sector and the Informally Employed in Vietnam Experiences and Challenges. IEE-working paper No Bochum: IEE. OECD (2009): Is Informal Normal? Towards More and Better Jobs in Developing Countries. Paris: OECD. Philippine Information Agency: SSS AlkanSSSya program facilitates premium payments of self employed, informal sectors' workers in Albay. article= #sthash.zoyi2f4q.dpuf (last accessed: 2 March 2014). Press Information Bureau (2014): Frequently Asked Questions on NPS Swavalamban Scheme. (last accessed: 2 March 2014). UNFPA (2011): The Aging Population in Viet Nam, Current status, prognosis, and possible policy responses. Hanoi: UN (2013): World Population Prospects, The 2012 Revision Key Findings and Advance Tables. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. New York: UNSTATS: Glossary of the 1993 SNA - Definition of Term. glossresults.asp?gid=632 (last accessed: 1 March 2014). Published by: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Registered offices: Bonn und Eschborn Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg Eschborn/ Germany T F E social-protection@giz.de I Editor: Cormac Ebken, Planning Officer Social Protection Editor-in-chief GIZ Discussion Papers on Social Protection: Uwe Gehlen, Head of Section Social Protection The paper is intended to contribute to the debate and offers an overview of the current international discourse and more profound insights into current practice. The analysis, results and recommendations in this paper represent the opinion of the author(s) and are not necessarily representative of the position of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. March 2014, Issue No. 20