Images courtesy of the East and Central Africa Social Security Association (ECASSA).

SOCIEUX+ in Tanzania: Capacity building of ECASSA and its members through training and research

Established in 2007 in Kigali, Rwanda, the East and Central Africa Social Security Association (ECASSA) was tasked with facilitating cooperation among member organizations for the promotion and development of social security systems in the region. With its current membership of over 20 social security schemes and still growing, ECASSA’s members (pension funds, health insurance schemes, workers compensation funds, and sectoral regulatory bodies) come from seven states (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and Zambia). Both the Executive Secretariat and the International Training Institute are based in Arusha, Tanzania. The latter aims to “embrace professionalism in management and development of social security programs through training, research and consultancy for the benefit of all members”.

The Institute has set up a training plan for 2017-2018. SOCIEUX+ was asked to contribute by providing expert trainers, as training and capacity building of social security institutions and practitioners in the region are characterized by limited investments. ECASSA aims to fill this gap by offering an exchange of best practices, capacity building, workshops, advocacy, and study visits for its members, as well as lobbying for change at the policy level. Its fundamental goal is to develop regional expertise on social security.

Based on the above request, ECASSA’s training plan for 2017-2018 consists of direct support by SOCIEUX+ for the mobilization and provision of trainers for the following topics:

• Innovative strategies for extension of coverage and product design in social security;
• Transformational leadership, ethics and integrity in social security institutions;
• Occupational safety and social health insurance;
• Strategic human resources and business partnering in social security institutions.

So far, the three first trainings have been carried out by EU experts from Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, and with the participation of regional expert trainers from Kenya, who helped to channel learning by ensuring that local contexts and sensibilities were taken into account. Around 50 participants from ECASSA member organizations have so far taken part in these training sessions.

2017-05 TANZANIA, ACT. 1, 2 & 3 (September 2017 – April 2018).

Images courtesy of the East and Central Africa Social Security Association (ECASSA).