Adapting Social Protection in the Sahel: Addressing the Challenges of Population Mobility

The Sahel region faces significant challenges related to population mobility driven by economic, environmental, and social factors. The report, "Population Mobility in the Sahel: Implications for Social Protection Programs and Systems", emphasizes how internal migration affects migrants and their families, particularly concerning access to social protection programs. It suggests adjustments in adaptive social protection (ASP) systems to better serve mobile populations, ensuring they receive the necessary support and are not left behind due to programmatic gaps.

Adapting Social Protection for the Mobile Populations of the Sahel

The Sahel region of Africa, a vast semi-arid area stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, is characterized by high levels of population mobility. People move in search of better economic opportunities, escaping environmental hardships, or for sociocultural reasons like marriage and education. However, recent years have seen new waves of forced migration due to insecurity and climate change. The growing number of displaced persons, especially internally displaced persons (IDPs), presents unique challenges to both migrants and the social protection programs designed to support them.

A report titled "Population Mobility in the Sahel: Implications for Social Protection Programs and Systems" by the World Bank explores the complexities of this population mobility and offers critical insights into how Adaptive Social Protection (ASP) systems can be fine-tuned to support mobile populations more effectively. In this article, we examine the key challenges faced by migrants and how the adaptation of social protection systems can alleviate some of the most pressing concerns.

Migration in the Sahel: Drivers and Vulnerabilities

The Sahel is a region marked by widespread poverty, with limited employment opportunities and economic hardship driving people to move internally, often from rural to urban areas where wages are higher. However, migration in the Sahel is not just about money. Cultural factors such as marriage and family reunification also play significant roles, particularly for women. As people leave their homes, they are often exposed to a myriad of vulnerabilities. Migrants and their families face the risk of poverty, social exclusion, and the loss of critical social services such as healthcare, education, and safety nets.

Climate change and conflict have worsened the situation. The once-familiar patterns of seasonal and voluntary migration are being increasingly replaced by forced migration as people flee from drought, desertification, and insecurity. Internally displaced persons, particularly, are growing in number. Between 2022 and 2025, the number of IDPs in countries like Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger is expected to increase by over 24%. These individuals often find themselves in precarious conditions, without access to basic services and cut off from their support systems.

The Role of Social Protection Systems

Despite the central role of mobility in the lives of many Sahelian communities, traditional social protection programs often assume a sedentary population. This assumption leaves many mobile populations either underserved or entirely excluded from the systems designed to help them. As the World Bank report outlines, these gaps in service can exacerbate the vulnerabilities faced by migrants and their families.

For instance, migrants often lose access to social programs because of geographical boundaries that don’t accommodate mobility. Families can be left without support if the primary recipient of social benefits relocates. Even when migration is part of a broader household strategy to diversify income, such movements can result in temporary or permanent exclusion from assistance programs. This calls for a rethink of how social protection systems are designed and delivered.

Recommendations for Adaptive Social Protection

To address these challenges, the report offers several recommendations for making social protection programs more responsive to the realities of population mobility. At the policy level, it suggests that governments must take mobility into account when designing frameworks for social protection. This includes better coordination across administrative regions and the inclusion of mobile populations in national registries.

On an operational level, social protection programs should consider allowing multiple household members to access benefits. Program benefits also need to be portable across different regions to ensure that migrants do not lose their entitlements when they move. Additionally, the report emphasizes the importance of adjusting the timing, content, and delivery modes of social protection benefits to match the needs of mobile populations.

Crucially, dynamic registration systems are needed to ensure that migrants can enroll in social protection programs as their circumstances change. Regularly updated social registries and on-demand registration opportunities would prevent migrants from falling through the cracks of existing systems.

A Path Forward for the Sahel

The population mobility dynamics in the Sahel require urgent attention from governments and international organizations. By incorporating a mobility lens into social protection programs, the Sahelian countries can ensure that migration does not lead to increased poverty or social exclusion. Rather, with the right adaptations, social protection can help leverage migration as a strategy to enhance resilience and reduce vulnerability.

As migration continues to define the lives of many in the Sahel, adjusting social protection systems to address these unique challenges will be vital. The lessons from the World Bank’s report are clear: adaptive social protection must evolve to meet the needs of the region’s mobile populations.