The ILO PROSPECTS Programme in collaboration with Ethiopian Health Insurance Services (EHIS) and UNHCR Ethiopia delivered a four-day training (09-12 July) on Social Health Protection for policymakers and administrators overseeing Ethiopia's social health protection programs. The training equipped participants with the knowledge and experience to strengthen health financing and social health protection systems. 40 participants (including 7 women) from EHIS, workers and employers' organizations, UNHCR Ethiopia, Refugee and Returnees Service (RRS), Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MOWSA), Ministry of Health (MoH) and regional health bureaus attended and benefited from the training.
The training leveraged ILO's expertise in social health protection, customized for Ethiopia's specific needs identified during joint engagement with EHIS and UNHCR. Participants at the training explored best practices from around the world and potential partnerships with social protection actors in order to learn from best practices.
ILO instruments, on the Equality of Treatment of Nationals and Non-Nationals in Social Security Convention, 1962 (No. 118) and on the Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation, 2017 (No. 205), recognize the importance for displaced persons and refugees to be covered by social protection mechanisms. In addition, the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202) reaffirms that social protection is a human right and an economic and social necessity for development and progress.
© @ILO/Zelalem Desta Speaking on behalf of the Director ILO CO Addis Ababa, Mr. Stephen Opio, Chief Technical Advisor at the ILO emphasized that "The training wasn't just about knowledge transfer. It also focused on nurturing leadership qualities required to inspire collective action and drive necessary reforms in Social Health Protection for all, in Ethiopia."
He highlighted the ILO's commitment to universal social protection coverage including extension of coverage to forcibly displaced person and their host communities, encompassing policies that ensure income security and support, particularly for vulnerable populations like refugees and their host communities, especially considering Ethiopia is host to over 1.1 million Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons.
© @ILO/Zelalem Desta Tesfaye Worku, Director General of Ethiopian Health Insurance Services (EHIS), acknowledged the Ethiopian government's ongoing efforts towards universal health coverage. Mr. Tesfaye highlighted health insurance as a key reform program providing financial protection for rural and urban informal sector citizens when accessing healthcare.
"The government established EHIS and the necessary legal frameworks, including the Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI) proclamation and Social Health Protection (SHI) regulations, to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of CBHI schemes nationwide," Tesfaye explained.
He welcomed the technical collaboration with ILO and emphasized the importance of capacity building for EHIS staff at all levels, to strengthen the overall health insurance system and ensure extension of coverage as a means to boost efforts towards achieving universal coverage for all. Tesfaye appreciated the timeliness of the joint capacity building programme and described the training as valuable initiative for EHIS and other partners institutional development.
The training specifically aimed to strengthen participants' abilities to:
- Monitor and analyze the performance of Ethiopia's social health protection systems against international benchmarks.
- Identify priorities for reform and financing strategies for social health protection systems.
- Lead policy development and craft multi-stakeholder engagement strategies.
- Address challenges in extending social protection coverage to the informal economy, migrants, and refugees.
In his concluding remarks and on behalf of ILO, Stephen Opio emphasized that universal coverage and access to social protection is not just an ideal, but rather the foundation of ending poverty and fostering shared prosperity. To achieve universal coverage and access to social protection, he called upon participants to:
- Initiate a national dialogue with relevant stakeholders, including employers, workers, UN agencies, and development partners;
- Collectively identify gaps in social protection and;
- Jointly determine appropriate strategies to address these gaps.
Spearheaded and funded by the Government of the Netherlands, the training was delivered through the PROSPECTS Programme, a global partnership that aims to improve the access of host communities and forcibly displaced people to education, social protection and decent work.
