Samoa
Situation and Priorities
Social protection situation
The social protection system in Samoa comprises of both informal and formal mechanisms. The informal or the traditional social protection systems have remained relatively strong, and cover support from the community at large, the extended family and sometimes churches. The customary ways of doing things—fa’a Samoa—encapsulates practices, institutions, hierarchies, kinship systems and social protection. Fa’a Samoa is the major network for socioeconomic sustenance of relatives and maintenance of cultural identity. Due to its irregularity and unpredictability, there are no administrative data that captures its full extent and usage by different families. Remittances play a critical role in Samoa’s traditional social protection system, representing around 20% of its GDP. The informal social protection mechanisms are increasingly strained in the protection they can provide even in normal times. The informal social protection system is often challenged when large shocks such as natural disasters strike. It provides targeted temporary social assistance in the event of a natural disaster and requires the establishment of basic platforms to identify eligible recipients, and distributed benefits could significantly increase welfare across the country in the aftermath of such shocks.
The formal social protection system in Samoa remains underdeveloped by global and even regional standards. No social protection floor has been introduced to date. Cash-based social assistance is limited to the country’s two pension programmes—the Senior Citizen Benefit Scheme (SCBS), providing a universal pension to everyone 65 years of age and older, and the contributory Samoa National Provident Fund (SNPF), providing a compulsory savings scheme for all formal sector employees (public and registered private sector). The SNPF administers the SCBS, that provides a monthly benefit of 135 Tala (USD 51) to 8,700 beneficiaries, for a total cost of approximately one per cent of GDP. These state-administered, state-funded programmes are supported by legislation with the SNPF, for example, covering approximately 33,000 active members. Other major programmes include a worker’s compensation scheme for those in the formal sector, free healthcare services, maternity protection and, most recently, a school fees relief scheme.
Samoa has decentralised health services, but progress is needed in addressing the differences in the quality of, and access to, healthcare between urban and rural areas. Health conditions have improved across a wide range of indicators since Independence in 1962, but the transition to a modern cash economy has brought new health challenges, including a rise in non-communicable diseases such as obesity and diabetes.
COVID-19 and other crises
The absence of an established social protection infrastructure has impeded targeted intervention by the Government to support families and individuals in the wake of the impact on the economy of the State of Emergency Orders. It has also hampered further advancement of women’s economic autonomy and their sustained inclusion in the labour market. Labour market support is of particular need, specifically through vocational training and other skills development programmes that take into consideration the specific needs of the different groups of population in Samoa, particularly the most vulnerable.
Government and social partner priorities
The Government of Samoa is developing a National Social Protection Policy (NSPP) to provide a national development agenda for improving and strengthening an inclusive, forward-looking and sustainable social protection system for Samoa. Currently, the NSPP is being reviewed by the National Policy Coordinating Committee for submission and endorsement by the Cabinet. The approval of the policy will enable the prioritization of social protection as a key development public policy agenda for the first time, with political leadership solicited for the adoption and implementation of transformational reforms in the area. While the UN and partners await the adoption of the NSPP by the Government of Samoa, the National Social Protection Framework Policy has moved ahead with consultations lead by the Ministry of Finance that will strategize the outcomes under the Pathway for Development of Samoa, expand opportunities, build capacities, and enhance resilience through inclusive growth. The aim is to support and promote collaboration and partnerships for the realization of this national development agenda, the adoption of international best practices, as well as promoting the strengths of local institutions, principles and values. It seeks to place social protection in the centre of Samoa’s social-political and economic development, as an important part of achieving human development outcomes as highlighted in the Strategy for the Development of Samoa 2021-2025 and the Samoa Development Plan 2040. The NSPP further contributes towards progressive fulfilling of Samoa’s obligations under the SDGs (within its commitment of ‘leaving no one behind’), other International Conventions and Agreements, Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway, and UN Pacific Strategy (2018-2022). It is also worth noting that within the NSPP, the Government aims to achieve the financial inclusion of vulnerable groups whose social protection benefits can be distributed through the banking system to reduce transaction costs and facilitate access to other social protection and financial services.
Funding gaps / Support the ILO
US$ 800,000
Discussions to be held on strategies to accelerate the ratification of the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102), and the implementation of the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202) with Samoa and other Pacific Island Countries such as Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Palau, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Kiribati and Tonga
ILO Experts
