Social security system reforms in the Democratic Republic of Congo : initiating cash transfers in the fight against poverty = Reforma do sistema de seguridade social na República Democrática do Congo: introduzindo o programa de transferência de renda no combate à pobreza / Reforma do sistema de seguridade social na República Democrática do Congo : introduzindo o programa de transferência de renda no combate à pobreza

Ngoma Charles Kumbi

With the current global economic market imbalances and the policy instability of financial institutions patterning our World, the less fortunate are mainly the forgotten reserve army of unemployed population. This situation accentuates the poorer the country is. Our focus in this dissertation is this population classified as the poor who are left out of the Social Safety Nets and exposed to all sorts of socioeconomic calamities. By reforming the social security systems we first look at quick measures to palliate to the current situation faced by this unfortunate people highly concentrated in less developed countries; and our attention goes to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country long savaged by decades of civil war, political and economic instability, leaving the majority of the population into extreme poverty and desperation. To reach such a goal in a shorter time, Cash transfers are found to be the ideal remedy. As a strategy to reconcile poverty reduction with human capital development, Cash Transfer programs (CTPs) provide cash to poor families. Conditional or unconditional, these cash transfers are aimed at smoothing the impact of poverty in a short term by allowing beneficiaries to afford basic living needs, and in a long term by investing in human capital through education, children health care and nutrition. Our question in regard to the DRC is "how feasible can these programs be in such a devastated country?" This question is examined through a comparative study of two CTPs models, one from Brazil and the other from South Africa but also appended with empirical data from similar countries either in Latin America or in Africa. From this theoretical framework emerges our concluding discussion defining the feasibility of Cash Transfers (CTs) in the DRC regardless of political and economic challenges faced. In both cases results have been strikingly positive; and encouraging outcomes from other similar countries used also proved to be a confirming statement as to the feasibility of CTs in the DRC. However it is also noted that political willingness of local authorities and better policies for sustainable economic growth are irreversible and very determinant factors for the success of CTs. Poor people never chose to be poor but are left with no opportunity to overcome this poverty; so we also insist in this dissertation that creating jobs should remain the focus policy for poor countries in order to curve poverty and build a sustainable economic growth by integrating the less fortunate into the labour market.

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