NSSF opens door to informal sector workforce
NSSF board members, Otuke District leaders and members of the community pose with a handhole during the launch of the Livelihoods Support Project at Amwa Primary School on October 4, 2024. PHOTO/ BILL OKETCH
What you need to know:
- NSSF is a multi-trillion Fund mandated by the government through the NSSF Act (Cap 230), to provide social security services to all eligible employees in Uganda.
- The Fund is a secure, innovative, and dynamic social security provider that guarantees safety, security, and a return on members’ savings of at least 2% above the 10-year inflation average.
- The Fund manages assets worth over Shs 22.1 trillion, invested in Fixed Income, Equities, and Real Estate assets within the East Africa region.
- The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, and the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development are responsible for policy oversight of the Fund.
The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has launched a new initiative that will recruit millions of the country’s workforce, mainly in the informal sector, into the formal savings space.
Under the ambitious Livelihoods Support Project, the Fund will enhance both beneficiaries’ capacity and their willingness to save.
Mr Patrick Ayota, the Fund’s managing director, said once implemented across the country, the project will, in the long run, contribute to their strategic objective of recruiting at least 50 per cent of Uganda’s working population by 2035.
“The Fund has come to a realisation that we must onboard the informal sector into the social security net, particularly those involved in small-scale agriculture if we are to achieve the desired coverage of up to 15 million Ugandans,” he said at the launch of the project at Amwa Primary School, Okwang Sub-county in Otuke District.
The project is currently being piloted in four districts; Otuke in northern, Kayunga in central, Sheema and Mitooma in western Uganda.
In Otuke, more than 10,000 new members taking part in the project have registered and started saving with the Fund.
Mr Ayota said in the next year, the Fund will have sufficient data to evaluate the success of the pilot.
“The lessons we will have learned will enable us to put in place a detailed policy framework to scale the initiative across the country as well as implement the initiative sustainably,” he added.
A woman bakes mandazi. The NSSF Livelihood Support Project intends to recruit people like her and others in the informal sector. PHOTO/ BILL OKETCH
Mr Paul Omara, Otuke County MP said: “Now all of us can be part of the NSSF saving programme. And I can tell you for us in Otuke County we’re not going back. We’re moving forward and we will continue to make this a much better item.”
The recently appointed NSSF Board Chairperson Dr David Ogong, representing the Minister of Gender, Labour, and Social Development applauded the Fund for devising innovative ways of recruiting the informal sector workers.
“The recent changes in the law were premised on the fact every working Ugandan has a right to social security and social protection. The Fund is no longer shackled by the law as was the case not so long ago. I therefore encourage Ugandans to embrace this opportunity to ensure they are protected from the uncertainties of life. NSSF is the best national entity to guarantee this protection,” she said.
He added that Uganda is not any different when it comes to the challenges of onboarding the informal sector into the social security net.
“The statistics are not pleasant. Globally, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the informal economy workers make up a significant portion of about 55% of the global population who do not enjoy access to social protection at all, while many others are only partially protected,” he said.
“In Uganda alone, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the informal sector workers - those who are employed, but without any social security cover in law or in practice – are over 80% of Uganda’s workforce. Today, therefore, marks an important milestone in the NSSF’s journey to extend social security coverage to millions of underserved segments of the country’s workforce, mainly in the informal sector.”
The NSSF Livelihoods project targets existing groups referred to as the “Livelihood Community” to accelerate their access to new skills and knowledge, productive assets to add value to their goods and services, markets for their goods and services, and higher income-earning opportunities.
The pilot will be assessed after one year to expand it to cover the entire country.
