Our lives would be different if we weren’t sure that under our feet there is a net that protects us from falls; which turns into mere stumbling-more or less serious-what otherwise would be falling down a ravine.
No unemployment benefit, pensions or other transfers from the public social protection system, in our lives there would be much more fear and our societies would be more unequal. What would have happened to us if the Covid had arrived and we had to face it alone? Without a welfare state that, despite its limitations, would keep us off the cliff. That is what Oxfam has tried to answer by analyzing the social protection response to Covid in 126 developing countries.
Despite the effort shown to reach more households with social protection schemes, more than 2.7 billion people have not accessed any public aid. Eight out of 10 countries have failed to protect half of their population from lack of income, one in three states or 10%. 41% of the grants awarded have been a single payment; transfers that were made months ago. The money ran out, the crisis continues, and millions of families face the pandemic with one hand in front and one behind.
This would be one more of the stories of shortages that are told of poor countries if it were not for there are exceptions that assure us that it is possible to do more. Countries like South Africa or Bolivia have been able to better protect their population because they started from stronger social protection systems. But it also reminds us, both there and here, that we are vulnerable and that our strength lies in the community. We who have it should remember more often that without our welfare state we would be alone in the storm.
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