The SP&PFM Programme organised on 16 February 2022, in Dakar, a workshop on the promotion of formalisation through social protection. The workshop brought together 29 participants, including representatives of various ministries, such as the Ministry of Labour and the structures involved in formalisation, representatives of social security institutions, trade unions, employers’ organisations and professional organisations of the informal economy.

In Senegal, 90% of workers are in the informal economy. This situation results in glaring decent work deficits, including a lack of social protection, since these workers are excluded from both wage-based social security systems and social assistance programmes targeting the poorest households. To address this problem, the Ministry of Labour is piloting a new simplified social security scheme tailored to the needs of the informal sector, the RSPC (Simplified Scheme for Small Taxpayers).

The workshop allowed partners to present the results of the study ”Determination of the framework for the implementation of incentives for the formalisation and affiliation of the informal economy to the Simplified Social Security Scheme (RSPC)”, produced in 2021 within the framework of the ILO Project ”Universal access to social protection and occupational health and safety through the transition to formality”, financed by the French Government. A list of 26 incentives to formalise enterprises and their workers, and to register to the RSPC was proposed, and their relevance and feasibility were discussed. This led to the validation of measures relating to administration, taxation, social security, vocational and skills training, health and safety at work, and others. Participants also helped to set up a framework for implementing the selected measures, according to their degree of impact and urgency. The implementation of incentives for enterprises and workers is essential to make formality more attractive and to dispel the concern of informal economy actors about systems that require the payment of contributions.

In Senegal, the different technical cooperation projects in social protection work in synergy to offer coordinated and effective support to the Government and social partners for the effective extension of social protection coverage and the transition to the formal economy.