In older age, as health challenges limit people’s ability to work, fewer women and men can secure a reliable, sufficient income to ensure they meet their day-to-day needs in later life. Many older people, particularly those who are poorer, must remain economically active to get by as they have limited options for income. Work in older age is mainly in the informal sector, which tends to provide lower and more volatile incomes. Without systems to ensure income security as people age, many older people in Zanzibar and across the world fall into poverty.

How did we improve social protection in Zanzibar?

To help ease the unpredictable and insufficient income older people in Zanzibar face, we worked with global network member  Jumuiya ya Wastaafu Zanzibar (JUWAZA) to campaign for a pension.

Beginning in 2008, HelpAge International began to build alliances with bodies such as the International Labour Organization, the Africa Development Bank, the World Bank and other UN agencies to help push the Zanzibar Government to adopt social protection standards and create political buy-in for a pension.

From 2010, with publication of a study on the technical and fiscal feasibility of a universal pension, HelpAge International and its network members scaled up its advocacy and provided technical support to Government ministries and departments to make the pension a reality.

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