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Working Paper

13 December 2021

Agents, Coercive Learning, and Social Protection Policy Diffusion in Africa

Published by: Institute of Development Studies

This paper makes theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions to the study of social policy diffusion, drawing on the case of social protection in Africa, and Zambia in particular. We examine a range of tactics deployed by transnational agencies (TAs) to encourage the adoption of cash transfers by African governments, at the intersection between learning and coercion, which we term ‘coercive learning’, to draw attention to the important role played by TA-commissioned policy drafting, evidence generation, advocacy, and capacity-building activities.

Stephen Devereux

Anna Wolkenhauer

Centre for Social Protection Africa

Working Paper

15 December 2020

Policy Pollination: A Brief History of Social Protection’s Brief History in Africa

Published by: Institute of Development Studies

The relatively recent emergence and sustained rise of social protection as a policy agenda in Africa can be understood as either a nationally owned or ‘donor-driven’ process. While elements of both can be seen in different countries at different times, this paper focuses on the pivotal role of transnational actors, specifically international development agencies, as ‘policy pollinators’ for social protection.

Stephen Devereux

Centre for Social Protection Africa

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Agents, Coercive Learning, and Social Protection Policy Diffusion in Africa

Policy Pollination: A Brief History of Social Protection’s Brief History in Africa