Social Protection

The Sudan crisis has displaced millions, placing immense pressure on national systems and host communities across the region. Yet within this challenge lies an opportunity — to build stronger, more inclusive, and adaptive social protection systems that can absorb shocks, protect people today, and drive recovery and reintegration tomorrow.

By including displaced people in mainstream safety nets and social protection systems, a foundation is created not only for meeting essential needs, but also for building productive lives: accessing jobs, generating income, investing in communities, and restoring social cohesion. In Sudan, national systems such as Zakat and SANAD can serve as vital bridges for recovery — helping all affected communities, including the forcibly displaced, rebuild stronger futures.

In countries of asylum, growing recognition of refugees in social protection laws and policies marks an encouraging shift toward inclusion. However, limited capacity and financing continue to constrain scale and impact. Bridging this gap requires stronger data, coordinated investments, and sustained development financing to ensure that no one is left behind.

We call on governments, development partners, and the private sector to intensify efforts to strengthen adaptive, country-led social protection systems that integrate cash transfers, employment support, skills development, and social services. In a context where humanitarian aid alone can no longer absorb recurrent shocks, social protection must evolve — becoming more adaptive, innovative, and connected to community and market systems.

Investing in these inclusive platforms today means laying the foundation for resilience, reintegration, and long-term solutions for the people of Sudan and the wider region.

Egypt’s Universal Health Insurance (UHI) Law, enacted in 2018, marks a major step toward universal health coverage. Refugees currently access public health services through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Health and Population and UNHCR, ensuring treatment on par with nationals. Building on this, the ILO and UNHCR conducted a feasibility study to assess how refugees and asylum-seekers could be integrated into the UHI scheme, examining affordability, service delivery, and policy options. The study found that Egypt’s legal framework already supports refugee inclusion, though practical barriers remain in enrolment, contribution collection, and coverage for informal workers. The Government has agreed to pilot refugee inclusion in two governorates and established a Technical Working Group to guide implementation and evaluation.

• ILO, Feasibility study on the enrolment of refugees and asylum seekers in the Egyptian Universal Health Insurance Scheme (UHIS)
• ILO, Policy Brief: Improving social health protection for refugees in Egypt through their inclusion in the Universal Health Insurance (UHI) scheme

Ethiopia’s Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) scheme, launched in 2011, has become a cornerstone of efforts to extend health coverage to informal workers and vulnerable populations. Building on the Government’s commitments under the Refugee Proclamation No. 1110/2019, new discussions are underway to expand CBHI coverage to refugees living in Addis Ababa. A joint ILO–UNHCR feasibility study – within the PROSPECTS Partnership – examined how refugees in Addis Ababa could be enrolled in CBHI, identifying both opportunities and operational barriers. While current legislation does not explicitly exclude non-nationals, administrative requirements such as household registration based on kebele ID cards prevent refugees from enrolling directly. The Addis Ababa City Administration and Regional Health Bureau have expressed openness to a “third-party enrolment model,” through which organizations like UNHCR could facilitate group registration and contribution payments on behalf of refugees.

• ILO News: ILO trains social health protection actors in Ethiopia
• ILO News: ILO and partners advance refugee inclusion in Ethiopia’s National Health Systems
• ILO, Mapping of the national social protection system in Ethiopia, including social health protection

The World Bank–funded Urban Productive Safety Net and Jobs Project (UPSNJP) is helping Ethiopia’s most vulnerable urban populations move from assistance to opportunity. Operating across 88 cities, it reaches about 1.7 million people through a mix of public works, financial literacy, start-up grants, and youth apprenticeships. By combining protection with livelihoods support, the programme illustrates how inclusive social protection can act as a bridge to income, dignity, and urban resilience.

The social protection and forced displacement knowledge exchange is a forum for organisations working on this topic to come together to learn from each other and external stakeholders, to exchange information and best practices and explore opportunities for joint activities. Membership is open to regional NGOs/CSOs, UN agencies, IFIs, Bilateral Donors and Research Institutes across the humanitarian-development nexus in Eastern, Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes. The exchange aims to stimulate discussion, research, and sharing of best practices related to the inclusion of forcibly displaced populations and vulnerable or marginalized host communities into emerging national social protection systems and programmes.

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