case study on social protection

Community Practice and Social Development in Social Work pp 129–147 Cite as

Social Protection and Social Development

• James Midgley 4  
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• First Online: 27 May 2020

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Part of the book series: Social Work ((SOWO))

This chapter discusses the role of social protection (also known as social security or income protection) in social development. It traces the expansion of social protection over the last two decades and shows how cash transfers and similar innovative programs are promoting social development by reducing poverty, fostering sustainable economic development, and promoting social justice. The chapter points out that its contribution can be significantly enhanced by improving coverage, administrative efficiency, financing, and integration with national development objectives. These improvements are needed if social protection is to contribute effectively to the goal of achieving well-being and social justice which have long characterized social development policy and practice.

• Social development
• Social protection
• Cash transfers
• Redistribution
• Social justice
• Economic growth

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Midgley, J. (2020). Social Protection and Social Development. In: Todd, S., Drolet, J.L. (eds) Community Practice and Social Development in Social Work. Social Work. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6969-8_7

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6969-8_7

Published : 27 May 2020

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SOCIAL PROTECTION IN THE COOK ISLANDS: A CASE STUDY

Over 90 per cent of Cook Islanders benefit from the Government's Social Protection system, which has helped reduce poverty across the country by over half since it was introduced in 1965. Our P4SP researchers have reviewed how the Cook Islands’ Social Protection programs and policies have worked to achieve these impressive results.

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For more effective delivery of assistance to people in a context of complex crisis and to increase their resilience to future shocks, this case study explores the relationship between humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) and government social protection in Gaza. It discusses the current set-up, what the long-term goals for linking social protection and CVA might be and the short-, medium- and long-term steps needed to get there. The focus is on multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA) and CVA that cover basic needs. More specifically, the topics addressed are:

the similarities and differences between humanitarian CVA and the current social protection programmes in Gaza, and the benefits of linking them;

understanding what the current system is working towards in terms of achieving equity, efficiency or fairness in the social protection system;

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This case study covers some of the main social protection system governance strengths and challenges in Argentina, with a view to providing some insights for other countries looking to strengthen and/or consolidate core welfare systems. Argentina stands out as having a relatively centralized and concentrated high-level governance and administrative apparatus in social protection, despite being a large federal country and having undergone significant political and socio-economic debacles in the past three decades. While it faces remaining challenges in terms of the fragmented nature of social protection service delivery and making sure all age groups are covered to the same degree, it is nonetheless a relatively successful case for several reasons.  

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Eclipses Injured Their Eyes, and the World Never Looked the Same

A number of case studies published after recent total solar eclipses highlight the importance of safe viewing.

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By Gina Kolata

A young woman visited New York Eye & Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai Hospital shortly after the eclipse of Aug. 21, 2017. She told Dr. Avnish Deobhakta, an ophthalmologist, that she had a black area in her vision, and then drew a crescent shape for him on a piece of paper.

When Dr. Deobhakta examined her eyes, he was astonished. He saw a burn on her retina that was exactly the same shape. It was “almost like a branding,” he said.

She had looked at the sun during the eclipse without any protection. The burn was an image of the sun’s outer edge.

With every eclipse, ophthalmologists see patients who looked at the sun and complain afterward that their vision is distorted: They see small black spots, their eyes are watery and sensitive to light. Usually, the symptoms resolve, although it may take several weeks to a year.

But the woman’s retinal burns, which Dr. Deobhakta and colleagues described in a medical case write-up, would not heal. Her retina was permanently scarred and a sign of the severity of injuries that can follow looking at an eclipse without proper precautions.

With the coming eclipse in April, ophthalmologists advise people to be careful and not assume that short glances at the sun are safe. Damage can occur, they say, in less than a minute.

David Calkins, director of the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center and vice chair of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute in Nashville, said younger people were most at risk of retinal injury, possibly because the lens of their eye is clearer than the lens in older people. He said they also may be a bit more reckless.

But age is no guarantee of safe eclipse viewing.

A study described 20 people aged 15 to 82 in England who complained of symptoms like black spots in their vision or blurry vision after an eclipse in 1999. Four said they used eclipse glasses; one said she used sunglasses. The rest looked with naked eyes.

Five had visible damage to their retinas. All but four of the 20 were better after seven months.

Not everyone is so lucky. A study published last year involved four young Irish women who looked at the sun during a religious gathering in October 2009 . The women, who did not know one another, sought medical attention within a few days of looking at the sun. They complained of blind spots in the center of their vision and said objects appeared distorted and blurred.

Investigators from Galway University Hospital followed up with the women for an average of more than five years. One was followed for 11 years.

Years later, the researchers reported, all of the women still had the blind spots.

For Dr. Deobhakta, the situation with the woman in 2017 is a cautionary tale.

While she did put on protective glasses for part of her viewing of the eclipse, she at first looked at it several times for about six seconds each time without protection.

She felt fine for four hours. Then her symptoms emerged: blurred vision, distorted shapes and colors, and that crescent-shaped black spot in the center of her vision with her left eye.

Most people look at an eclipse through special eclipse glasses. Often the glasses have a cardboard body with special film in the eyeholes that filters out harmful rays.

Dr. Deobhakta said he did not trust many of the eclipse glasses being sold and felt it was not worth taking a chance on them. He prefers an indirect method that involves using pinholes, like in a colander, to cast the sun’s shadow on the ground.

Professional groups say many eclipse glasses are safe but urge caution when buying them. The American Astronomical Society reported that potentially unsafe eclipse glasses flooded the market before the 2017 eclipse.

To help people find eclipse glasses, the astronomical society lists reliable sellers and distributors.

Legitimate eclipse glasses must meet specific international safety standards known as ISO 12312-2. Testing requires a spectrophotometer that measures how much ultraviolet, visible and infrared light gets through the glasses.

But an ISO logo on the glasses is not necessarily an assurance, the astronomical society warns, because dealers can — and some do — snatch an ISO logo from the internet and put it on their glasses.

Rick Fienberg, project manager of the astronomical society’s Solar Eclipse Task Force, said counterfeiting companies were also putting the names of legitimate distributors on their products. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re unsafe, he added. But it does mean that the seller, or the company that sold it the products, is committing fraud.

Dr. Fienberg suggests buying directly from a seller on the astronomical society’s list.

But, he said, if you are worried about your glasses, there is a way to see if they are effective. Look around a room with the eclipse glasses on. The glasses should be so dark you can’t see anything. Then, go outside and glance at the sun with the glasses on. You probably are safe, he said, if you can see the sun through the lenses and “the image is sharp and comfortably bright.”

Dr. Deobhakta still worries. He says he knows he is overly cautious but can’t help warning people about the coming eclipse.

“Do not look at it whether you have glasses or not,” he said. “I’m not going to let my family members look at it. I’m a doctor. That’s why I say what I say. I saw what happened.”

An earlier version of this article, using information from a doctor, misstated the source of a woman’s eye injury. She looked at the sun’s outer edge, not its corona.

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Gina Kolata reports on diseases and treatments, how treatments are discovered and tested, and how they affect people. More about Gina Kolata

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