WSSD II; From Doha to Africa: Reclaiming Transformative Social Policy

A team from the International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs), the Gender Equitable and Transformative Social Policy for Africa Project and Network (GETSPA) and the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) participated in the World Summit for Social Development (WSSD), held in Doha in November 2025. This engagement formed part of a collective effort to bring Africa-based research and policy perspectives into global discussions on social development, labour, and inequality. In the lead-up to the Summit, GETSPA and IDEAS organised a Webinar in July 2025, on Advancing Transformative Social Policy in Africa: Towards an Agenda for the Second World Summitt on Social Development.

The two speakers at this webinar, Katja Hujo, head of UNRISD’s Bonn Office, and Jimi Adesina, SARChI Chair in Social Policy at the University of South Africa examined how well the draft declaration for the Social Summit reflected the social development priorities of experts and civil society groups from Africa and other parts of the Global South.[1] This was followed by a two-day online preparatory event on 22 and 23 October 2025. The first panel, Addressing Work Precarity: Insights from Research in Africa,[2] presented empirical findings on labour precarity and informalisation across the continent, while the second, Towards Transformative Social Policy Solutions for the Post-Doha Agenda in Africa, focused on advancing inclusive and transformative social policy options for Africa in the context of the Doha process.

Alongside these webinars, IDEAs and GETSPA issued a joint statement[3] outlining their key policy positions and recommendations for the post-Doha agenda, calling for rights-based, development-oriented, and context-sensitive social policy frameworks in Africa. Following their participation in the Summit and engagement with the outcomes of the Doha Political Declaration, members of the research team also prepared a series of blogs to further elaborate their analyses and perspectives. Contributions by Dzodzi Tsikata, Mayada Hassanain, Nana Akua Anyidoho, Marion Ouma, Ruth Castel-Branco, Cynthia Sunu, Patricia Blankson-Akakpo and Fati Abigail Abdulai.

The blogs present the unique perspectives of the authors on the Summit’s agenda, the range of issues raised in the sessions and panels, and the Doha Political Declaration, the outcome document of the Summit. These include the Solutions approach of the summit, macroeconomic policy, political will, digital transformation, and questions of implementation,  among others. The aim of these blog pieces is to enhance dialogue among academics, civil society actors, and national and international policymakers to ensure that they remain engaged and continue to promote progressive, transformative and equitable social policies.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6wRk71uxR8 

[2] https://www.networkideas.org/2025/10/08/countdown-to-the-second-world-summit-for-social-development-towards-transformative-social-policies-for-the-post-doha-agenda-in-africa/

[3] https://www.networkideas.org/2025/10/08/countdown-to-the-second-world-summit-for-social-development-towards-transformative-social-policies-for-the-post-doha-agenda-in-africa/