Laying the institutional groundwork for integrated social protection in Oman

In July 2023, The Council of Ministers of Oman approved the referral of a new draft law on social protection to the Council of Oman to complete its legislative session. The law reflects an ambitious set of reforms which will lead to the modernization and redesign of the social protection system architecture. This includes the establishment of a unified pension system for workers across all economic sectors, the enhancement of social insurance benefits during working life, and the establishment of life-cycle guarantees for the most vulnerable segments of society.

Successful implementation of complex and comprehensive reforms is far from automatic. It requires a strategic vision, a focused and deliberate change management strategy, detailed planning and concerted efforts to build appropriate governance and administrative systems to support the new policy framework. In Oman, the reform’s success depended on the creation of a streamlined management and delivery system able to cope with significant policy and organizational change. 

This episode of the Arab Social Protection Compass Series, is the second in a two-part series exploring key features of the holistic reform in Oman, which has moved in full implementation mode since January 2024. The webinar will focus on “HOW” the reform is being implemented, highlighting its main administrative, institutional and governance features. As such, it complements the first episode that focused on policy design (the “WHAT” of the reform), the main drivers that led to it, as well as the innovative approaches pursued to gather support for its adoption. 

Agenda

13:00 – 13:10 | Opening and Welcome

• Luca Pellerano, Senior Social Security Specialist for the Arab States Region, ILO

13:10 – 13:40 | Laying the institutional groundwork for integrated social protection in Oman 

• Dr Hamdan Al Farsi, Governance, Risk and Compliance Manager, Social Protection Fund
• Ibtihal Al Riyami, Human Capital Expert, Social Protection Fund 

13:40 – 14:00 | Panel discussion

• Ernesto Brodersohn, Senior Officer in Social Security, ISSA
• Amer bin Mansour Al Azri, Director of the Legal Affairs Department, General Federation of Oman Workers 

14:00 – 14:25 | Q&A

14:25 – 14:30 | Closing

• Magid Fathallah, Regional Coordinator, ISSA

This episode is part of the webinar series "Arab Social Protection Compass: Towards Integrated Approaches for Universal Social Protection", organised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and technical support of socialprotection.org. The initiative intends to put a spotlight on reforms and programmes geared towards fostering integration within social protection across the region and beyond, while contributing to stir discussion at the national level. Throughout the series, speakers will delve into both the theoretical underpinnings and practical implementations of specific reforms, aiming to inspire a broad audience of practitioners to replicate or scale up similar interventions.