According to the United Nations, aging is an “unprecedented event in human history.” The year 2020 marks a historic turning point: the curves showing the proportion of people aged 65 and over on the one hand, and people under the age of five on the other, are crossing and heading in sharply divergent directions.

These changes, already underway in Europe and the Balkans, herald major health, social, and economic challenges in the coming decades, as well as a demographic decline that is already underway. To address these challenges, it will be necessary to confront inevitable changes in lifestyles, increase investment in social protection policies, reform institutions, and encourage technological innovation. Without specific public policy actions, the decline in the working-age population will make it more difficult to support retirees, age-related health problems will worsen, and the quality of life of older people will be reduced.

This research project aims to identify, describe, and clearly analyze the links between demographic dynamics and socio-economic issues in three countries in the Western Balkans. 

To this end, it focuses on population dynamics (mortality/morbidity, aging, migration) and patterns of (de)population and land use planning (territorial identities, urbanization/rural areas, particularly in relation to natural environments). It will also analyze their impacts and interactions with current and future socio-economic issues in each of the three countries concerned (women's access to the labor market, migrant remittances, changes in social protection systems, etc.).

The aim is to clearly identify, describe, and analyze these links, both to inform academic research and to inform public policy choices in the three countries concerned. AFD will also be able to use these results in its discussions with public authorities in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.

The project is led by a scientific partner, the Center for Research and Policy Making (North Macedonia), who assembled a multidisciplinary team of experts in demography, migration, economics and financial policy, employment and labor mobility, gender equality, the environment, and social protection policies (health and retirement).

This multidisciplinary project (sociology, political science, economics) is structured around three components:

• Production of an academic literature review on the challenges of aging in the Balkans region (advances and scientific knowledge on the socio-economic, territorial, and migratory challenges related to aging at the regional level);
• Three country studies;
• Publications and promotional activities to disseminate knowledge on the one hand and fuel dialogue between AFD and its public partners on the other.

In South Africa, escalating unemployment, rising poverty and structural inequality remain persistent challenges, with young people and marginalized communities disproportionately affected. Many workers remain excluded from stable formal employment, and rely on social grants for basic income security. PEPs have emerged as a key policy instrument to address these structural gaps, providing temporary work, income support and skills development opportunities. 

These programmes operate alongside traditional social protection measures, including cash transfers and grants. While PEPs offer immediate employment and income, it is critical to understand their broader impact beyond income effects, and how they intersect with poverty reduction, inclusion, and long-term labour market outcomes. 

Find out more about the Extension in South Africa

To better understand the role of PEPs within South Africa’s evolving social protection landscape, this study analyzed how they intersect with unemployment, inequality, and social policy. The study highlighted structural inequalities – such as land dispossession, concentrated economic power, and spatial inequities – that perpetuate poverty and unemployment. 

In particular, the paper focused on redefining the relationship between social assistance and public employment. The study explored how PEPs can go beyond merely providing income support to leveraging the added value of work, enhancing social inclusion, and fostering skills development. The study revealed how integrated and differentiated strategies are needed in order to address the diverse labour market challenges by advocating for scalable, rights-based employment guarantees and adaptive policy frameworks to balance social and economic imperatives. 

You will find below the research paper and the "Policy Dialogues" publication related to his project: 

• Public Employment Programmes in South Africa’s Changing Social Protection Landscape
• Strengthening Public Employment Programmes in South Africa’s Social Protection Framework