AMMAN - The Social Security Corporation (SSC) has won an international award for its "strategy to expand social protection", a senior corporation official said on Tuesday.
The International Social Security Association (ISSA), a global institution comprising social security agencies and organisations across the world, granted the SSC its "Good Practices Award - Asia and the Pacific", according to a press statement from the corporation.
The SSC competed with 18 other social security organisations from 10 countries, who are members of the ISSA from the Asian and Pacific region.
The corporation's "strategy to extend social protection", which it submitted to the association, is part of its vision to provide coverage for the entire population of the Kingdom, SSC Media Department Director Musa Subaihi told The Jordan Times yesterday.
He said the strategy consists of three main pillars, the first of which entails expanding coverage geographically, which the corporation began in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone on November 1, 2008 and will move to Irbid by the beginning of next month, according to the SSC statement.
Under the second part of the strategy, the SSC launched the "Social Security Ambassador" programme, under which a mobile office travelled to countries hosting Jordanian expatriates, particularly Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, to provide them with social security coverage.
The third pillar of the SSC's strategy focused on amending the Social Security Law to redefine insured persons in a way that allows coverage for uninsured individuals, including business owners, housewives and students, the statement said.
The amended law also seeks to allow pharmacists and agricultural labourers to join the social security umbrella, according to the SSC statement.
"The extension of coverage is one of the greatest challenges for social security today," according to an article posted on the ISSA website last month, which cited studies indicating that between 70 and 80 per cent of the global population lives in a state of "social insecurity".
Jordan will receive the award in a special ceremony on the sidelines of the Regional Social Security Forum for Asia and the Pacific slated for October 21 in the Philippine capital of Manila.
SSC Director General Omar Razzaz will represent Jordan at the forum, which will focus on social security developments and trends in Asia and the Pacific, governance and the social security reform process, the imperatives of healthcare and pension coverage, and demographic ageing.
The four winners of the Good Practice Awards, from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean in addition to Jordan, will be featured at the World Social Security Forum in Cape Town, South Africa in 2010, according to the ISSA website.
By Khalid Neimat
© Jordan Times 2009
