Many people in Sub-Sahara Africa don't have access to improved sanitation facilities, and a quarter are undernourished. Informal community groups deliver the majority of social protection services, but most are disqualified from official recognition as they don't "fit" the model of accountability. The book warns against undermining this resource.

Nicholas Awortwi is the Director of Research Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR), a Pan-African organisation based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Gregor Walter-Drop is the Managing Director of the Center for Area Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Germany.

1. Introduction

2. Governance Characteristics and Policy Relevance of Informal Social Protection Services in Ethiopia

3. Governance of Non-State Social Protection Services in Ghana: Communication as Accountability Mechanisms in Mutual Aid Organisations in Wassa

4. Social Protection and Citizenship Rights of Vulnerable Children: A Perspective on Interventions by Non-state Actors in Western Kenya

5. Governance Mechanisms of Burial Societies in Western Uganda

6. Hedging Against Vulnerability: Associational Life as a Social Insurance Strategy by the poor in the Central Region of Ghana

7. Women's Economic Empowerment in Kenya: Lessons from Non-State Social Protection Actors and Services in Nyanza Region

8. Governance of non-state social protection initiatives for addressing gendered poverty in Uganda: Beyond counting of women on governance committees?

9. Governance Dynamics in the Provision of Community Based Social Protection Services in Tanzania

10. Conclusion, Implications for Public Policy and Governance Theory