Kamanya, Ronnie2017-02-062017-02-062016http://hdl.handle.net/10539/21882MMIt is undisputable that social pensions are supposed to be introduced in Zambia to cover the elderly population which is not covered by the contributory system which focuses on those working mostly in the formal sector. The contributory systems only cover about 10 % to 11 % of the population and the rest who are not covered are supposed to be protected through social pensions especially that most elderly people look after the vulnerable groups in society such as the orphans and the disabled(Pelham,2007) who eventually are able to benefit from those transfers. It has been demonstrated by various scholars that social pensions are affordable to virtually all countries, low-middle income economies respectively. However, in Zambia, there has been a pilot project in Katete over the introduction of social pensions and, in other areas, dealing with cash transfer projects. But scaling up to the rest of the country has been a challenge. As a result poverty and vulnerability among the elderly remains a problem. Therefore, this research was conducted to identify and understand the obstacles to the introduction of social pensions in Zambia. A qualitative research approach was used to understand the obstacles to the introduction to social pensions from the world view of the respondents, and eight (8) technical officials were interviewed and recorded for the sake of accurate transcription. The results from the research showed that the obstacles to the introduction of social pensions were: challenges in appreciating the concept of social pensions in particular and social protection in general among the key stakeholders; insufficient political will among the key government officials (though there has been an improvement with the current government which has a pro poor manifesto but still not sufficient to deal with the problem); challenges with the model to support the vulnerable groups in society; challenges with the capacity required for the introduction of social pensions and the reliance on the family support by government in looking after the elderly.enSocial security,Old age pensions,Old age pensions -- Government policy,Pensions -- ZambiaThesis