Social protection has reached development policy agenda in Africa, and extending coverage to informal workers is now a key concern. First, this article develops a conceptual framework of social protection intersperse in Africa to identify the missing link in the evolving debates on extending social protection to informal workers. Second, the article reviews and assesses literature on African burial societies to make an argument that they are well positioned to be engaged as pathways for providing social protection to those working informally. The article concludes by identifying three models of possible pathways for extending social protection in Africa: the state-informal single model, the state-informal collective model and the state-formal model.