Invitation: Side event at HLPF: “Decade of Action to achieve Universal Social Protection by 2030”

The virtual side event “Decade of Action to achieve Universal Social Protection by 2030” will take place in the framework of the High-level Political Forum.

Date: Monday 12th July 2021, Time: 7:30 – 9am New York, EDT

Please register here: https://socialprotectionorg.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K0jIjxvgTC2pDQqYRiMhgQ

The event will be in English. Live Spanish and French translation will be offered.

The virtual side event is co-organized by the Permanent Mission of Argentina to the United Nations; Ministry of National Development Planning, Indonesia; Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection - USP2030; Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors; Global Call to Action Against Poverty; International Labour Organization; The World Bank; International Network for Social Protection Rights (INSP!R West-Africa); United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD); Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung; Protestant Agency for Diakonie und Development; Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd; Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento (CIPPEC).

Download the concept note and the invitation (flyer). The speakers bios are here.

AGENDA

Moderator: Dr. Katja Hujo, Senior Research Coordinator, Transformative Social Policy Programme, UNRISD

Session 1: The Contribution of Universal Social Protection to Agenda 2030

• Dr. Shahra Razavi, Director of the Social Protection Department of the International Labour Organisation:

• Dr. Michal Rutkowski, Global Director, Social Protection and Jobs, The World Bank:
  Universal social protection - a key contribution to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda
  (SDG 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17)

• Dr. Maliki, Director, Poverty Alleviation and Community Empowerment, Ministry of National Development Planning, Indonesia:
  Universal social protection for a resilient recovery and future crisis preparedness

• Roshni K. Niggehalli, Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA), on behalf of Global Call for Action Against Poverty India:
  Universal social protection – an essential instrument to reduce Inequality (SDG 10)

Q&A / Discussion

Session 2: Partnership for Joint Action

• Uzziel Twagilimana, INSP!R West-Africa, on behalf of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors:
  The strength of national social dialogue to build universal social protection

• Erika Roffler, Secretary of Social Policy, Ministry of Social Development, Argentina:
  The opportunities of a strong Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection (USP2030)

• Prof. Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights:
  How a Global Fund for Social Protection will enable social protection coverage for those left furthest behind

• Catherine Gigante, Head of Unit, Social Development, Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, Belgium:
  Comments and reactions on a Global Fund for Social Protection

Q&A / Discussion

Wrap up and Conclusion: Towards universal social protection by 2030

• Summary of main messages and recommendations
• Invitation to join Partnership and to live up to Agenda 2030 commitment to achieve universal social protection coverage by 2030.

CONCEPT NOTE

Social protection is essential to achieve the 2030 Agenda. Social protection is not only a universal human right, investing in social protection also brings high social and economic returns. However, half the world’s population currently does not have access to any social protection, with coverage remaining particularly limited in most low-income countries. Those who tend to lack access to essential services and basic income guarantees, according to ILO Recommendation 202 on Social Protection Floors, include workers in the informal economy, marginalized children, people with disabilities, older women and men, refugees and migrants, and homeless persons.

We are entering the decade of action to achieve Agenda 2030 under extremely difficult circumstances. Global commitment to SDG 1 “to achieve substantial (social protection) coverage of the poor and the vulnerable by 2030” (Target 1.3) has become the highest priority to end poverty in all its forms, everywhere. Without concomitant commitment to joint action SDG 1 target 1.3 will fail.

The HLPF 2021 reviews global and national progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also considers the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already exposed the depth and breadth of social and economic inequalities and is set to push up to 150 million people into extreme poverty1, and 150 million children into multidimensional poverty2. Governments have responded to Covid-19 by introducing or scaling up social protection measures to ameliorate the impact of job losses, impoverishment and the increase of inequalities in their countries. Countries with established social protection systems have shown themselves to be in a much better position to cope with the social and economic fallout of Covid-19, to respond faster, more effectively and more efficiently than countries who have had to introduce new schemes on an ad hoc emergency basis.

Covid-19 has focussed minds on the importance of social protection guarantees to health and income, enabling access to education, food and housing. The positive impact of social protection on long-term poverty and inequality has been demonstrated. Many countries are realizing the need for and the long-term benefits of universal, comprehensive and adequate social protection, based on sustainable and equitable financing, tripartite administration and anchored in law.

We invite you to a 90-minute side event at the HLPF 2021 with speakers from governments, the United Nations, the World Bank and civil society. We will discuss why universal social protection is critical to the success of the 2030 Agenda, how social protection can prevent long-term poverty traps as a result of the ongoing crisis, how it will underpin resilient recovery and contribute to future crisis preparedness and how it will reduce inequalities. The event will explore the role of national social dialogue and the global partnership for universal social protection and propose a global mechanism to support countries to create comprehensive systems, to collect necessary data and to mobilize finance to ensure universal coverage of the social protection floor.

Conclusions and recommendations will feed into the ongoing work of the High-level Political Forum 2021 and the work of the sponsoring partners.

Notes:

e-GCSPF # 55 - June 2021

Q&A on the Global fund for social protection       The working group for a Global Fund developed a question-and-answer (Q&A) document to clarify and express our thinking around the Global Fund. Read more           International solidarity to eradicate poverty: supporting the initiative of a Global Fund for Social Protection       The GCSPF took the floor at the International Labor Conference (ILO) to call for the creation of a solidarity based Global Fund for Social Protection; to pool funds while supporting countries design and implement national social protection floors. A Global Fund is the adequate multilateral initiative needed to respond to the consequences of Covid-19 and to build a better future. As an institution of global governance, the Fund would help pull together efforts and decrease the fragmentation of aid, leading to a consolidation of existing financing mechanisms and enabling domestic financing over the long term. Read more           Policy Dialogue on G20 response to adequately tackle the impact of COVID-19 on hunger and food insecurity       Civil 20 (C20) and Oxfam organised the event “Ahead of the G20 Foreign and Development Joint Ministerial Session. “Policy Dialogue on G20 response to adequately tackle the impact of COVID-19 on hunger and food insecurity” held on 15th of June 2021. Johanna Wagman participated on behalf of the Global Coalition. Read more           Towards a Social Protection Floor for Lebanon     The joint policy note “Towards a Social Protection Floor for Lebanon, Policy options and costs for core life-cycle social grants” by the ILO and UNICEF explores policy options and costs for core life-cycle social grants in Lebanon. Lebanon is facing a detrimental and multifaceted crisis that threatens to undermine its political, economic, financial, fiscal and social stability. The country – its people and the Government – is at a critical juncture in which key decisions around the (re)construction of core institutions will determine the success or failure of the country’s immediate recovery plans and long-term trajectory. Social protection will be central to this reconstruction, but temporary or reactive measures will simply not be enough to get the country on track. Lebanon has an opportunity to meet the immense crisis with an equivalent investment in an inclusive, lifecycle social protection system, which will not only provide immediate relief but will fuel a faster recovery and lay the foundation for a stronger economy and society going forward. Read more           Financing for development in the era of COVID-19 and beyond       The final report of the Civil Society Meeting “Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond”, Cluster 2: socio-economic response: social protection, gender, youth, health, education, and human rights is now on line. The consultation with NGOs and Civil Society Organizations was held under the auspices of the International Labour Organization and coorganized by the NGO Committee on Financing for Development and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP). The event was held on 11 March 2021. Read more           Collective video project for social protection       The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, invited us to participate on a long-term video project to support the campaign for global social protection. The collective video project “Social Protection for all!” compiles short videos from around the world where people and organisations answer the simple question: “Why does social protection matter to us?” Read more           ASEAN Regional Forum on Social Protection that Empowers Women       The ASEAN Regional Forum on Social Protection that Empowers Women will be held on 29 - 30 June 2021 virtually via Zoom. The forum will bring t protection experts, national and international organizations, civil society organizations, UN agencies, ASEAN Committee on Women, ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Social Welfare and Development empowerment and advancement. Members of the Global Coalition will participate on the Forum. Read more

JOIN US TO ACHIEVE SOCIAL PROTECTION FOR ALL GLOBAL COALITION FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION FLOORS - GCSPF For comments, suggestions, collaborations contact us at: info@socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org To stop receiving this newsletter send a message with the subject "unsubscribe" to: info@socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org

Human Rights Council 47^th session 21 June to 9 July 2021
Agenda item 3

“The Global Fund for Social Protection: International Solidarity in the Service of Poverty Eradication”
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

Written statement submitted by the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (A/HRC/47/NGO/168) https://undocs.org/A/HRC/47/NGO/168

Download pdf version here.

At its 47^th regular session, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) will consider the report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on “The Global Fund for Social Protection: International Solidarity in the Service of Poverty Eradication”. The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors, an international alliance of more than 110 civil society organisations, concurs with the findings of the Special Rapporteur and expressly welcomes his proposal to establish a Global Fund for Social Protection.

The proposal was developed almost a decade ago¹, but now – at a time when the COVID-19 outbreak has exposed the vulnerability of our societies in a particularly dramatic way – its urgency has become even more evident. A key lesson that can be drawn from the crisis is that states with adequate and functional social protection systems were much better prepared to respond appropriately to the severe social problems that suddenly arose as a result of the pandemic. The current crisis, as the Special Rapporteur points out in his report, has pushed many millions of people below the poverty line. The suffering caused by this and the manifold subsequent problems could have been avoided if better social protection had been provided worldwide.

Human rights deficits in relation to the financing of global social protection

It is important for the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors to emphasize that the initiative to establish a Global Fund appears particularly necessary from a human rights perspective. The right to social security is a human right that is far too rarely in the focus of global public interest – and this despite the fact that it is violated millions of times every day. According to estimates by the International Labor Organization (ILO), 71 percent of the world's population (about 5.2 billion people) have only limited access to basic social protection or even none at all.²

If at least the core elements of the right to social security – that is, what roughly corresponds to the "social protection floor" according to ILO recommendation 202 (2012) – were guaranteed worldwide, this would represent a major step forward in the fight against poverty and global inequality. Philip Alston, the former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, has quite rightly pointed out that the “(i)mplementation of the right to social protection through the adoption by all States of social protection floors is by far the most promising human rights‐inspired approach to the global elimination of extreme poverty. … No other operational concept has anything like the same potential to ensure that the poorest 15 to 20 % of the world’s people enjoy at least minimum levels of economic, social and cultural rights.”³

The discussion initiated by his successor, Olivier de Schutter, together with former Special Rapporteur Magdalena Sepúlveda, on the establishment of a new international financing mechanism is now an opportunity for the international community to finally give this human right, which has been neglected for a long time, the status it deserves on the international agenda.

The need for a new global financing mechanism

Social protection is primarily a responsibility of national governments as set out both in the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, Arts. 2, 9) and in ILO recommendation 202 (Art. 12). Nevertheless, significant gaps in social protection remain in many low income countries (LICs), mainly due to the lack of corresponding financial resources. In addition to leveraging domestic resources (especially improving taxation and budget prioritization as well as fighting illicit financial flows), international cooperation is therefore an important tool to address these financing deficits. Multilateral and bilateral programs are already helping some LICs to build up their social protection systems. In doing so, those states that provide funds for this purpose indicate that they are willing to fulfill their extraterritorial obligations with regard to the right to social security.⁴ However, the support measures are often inadequately coordinated. Above all, they are far from sufficient to guarantee the basic funding of essential social security services in the poorest countries and in exceptional crisis situations.

A Global Fund – building on existing institutions such as the Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection (USP 2030) and the Social Protection Inter Agency Cooperation Board (SPIAC-B) – would not only leverage coordination of national actors, as well as the consistency and synergies of international cooperation. Its main task would in particular be to support countries to design and implement crisis resilient national social protection floors and, in specific cases, provide temporary co-financing for low-income countries where such transfers would otherwise require a prohibitively high share of the country’s total tax revenue. Moreover, the Fund could help strengthening the mobilization of domestic resources to underpin the future sustainability of national social protection systems. Its mandate would also include to offer additional support for specific shock-responsive social protection interventions in countries where floors have not yet been established.⁵

The globally recognized, overarching legal standards of the human rights approach and the aid effectiveness principles should be the authoritative guidelines for the design of the Fund's operational processes. Two aspects therefore appear to be particularly worth emphasizing:

• The funds administered by the Global Fund should be used exclusively for the establishment of such protection systems that comply with the requirements of human rights – i.e. in particular with Art. 9 ICESCR⁶ – and the basic principles enshrined in ILO recommendation 202. National social protection floors not only have to aim at a universal, non-discriminatory and rights-based coverage of all population groups, but also have to be designed in such a way that they enable full participation of people of all ages, including women, people with disabilities, minorities, and those living in poverty in the implementation and monitoring processes. For the governance structure of the Fund, this also means that the bodies are not only composed of representatives of recipient and donor states, but that representatives of civil society organizations, trade unions and informal workers’ organizations are also involved in the decision-making processes of the Fund.

• In addition, it must be ensured that – in accordance with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) and the follow-up documents of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation – the principle of country ownership is respected. Implementing a social protection floor would remain the responsibility of the respective countries. They would receive financial support from the Fund, but this support would be used for social protection programs that they have developed and implemented themselves. Each country must be allowed to decide for itself – within the framework of the requirements of Art. 9 ICESCR and ILO recommendation 202 – how to design its social protection system.

Recommendation

Social protection systems that work to combat poverty and inequality are an essential element of human rights protection. Developing these systems is a task that each country must first perform for itself. But from a global perspective, the economically stronger countries also have a responsibility toward the weaker members of the international community. This responsibility exists not only in political terms (based on the principle of global solidarity), but it is also a consequence of the extraterritorial obligations that states have entered into under international law. The ICESCR also requires them to engage, within their financial means, in protecting the social rights of people who do not live on their territory.⁷

This is why the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors respectfully requests that this Council should take the opportunity to lead in developing and implementing a rights-based approach to global social protection. It should encourage global leaders, as well as international organizations and financial institutions, to give careful consideration to the proposals put forward by the Special Rapporteur for the establishment of a Global Fund and to make it one of the main priorities of the meetings to be held in the near future both at UN level and in the context of the G7 and G20 consultations.

Notes:

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors submitted a written statement to the 47^th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) held from 21 June to 9 July 2021. . This session considered the report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on “The Global Fund for Social Protection: International Solidarity in the Service of Poverty Eradication”. The statement is here.

Civil 20 (C20) and Oxfam organised the event “Ahead of the G20 Foreign and Development Joint Ministerial Session. “Policy Dialogue on G20 response to adequately tackle the impact of COVID-19 on hunger and food insecurity” held on 15th of June 2021. The agenda of the webinar is here.

Johanna Wagman participated on behalf of the Global Coalition. Her notes are here.

Concept Note

‘This virus will starve us before it makes us sick.’ these words are from Micah Olywangu, a taxi driver in Nairobi, father of three children, the youngest one born in December 2019. The closure of the airport and collapse in tourism have hit his business hard. Micah’s experience is that of millions of people around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has added fuel to the fire of an already growing hunger crisis.

Hunger was already on the rise prior to COVID-19: FAO estimates that the number of undernourished (including those with chronic and acute hunger) increased from 624 million people in 2014 to 688 million in 2019. The drivers underlying this trend include extreme climate events, conflict, and other shocks to economic opportunities. COVID-19 is estimated to have dramatically increased the number of people facing acute food insecurity in 2020-2021, with impacts expected to continue through 2021 and into 2022. According to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 report, the pandemic may have added between 83 and 132 million people to the total number of undernourished in the world in 2020.

The current pandemic creates a vicious cycle that affects the food security of the poorest people more heavily than that of people who are better off or live in wealthier countries: people living on low incomes often rely on work in the informal sector, day-labour, or remittances. They spend a greater proportion of their income on food, and are less likely to have access to formal safety nets.

The dramatic slowdown in the global economy, coupled with severe restrictions on movement, has resulted in mass job losses over the last year. Governments have responded to the unprecedented disruption in economic activity by instituting ad hoc social protection policies that vary considerably in terms of their reach and scale. Many wealthy nations have introduced multi-billion-dollar economic stimulus packages to support business and workers, but most lower-income nations lack the financial firepower to follow suit.

Worsening hunger levels and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic require a strong coordinated global response. In this challenging context what role should the G20 play under the leadership of the Italian Presidency? This question will be addressed at the first session which will also offer opportunity to get an overview of the Food Coalition, a global alliance established by FAO in November 2020 on the proposal of the Italian Government in response to the pandemic. The second session will stimulate the debate around two main topics that are pivotal in setting up an effective and sustainable policy response to such a dramatic food crisis. The first one is the need to support robust and inclusive social protection systems in low and middle income countries as a key requirement to ensure food security for chronically food-insecure. The second one is to recognize the key role of women and young small scale farmers, to address their specific needs, to counter discriminations they suffer and to promote, instead, the transformative role they can play in reducing poverty and hunger.

Statement to the International Labor Conference
Recurrent Item Discussion on Social Security
4 June, 2021

Download pdf version here.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to contribute to this discussion. My name is Johanna Wagman, I am speaking on behalf of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors, a global network of civil society organizations, trade unions and think tanks committed to the realization of ILO 202 Recommendation on social protection floors.

We recognize the foremost responsibility of governments in establishing and scaling-up national social protections floors, as they committed to do so in 2012 in this exact same conference.

However, we also recognize that this cannot be achieved without the international community’s support. Firstly, through the promotion of fairer and more redistributive macro-economic policies, enabling low and middle income States to make fiscal space for social protection.

Secondly, through international solidarity.

Yet, international funding for social protection is still extremely low (1,4% of total ODA in 2019), despite the universal right to social protection and the vast scientific evidence on the effectiveness of investing in social protection to prevent and reduce poverty and inequality.

This is why the creation of a solidarity based Global Fund for Social Protection is needed; to pool funds while supporting countries design and implement national social protection floors. A Global Fund for Social Protection is the adequate multilateral initiative needed to respond to the consequences of Covid-19 and to build a better future.

As an institution of global governance, the Fund would help pull together efforts and decrease the fragmentation of aid, leading to a consolidation of existing financing mechanisms and enabling domestic financing over the long term.

Based on its strong normative framework and technical knowledge, the ILO should take a lead role in the establishment and the governance of such a fund, providing effective participation of social partners and other relevant and representative civil society organizations. We call on this conference to give the International Labor Office a mandate to start participate talks with other international organizations.

Thank you very much.

Contribution by Johanna Wagman, Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors.

e-GCSPF # 54 - June 2021

Civil Society Training Manual on Public Finance Management for Social Protection       This Civil Society Training Manual on Public Financial Management for Social Protection by Gemma Adaba and Barry Herman explores the basic concepts, processes and tools that underpin public finance management and it demonstrates the relevance for the strengthening of social protection systems, and for the progressive universalizing of social protection regimes. This manual is part of the Programme “Improving synergies between Social Protection and Public Finance Management" Read more           African Dialogue on COVID-19 and the Future of Social Protection       To provide a platform for an engaging conversation between African Governments, civil society organizations, and people affected by COVID-19 on how to address critical social protection gaps exposed by the pandemic and progress towards inclusive and rights-based social protection, the African Union, the Africa Social Protection Platform, HelpAge International, WIEGO, Save the Children, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) – Zambia, and the ILO Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa organised a virtual dialogue made up of three connected webinars. The conversation revolves around the VOICES of affected populations, the ACTIONS of Governments to expand social protection during COVID-19, and Africa’s VISIONS for social protection as part of an inclusive recovery. Read more Webinars: 1. VOICES of Africans affected by the COVID-19 crisis: Experiences on the impacts of COVID-19 on the incomes, livelihoods and wellbeing - 1 June 2. ACTIONS of African governments to expand social protection during COVID-19 - 8 June 3. Africa’s VISION to expand social protection and build forward better from COVID-19 - 15 June           Pushing the frontiers: Will the pandemic force the shift?     The COVID-19 Pandemic and its impact on economic, social and cultural rights - Opportunities and avenues out of the crisis, summarises, by theme, a total of 32 thought-provoking articles by 45 authors, advocates, practitioners, policy makers and academics, mostly women from the Global South, that were published in 2020 through GI-ESCR’s blog series assessing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the enjoyment of ESC rights. This publication is part of the ‘Pushing the frontiers of economic, social and cultural rights’ series, which aims to foster collective reflection among activists, practitioners, organisations and communities on how we can, together, further develop the human rights framework as an axis and tool for transformative change to tackle imbalances of power, social and economic injustices, and environmental destruction. Read more           Older informal workers in the COVID-19 crisis       HelpAge and WIEGO partnered to develop a study on 'Older Informal Workers in the COVID-19 Crisis'. The study analyses the impact of COVID-19 on the income and work patterns of older informal workers, and their access to relief measures. When COVID-19 hit, older informal workers saw their earnings collapse and a much slower return to their pre-COVID-19 livelihoods than younger people. The study took place with informal workers aged 60 and older in cities in Bulgaria (Pleven), Ghana (Accra), India (Ahmedabad, Delhi and Tiruppur), Mexico (Mexico City), Peru (Lima), Senegal (Dakar), South Africa (Durban), Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), Thailand (Bangkok) and USA (New York). Read more           Income Security: Options and choices       The publication by Francine Mestrum was presented at the Asia Europe People's Forum for a Just, Peaceful, and Sustainable World (AEPF 13) Read more           Essential, but Unprotected: How Have Informal Workers Navigated the Health Risks of the Pandemic?       To date, little is empirically known about the impact of COVID-19 on the health of informal workers globally. The publication by Christy Braham, Ana Carolina Ogando (WIEGO) shows the key findings and policy recommendations pertaining to informal workers' health risks based on research undertaken as part of the COVID-19 Crisis and the Informal Economy study. Read more           Universal basic income: Potential and limitations from a gender perspective       Over the past decades, universal basic income (UBI) has repeatedly been put forward as a means to address increasing labour market precarity, jobless growth, and rising poverty and inequality. Most recently, proponents have argued that UBI could provide much-needed protection in the face of economic, environmental, and health crises, such as COVID-19. The implications of UBI for gender equality have received insufficient attention in these debates—despite the fact that feminists have long discussed its pros and cons. Some feminists hold that an unconditional income independent of paid work would enhance women’s agency in families, households, the workplace and the community, with particular benefit for those facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. Others caution that, in a climate of fiscal tightening and austerity, UBI could be used to justify the rollback of state responsibility and funding for other essential support measures, including care services, housing, education and health care. Building on their contributions, This policy brief by Loui Williams (UN Women) discusses the potential and limitations of UBI from a gender perspective and points to some of the specific design features that policymakers need to consider to make UBI work for women and transgender and gender-diverse people. Read more

JOIN US TO ACHIEVE SOCIAL PROTECTION FOR ALL GLOBAL COALITION FOR SOCIAL PROTECTION FLOORS - GCSPF For comments, suggestions, collaborations contact us at: info@socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org To stop receiving this newsletter send a message with the subject "unsubscribe" to: info@socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org