Background Information

Civil Society Call for a Global Fund for Social Protection

The Civil Society Call for a Global Fund for Social Protection is available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

The Press Release “Over 200 civil society organizations and trade unions unite to call for a Global Fund for Social Protection to protect the most vulnerable during COVID-19 and beyond”; is here, (pdf version).

Why a Call for a Global Fund for Social Protection?

In view of the global harm from the COVID-19 pandemic, with food insecurity, poverty and loss of livelihoods rising globally, it is essential that national social protection floors are made available to all people – through nation and international solidarity. While recognising that the foremost responsibility for social protection lies at country level, the pandemic puts a spotlight on the need for international solidarity. What is needed is the creation of a solidarity based Global Fund for Social Protection to support countries design, implement and, in specific cases, finance national floors of social protection. It is the adequate multilateral initiative needed to respond to Covid-19 and to build a better future.

What do we want you to do?

We invite you to endorse the Call, to express your support for the creation of a Global Fund for Social Protection.

The list of signatories is here.

How can you endorse the Civil Call for a Global Fund for Social Protection?

You can endorse the Call on by ensuring that the director, president, secretary general, or equivalent of your organisation sends an email confirming your organisation’s support for the Global Fund for Social Protection to Ana Zeballos at anaclau AT item.org.uy, who collects the signatures on behalf of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF). Only signatures by the organisations top leadership will be listed.

The updated list of signatories is here.

Who is invited to sign?

For now, global civil society platforms and organisations, faith based organisations, worker organisations as well as their national members are invited to sign. At a later stage we may also approach individual advocates for social protection.

What do we hope to achieve?

We want to make sure that in this crisis we lay the foundations for an instrument of global solidarity that is long overdue. The Global Fund for Social Protection should become a key element of the Covid-19 response and of the efforts to build a better future, in which the universal right to social protection is a reality for all. We support this endeavour by showing the breadth of support for such a fund among civil society actors from all around the globe.

When shall the call be published?

The call was publicly launched on 21 September 2020. We ask you to share the call with your membership network as well as, civil society allies supporting this cause and invite them to sign. We ask all of you to contribute to the promotion and advocacy activities, e.g. by offering to write an op-ed, blog or similar piece for your constituency, region etc.

Information on the launching can be found here.

We also encourage you to call for a Global Fund for Social Protection in related policy spaces. You could also -for example- reference the GCSPF concept note on the Fund or the related ITUC campaign brief.

If you have suggestions and want to be part of these activities, please also contact Ana. You will be informed about the activities organized around the call, if you sign it.

How can you get involved?

You can also get active in the work around the fund as part of working group on the fund in the GCSPF, which plans activities, and develops further the existing (concept note on the Fund).

Updated version of the Call for a Global Fund for Social Protection?

In July 2022 an updated version of the Call was published. The revision was made in light of new political developments through 2022, for example, a Global Fund for Social Protection was included in the Our Common Agenda report by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Global Financing Mechanism for Social Protection Floors - Background Information

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 47th SESSION (HRC) (21 June to 9 July 2021)

109th SESSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE (ILC) (7 to 18 June 2021)

  • 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 (ILC) 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. The statement “International solidarity to eradicate poverty: supporting the initiative of a Global Fund for Social Protection” was submitted under Recurrent Item Discussion on Social Security, on 4 June, 2021. The pdf version is available here. Read more

  • ILO conference adopts strong pandemic call to action

    The ILO annual ILC has concluded with the adoption of a strong and coherent response to the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    A key opportunity to press forward this agenda will be through the convening of a major international policy forum, with other multilateral institutions.
    The demand for universal social protection was reinforced in the resolution on social security. Important elements in that resolution include: the leading role of the ILO in the international system concerning social protection; social protection as a critical factor for recovery and resilience against future crises; the need for greater international solidarity in funding social protection and the engagement of the ILO in initiating and establishing a Global Social Protection Fund; and coverage of all workers in the formal and informal sectors, and increased action to formalise informal work. Read more

  • "We need a u-turn before we reach a point of no return"

    At the ILC, Public Services International (PSI) has underlined the urgent need for a complete reshaping of the rules of the global economy, with a recovery based on rebuilding quality public services and workers rights. Read more

  • The time has come for universal social protection

    Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
    On Saturday, June 19th, the ILC, the highest body within the ILO, voted to call on the ILO to develop concrete proposals for establishing a Global Fund for Social Protection. It’s a historic breakthrough for 55 per cent of the world's population – 4 billion people – who are still deprived of any form of social protection. Read more

Civil Society Call for a Global Fund for Social Protection

Over 200 civil society organizations and trade unions unite to call for a Global Fund for Social Protection to protect the most vulnerable during COVID-19 and beyond.

Read the Call

SP&PFM Programme

The programme Improving Synergies Between Social Protection and Public Finance Management provides medium-term support to multiple countries aiming to strengthen their social protection systems at a national level and ensure sustainable financing. The programme aims to support countries in their efforts towards achieving universal social protection coverage.

This initiative is implemented jointly by the ILO, Unicef, and the GCSPF.

Read more

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