Invitation: Social Protection Floors as key tools for eradicating poverty

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) will held a side-event entitled "Social Protection Floors as key tools for eradicating poverty: best practices and strategies for the future" uring the 56th edition of the Commission on Social Development (CSocD). The side-event will take place on Friday 2, 2018, from 4:45pm to 6:00pm, in Conference Room D at the United Nations Headquarters.

Download here the flyer of the event and here the concept note.

SOCIAL PROTECTION FLOORS AS KEY TOOLS FOR ERADICATING POVERTY: BEST PRACTICES AND STRATEGIES FOR THE FUTURE
Conference Room D, UNHQ (NYC)
February 2, 2018, 4:45 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Social protection is a right. A coherent, rights-based approach to social policy will ensure people’s access to basic services and social guarantees. A lack of basic social protection is one of the main reasons why people have been left behind and live in extreme poverty. Today, less than 30 percent of the global population has access to comprehensive coverage, leaving1.6 billion people living in extreme (multidimensional) poverty, unprotected from various set-backs and shocks throughout their lives.

Speakers:

• Régis De Muylder, Project Coordinator, International Movement ATD Fourth World in Haiti
• Isabel Ortiz, Director, Social Protection Department, International Labour Office
• Hanta Fida Cyrille Klein, Counselor, Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the United Nations
• Héctor Cárdenas,  Minister  of  Social  Action  Secretariat  (Ministry  of  Social  Affairs),  Government  of Paraguay

Moderator: Peter Bakvis, Director, International Trade Union Confederation, ITUC/Global Unions, Washington Office

What are the tools and strategies needed to make the human right to social security a reality for all?

Officially recognized in Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development under the SDG 1 Target 1.3: "Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable," human rights-based social protection systems, including floors, is a key strategy to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality, and combat social exclusion.

Social Protection Floors (SPFs) are nationally defined basic levels of income security in the form of various social transfers as well as universal, affordable access to essential services such as health care. When well- designed and adapted to the needs of the people who are furthest behind, social protection floors can help break the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty.

This side-event brings perspectives from a variety of development stakeholders, including grassroots organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, trade unions, Member States, and international organizations. They will discuss the need to extend social protection coverage to all people — including those left furthest behind — through a rights-based approach that integrates existing international standards with strategies to be developed in the future.

Objectives of the side-event

1. Present progress already achieved on social protection, positive experiences, and national cases showing that universal social protection is feasible in developing
2. Take stock of the efforts of various development actors to implement social protection floors and consider some obstacles, especially in terms of extending coverage to all, including those furthest
3. Discuss whether (low-income) countries can finance human rights-based social protection systems, including What complementary policies are needed to eradicate poverty by 2030?
4. Propose what future strategies could be launched at the UN level to support the effective implementation of social protection floors in all