GCSPF e-Newsletter #99 - March 2024

Date: Tuesday 12th March / Time: 08:30 – 10:00 CET
Location: CAGI, Route de Ferney 106, 1202 Geneva
This side-event, co-organized by Child Identity Protection, Hope and Homes for Children, Lumos, and Make Mothers Matter, will contribute to the discussion of inclusive social protection systems as an essential mechanism for realising children’s rights, especially those facing higher poverty and exclusion, and provide concrete examples of solutions. Online registration - Read more

This report by Development Initiatives provides background on the role of Official development assistance (ODA) in delivering social assistance in Kenya. Using three case study programmes, it examines aid disbursement trends, programme impacts and key lessons.
The report finds that between 2012 and 2021, just 1.3% of ODA disbursed to Kenya went to the social protection sector. Over this time, financing to social assistance programmes continued its trend of shifting from ODA to domestic financing. Read more

A Critical Review of the Literature on the Relationship between Social Protection, Formal and Informal Employment
Several influential international organizations, academic studies and reports claim that social protection is an important driver of informality. This paper published by WIEGO critically reviews the available evidence. On the whole, the literature does not support strong claims about the effect of social protection programmes on labour markets. Read more

On 26 February 2024, in its resolution 78/L.39, the UN General Assembly decided to convene the “World Social Summit” in 2025 under the title “the Second World Summit for Social Development”.
The Second World Summit for Social Development would address the gaps and recommit to the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and Programme of Action and its implementation and give momentum towards implementing the 2030 Agenda. The General Assembly requested that the President of the General Assembly appoint two co-facilitators, one from a developing country and one from a developed country, to facilitate the intergovernmental preparatory process leading up to the Summit consisting of its modalities and outcome. The outcome should be a short and concise political declaration adopted by consensus, should have a social development approach, and should give momentum towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Read more

This working paper by FAO discusses how social protection can sustain peace efforts by understanding peace not as an outcome but, rather, as an ongoing process. The paper argues that the contributions that social protection can make to peace can be divided between two overlapping scenarios: “working in conflict” and “working on conflict”. While the former refers to efforts aimed at offsetting the impacts of conflict, the latter relates to interventions that intend to deliberately address its underlying drivers.
The working paper also recognizes that social protection interventions in a conflict-affected context can potentially be harmful and fuel social tensions in the absence of adequate consideration of local power dynamics. It therefore calls for social protection strategies and programmes to be conflict-sensitive – beyond the “do no harm” – to make explicit contributions to peace. Read more