From 7 to 16 February 2022, the 60th Session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development (CSocD60) will be held under the title: “Inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19 for sustainable livelihoods, well-being, and dignity for all: eradicating poverty and hunger in all its forms and dimensions to achieve the 2030 Agenda.”
During the UN Commission, the NGO Committee for Social Development will hold a Virtual Civil Society Forum (CSF 2022) on February 9th, and 11th. CSF 2022 is organized with the support of FES and UN DESA. This year's Forum will include an all virtual Orientation and Networking event, as well as two Thematic Sessions and an NGO Collaboration Session. Learn more and register here.
More specifically, the first Thematic Session is entitled; Setting the Stage: A Global Overview on Poverty, Human Dignity and Well-being, and will feature Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter as keynote. Click here to view flyer and register.
The purpose of this side event, organized by the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) in cooperation with several international partners is to explore the pre-requisites and core activities necessary to ensure that all individuals and communities, including the most disadvantaged, are food-secure and have access to healthy nutrition. Sustainable pov- erty eradication cannot be achieved without addressing the threats to food and nutrition security and implementing a well-focused set of mutually reinforcing social and economic policies attuned to the national circumstances and implemented in an integrated manner. Read more Event Flyer - Wednesday February 9th 2022, 8:30-9:45 am EST
You can join the event in Zoom - Meeting ID: 868 2023 7369 - Passcode: ICSW22
This side event will bring together activists with a lived experience of poverty from Burkina Faso and Ireland, academics working on poverty-based discrimination, and Member State representatives proposing good practices, including laws prohibiting discrimination based on social status. They will discuss the importance of addressing poverty-based discrimination, both at interpersonal and institutional levels, to ensure the rights, dignity, and well-being of all, especially that of individuals and families with a lived experience of poverty. Read more Click HERE to register - Friday February 11th 2022, 11:30 am - 12:45 pm EST
As the WHO Executive Board met for its 150th session, HelpAge shared a statement calling on the WHO and Member States to do more to address the continuing inequity of global vaccine distribution which is exposing millions of those most in need to unnecessary risk. Read more
2021 was another tough year for informal workers: their earnings stayed far below pre-pandemic levels and hunger and debt remained huge obstacles to their recovery. The crisis is by no means over for these workers, making this an important time to look at what we have learnt from the pandemic in 2021, so that workers can be supported better in 2022.
Through the WIEGO COVID-19 Crisis and the Informal Economy Study we have listened to workers and, also drawing on our programmatic work, were able to distill five valuable lessons. Read more
By Mai Saleh
In times of political conflict, occupation, major economic crises, and epidemics, the poorest and most marginalized, including women and especially refugees and migrants, are exposed to multiple forms of violence and discrimination. In the past two years, the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the fragility and sometimes absence of social protection and led to the collapse of health systems worldwide. The global aspect of the crisis meant that many women have become scapegoats, sacrificed, and thrown into the ocean until the storm ends! Read more
Filling the financing gap through domestic resource mobilization and international support and coordination. The ILO Working Paper 44 by Mira Bierbaum and Valérie Schmitt discusses the magnitude and urgency of the challenge of filling social protection financing gaps and the options for achieving this. Options exist even in low-income countries, including by broadening the tax base; tackling tax evasion and building fair and progressive tax systems together with a sustainable macroeconomic framework; duly collecting social security contributions and tackling non-payment or the avoidance of social security contributions; reprioritizing and reallocating public expenditure; and eliminating corruption and illicit financial flows.National social protection systems should be primarily financed from domestic resources; however, for countries with limited domestic fiscal capacities or countries facing increased needs due to crises, natural disasters or climate change, international financial resources, in combination with technical assistance, could complement and support domestic resource mobilization for social protection. Furthermore, more dialogue and coherence need to be achieved between international financial and development institutions to avoid contradictory policy advice on the level and nature of investment in social protection. Finally, international cooperation, such as on tax matters or debt restructuring, is needed to create an environment that facilitates domestic resource mobilization. Read more
The ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2022 report warns of a slow and uncertain recovery, as the pandemic continues to have a significant impact on global labour markets.
The ILO has projected that total hours worked globally in 2022 will remain almost two per cent below their pre-pandemic level, corresponding to a deficit of 52 million full-time equivalent jobs (assuming a 48-hour working week).
The impact has been particularly serious for developing nations that experienced higher levels of inequality, more divergent working conditions and weaker social protection systems even before the pandemic. Read more
Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics studies has launched two studies on gender-based violence in the workplace and the impact of the COVID-19 on the employment of youth within the Jordanian labor market.
The study found that over 46% of the study's sample size of over 380 women in the governorates of Tafilah, Madaba, Karak, and M'an are paid less than the minimum wage, with 50% of respondents lacking health insurance and 36.6% being excluded from social security coverage. The study revealed that just 47.8% of women's workplaces in the labor market abide by occupational health and safety practices, which means that more than half of women are exposed to work injuries of different levels of severity. Additionally, the study showed that only 13% of the respondents said that they are able to access their legal financial rights, such as accessing loans and provident funds. The study argues that these factors disempower women both economically and socially. The study also found that women's health is adversely affected as a result of a lack of health insurance and the high costs of treatment compared with their salaries. The study also found that one of the factors leading to an increase in risk of gender-based violence is a common perception within the labor market that women are weaker, despite the fact that 13% of working women are the heads of their households and over 300 thousand households in Jordan are female-headed. Read more
Daria Cibrario and Vera Weghmann
Looking at the intersection between various dimensions of inequality and the lack of equitable access to public services (PS), this paper is PSI's contribution to the GOLD VI Report and it explores emerging trends in local PS delivery, including public, public-community and commoning approaches. It especially focuses on (re)municipalisation as a viable policy option for local and regional governments, highlighting the need for adequate public investment; recal-ling the primary role of public institutions at all levels to ensure equitable PS access for all; and alerting about the risks that privatization entails in terms of deepening inequalities. Read more
You are cordially invited to the launch of the global network INSP!R, the International Network for Social Protection Rights. Close to 100 social movements mobilize across 24 countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe join their forces to guarantee the right to social protection for all.
Thursday 3rd February 2022 at 2 PM (CET time)
The invitation is available in English, French and Spanish. Read more
By Thalif Deen. Inter Press Service (IPS).
The UN’s highly-ambitious goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 has been severely undermined by a rash of problems worldwide, including an escalating coronavirus pandemic, continued widespread military conflicts and the devastating impact of climate change.
According to published estimates, more than 700 million people have been living in poverty around the world, surviving on less than $1.90 a day.
But the fast-spreading pandemic, whose origins go back to December 2019, has been singled out as the primary reason for a rise in global poverty– for the first time in 20 years. Read more
The participants in the Arab Ministerial Forum 2021 endorsed the Declaration “The future of Social Protection in the Arab Region: Building a vision for a post-COVID-19 reality”. The Ministerial Declaration states key guiding principles for post-COVID-19 social protection that will inform policy making for countries and international partners in the region. Read more
By Martha Melesse, Rachel Moussié, Ana Ogando
The Covid-19 pandemic is not just a health and economic crisis. It is also a crisis of care, which has impacted women the most. But not all women have been affected in the same way. Nor have they enjoyed the same levels of support through social protection measures and access to public services. Unlike those in the formal economy, informal workers have no paid family and sick-leave policies, or unemployment benefits. They frequently also lack the technology and opportunity to work remotely, which has enabled many white-collar workers to sustain their livelihoods through the pandemic. Read moreVersión en español
The forum “Promote Development Justice for meaningful post-COVID 19 Recoveries” was organized at the critical moment when the whole world is grappling with COVID 19 pandemic and unfortunately, South Asia is already has already been agonized with various internal issues including poverty, hunger, inequality, insecurity, environmental degradation, climate change and decaying democracy and human right situation. The fallout from the pandemic is affecting women and girls significantly, the poor, marginalized, vulnerable and daily wage farmers and workers have been badly affected. Beyond wage and income inequality, digital divide and vaccine inequality have explicitly appeared as new forms of inequality. Social exclusion has been instrumentalized as a political strategy. Geo-politics and growing nationalism are deepening challenges in the region. Ensuring rule of law and access to justice has become challenging at the moment with the SAARC, the inter-government regional cooperation mechanism, is almost non-functional catering the issues of South Asia.
The participants of the SAPF 2021 urge all key decision-makers and stakeholders to act urgently to address the deteriorating democratic and human rights situation and to promote rule of law and access to justice in South Asia with special focus on hunger and inequality, digital divide and environmental justice. These ambitious policy objectives are set out in SDGs of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to which all governments across South Asia are signatories. Read more
With Paraguay's ratification on October 2021, 60 countries have now ratified the ILO Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) , considered to be the foundation of all ILO social security Conventions.
Convention No. 102 is the only international instrument based on basic social security principles that establishes globally agreed minimum standards for all nine branches of social security: medical care, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, old-age benefit, employment injury benefit, family benefit, maternity benefit, invalidity benefit and survivors' benefit.
It is considered an important tool in extending social security coverage and provides ratifying countries with an incentive for doing so by offering flexibility in its application, depending on their socio-economic level. Read more
In November 2021 the ad hoc group on IDA20 of the GCSPF submitted Comments on the social protection elements in the IDA20 draft Deputies Report in which it criticises the fact that the World Bank continues to promote targeted social safety nets rather than social protection floors in line with ILO standards.
The World Bank launched an early twentieth replenishment process of the International Development Association (IDA), its fund for the world’s poorest countries, aiming to support countries in their recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and transition to green, resilient, and inclusive development. The IDA20 replenishment will conclude in December 2021 with a policy and financial package to support 74 countries between July 2022 and June 2025. Read more
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan designed emergency interventions to cover children at the height of Covid-19 infections, a study has revealed.
The Africa Platform for Social Protection (APSP), in collaboration with Save the Children, conducted a study on social protection interventions targeting children in East Africa during Covid-19, with the goal of generating evidence for child-sensitive social protection programmes in the region, during the pandemic.
The research provided an understanding of the nature of the Covid-19 emergency interventions and the challenges in implementing them. It found that governments in the region, with the support of their development partners, offered alternatives to in-person learning during the school closures. Read more
By Florian Juergens, Laura Alfers
‘Informal economy’ - this strange term, which sounds a bit like we are describing the weekend-version of The Real and Very Formal Economy (black-tie, gowns), somehow captures the economic lives of about two billion people worldwide. Rather than being an aberration, it is very much the norm: 61 per cent of all working people in the world and 70 per cent of those working in middle- and low-income countries do so in the informal economy.
Informal workers are mostly excluded from social protection systems — with dire consequences during COVID-19. Read more Spanish version is here
Informal work accounts for over 60% of all global employment and 90% of employment in developing countries, the International Labour Organization reported in 2018. In the first wave of the pandemic, the ILO projected that informal workers would be among those most severely affected, predicting sharp growth in relative poverty levels. Over a year on, labour experts now warn that workers are not recovering as quickly as first expected. They warn of a “great divergence” in recovery: between developed and developing countries. Date: December 8, 2021 Register here
The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Mr. Olivier De Schutter, intends to dedicate his report to the 50th session of the Human Rights Council, to be presented in June 2022, to the gap between legal coverage and effective coverage in the area of social protection as well as to situation of informal workers. The report will seek to identify the obstacles individuals and households face in seeking to access social protection and to propose recommendations for how to overcome them.
The Special Rapporteur invites all interested governments, civil society organizations, academics, international organizations, activists, corporations and others, to provide written input for his thematic report. Deadline: 20 December 2021 Read more
The report by Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) aims to explore current subsidies offered by Arab States to their citizens and basic goods subsidized. The report also attempts to identify recent shifts in subsidies and, more specifically, to answer the following questions: which subsidy reforms were recently adopted by Arab governments?, what are the factors influencing the adoption of said reforms, and to which extent are they aligned with the particularities of Arab societies?, what role do the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and IMF strategy play in the adoption of subsidy reduction reforms, and what are the relevant rationale and arguments? and is subsidy reduction economically and socially viable? Read more
The social and solidarity economy (SSE) is receiving increased attention for its role in addressing a variety of economic and social challenges, ranging from the future of work to the provision of social services. The social and economic problems around the global COVID-19 pandemic have brought into focus the need to strengthen the SSE to support the recovery process, along with the public and private sector.
Five national reports present the analysis conducted in Ecuador, Italy, Morocco, Republic of Korea, Quebec (Canada). Read more
The Policy Brief aims to contribute to the discussion around the Global Fund for Social Protection. The Policy Brief was written by the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors’ working group on a global financing mechanism for social protection. Read more
The Future is Public: Global Manifesto for Public Services was developed collectively by dozens of organisations and actors to serve as a rallying cry for public services for civil society, providing a concrete alternative to the dominant neoliberal narrative that has failed to ensure a dignified life for all. The manifesto positions public services as the foundation of a fair and just society and of the social pact that implements the core values of solidarity, equality and human dignity. It advances a series of ten principles for universal quality public services in the 21st century, and outlines how funding universal quality public services is possible. Read more
By Marty Alter Chen
Globally, pre-COVID-19, 260 million women and men produced goods or provided services from in or around their homes: 86 per cent (224 million) were in developing and emerging countries and 14 per cent (35 million) in developed countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic, countless other workers – mainly white-collar workers – began working remotely from home using the internet.
The key difference is that many “old” home-based workers lost their work and income during the COVID-19 pandemic recession as the demand for their goods and services declined, while the “new” home-based workers could continue to work and collect paychecks. Read more
In a public letter drafted in advance of the G20 Summit in Rome, Human Rights Watch, the AFL-CIO, the American Apparel & Footwear Association, and Fontheim International, called on the Biden Administration to use the opportunity to advance efforts for an international Global Social Protection Fund.
If the Biden Administration is serious about leading the charge towards an equitable and comprehensive economic recovery and mitigate the extreme impacts of future crises, it should: ensure adequate social spending domestically; increase its ODA internationally; and endorse the proposal for a Global Social Protection Fund. Read more
The mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, is conducting a worldwide study on non-take-up in the context of social protection. This study covers over 50 countries across all world regions. It seeks to identify the perceived reasons why non-take-up occurs, the impact of non-take-up, and possible ways of reducing this phenomenon. Survey 1 targets CSOs, NGOs, ministries, administrations and experts who have a good overview of social protection and non-take-up in their country. It is accessible here. The deadline for filling in Survey 1 is November 14th. Survey 2 seeks to collect information from individuals in or at risk of poverty and/or social exclusion who may have experience with non-take-up. Please fill Survey 2 here. The deadline for filling in Survey 2 is November 28th. If you have questions please contact Agathe Osinski, at agathe.osinski@srpoverty.org
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Monday that the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, and the changing world of work, makes the right to social security for all, “a matter of the utmost urgency.”
Michelle Bachelet was participating in the first ever intersessional panel discussion on the right to social security hosted by the Human Rights Council.
For Mrs. Bachelet, there could not be a better time to discuss social security and social protection. Due to the pandemic, 255 million jobs have been lost in 2020 alone. Read more.
Ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, ILO warns on stalled global labour market recovery and significant disparities between advanced and developing economies.
The eighth edition of the ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the world of work, warns that without concrete financial and technical support, a “great divergence” in employment recovery trends between developed and developing countries will persist. Read more.
Beyond the health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected economies and people’s livelihoods around the world. Experts forecast an additional 250 million people in extreme poverty by 20301, while the consequences of the pandemic are resulting in a 10th of the global population suffering from hunger, amounting to 720 to 811 million people worldwide.2
As clearly put by a 67-year-old man, estate agent, living with his children in an urban area in Pakistan, the pandemic has had a devastating effect on people’s livelihood: “There’s no business. My source of income has been affected. I’m feeling stressed and irritated by the uncertain situation”, while a 68-year-old woman, retired farmer from Rwanda, living with her children in a rural area testifies: “The fall in the economy has made the people who were helping us lose their jobs.”3
What is social protection?
Social protection is a human right, defined as a set of policies and programs (contributory and non-contributory) aimed at reducing and preventing poverty throughout the life course. While social protection includes regular cash benefits for basic income security, it also encompasses the right to affordable and appropriate health and essential services including the right to water. Social protection also covers social insurance, i.e. contributions to enable the provision of a service by the State, and labour regulations.
Facing these observations, many political leaders and decision makers realized that well-designed social protection systems have a transformative effect on people living in poverty. While these systems do not tackle the root causes of poverty, for which systemic changes in people’s income level are needed, they nonetheless are a key tool to building transformatively forward. Indeed, the importance of regular income support and essential services to uphold basic human rights, especially healthcare, was made obvious for all to see. Indeed, 93% of countries took social protection measures to respond to the crisis. 75% of them were non-contributory measures and 52% were new measures4. It is also estimated that almost 17% of the world’s population has been covered with at least one Covid-related cash transfer payment between 2020 and 2021; and the average scale up rate between pre and post-Covid coverage, for cash transfers alone, is 249%.5 Yet, the crisis also demonstrated the uneven capacity of governments to enact and finance emergency measures to deliver income and health support to their population. Indeed, even if global spending on social protection increased, it only represents about 3% of global GDP in 2021.6 Additionally, the measures taken were uneven, often insufficient in value and coverage and merely temporary.7 For instance, only 4.5% of the population in low-income countries benefited from cash transfers; increasing to 19.3% for middle-income and 26.7% for high-income countries, which were able to build on already existing schemes.8
While the proposal for a Global Fund for Social Protection has existed for nearly a decade9, the disparities laid bare by Covid have renewed international interest in a global financing mechanism to complement and support at least temporarily domestic efforts. Indeed, following the 2020 G20 summit, high-level international discussions were held on the topic.10 In June 2021, the International Labour Conference’s (ILC) committee on social security called on the ILO to “engage in discussions on a new international financing mechanism, such as a Global Social Protection Fund”11, to which several governments and organizations, including the United-States and the European Union, expressed their support.12 In parallel, in June 2021, the United Nations’ (UN) Special rapporteur for Extreme Poverty and Human Rights presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council on the value, options for governance and potential funding modalities of such a Fund.13 Finally, in September 2021, the UN Secretary General mentioned in his report the Global Fund for Social Protection as a potential means to support countries in increasing levels of funding devoted to social protection.14
However, even if a Global Fund for Social Protection were to be an agreed policy measure, which would therefore be a positive step towards the effective realization of the human right of all to social protection, structural changes will be needed. Indeed, lack of fiscal space, lack of political will to make policy that is compliant with human rights and a deeply unfair macro-economic system will still be obstacles to overcome.
The lack of fiscal space for social protection: a lack of political will
While putting in place and financing social protection is the obligation of governments through domestic resource mobilization, and will be established according to different national capacities and contexts, development partners, and more specifically international finance institutions and G20 States, play an influential role for its development in low and middle-income countries.
Instead, for the past decade macro-economic policies have been pushing for a decrease in governments’ spending - often referred to as “fiscal consolidation” or “austerity cuts” – as a means to reduce budget deficit and reach fiscal stability. Simultaneously, development partners have been promoting the participation of the private sector in development projects in order to leverage the money needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals; and bridge the funding gap governments are unable or unwilling to fill.
The narratives around these practices often argue that governments have no other choice but to reduce public spending, and need to call on the private sector for investment. Yet there are various means of increasing fiscal space for public expenditure, which have been named and referenced by civil society15 and international organizations,16 to bridge the funding gap for social protection. These include progressive and higher rates of taxation, public expenditure reprioritization, restructuring and in extreme cases cancellation of sovereign debt, tolerating moderate rates of inflation instead of seeking to eliminate them through fiscal austerity, and additional foreign aid or new allocations of Special Drawing Rights by the International Monetary Fund.
Additionally, as research shows17, social protection can trigger a virtuous economic cycle that increases employment, productivity, tax revenue and overall economic growth, especially in low and middle-income countries. That is, cash transfer policies, particularly, generate an increase in income and consumption that, in turn, have positive effects on the macro-economy and governments’ fiscal space.
Moreover, the establishment of social protection policies can lead to increased tax payments. By benefiting from social protection policies, people’s trust in governments increases, hence reinforcing the social contract and fostering the willingness and ability of people to pay taxes.18
It appears then that the gap in coverage by social protection around the globe is not due to a lack of available resources but to a lack of political will and financial policies to ensure redistribution.
A Global Fund for Social Protection to support policies and fiscal space for universal social protection
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has estimated that, in 2020, the annual resources needed to close the financing gap to reach a universal coverage of a basic set of cash benefits19 for low-income countries20 was 7.4% of their GDP, with an additional 8.5% for universal access to healthcare. In other words, based on pre-COVID-19 estimates, the fiscal revenue needed to fill the social protection floors financing gap (excluding health care) represented 13.5% of total tax revenue at national level for low and middle-income countries, but as much as 45% for low-income countries. That is more than the latter countries can be expected to mobilize through reprioritization of expenditures or additional taxation measures in the short to medium term.
What are social protection floors?
Social protection floors are a set of universal non-contributory guarantees including access to essential health care and basic income security for children (providing access to nutrition, education, care and any other necessary goods and services), persons in active age (in particular in cases of sickness, unemployment, maternity and disability) and older persons.
Social protection floors, as defined by the ILO, are universal by nature, as they provide protection based on contingencies. Indeed, universality refers to social protection’s coverage, ensuring that each person, in one of the aforementioned categories is protected regardless of his or her socioeconomic situation, ethnicity, origin or legal status.
Many countries do have the potential to fill their social protection gaps from domestic resources mobilization and that should be a policy priority, social protection being first and foremost a government’s responsibility. However, as the ILO states, “the challenge is much greater for low-income countries, (…) in terms of the relative cost and their relative fiscal, administrative and institutional capacity. That distinction must be considered as a critical factor in the formulation of a specific development assistance policy. Massive financial assistance for starting up and temporarily financing benefits could be a feasible option for addressing the social protection financing gap in low-income countries.”21 And while it is obvious that a Global Fund for Social Protection would not and should not have the same lending capacity as the international finance institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, it will nonetheless provide to low-income countries the desperately needed push to make a significant step forward towards the realization of the right to social protection for all.
As clearly put by the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights : “The proposal for a global fund for social protection is not that taxpayers from rich countries pay for social protection in poor countries. It is, rather, to kick-start a virtuous cycle in which international support matches domestic efforts and contributes to capacity-building in low-income countries.”22
The global financing gap in social protection, including health care, in low-income countries is estimated at US$77.9 billion per year. Though it may seem as a sizeable amount, when considered as a percentage of the GNI of rich countries, the amount becomes negligible. It is clear that donors are not investing as they could in promoting social protection in developing countries, despite its obvious benefits; ODA for social protection represented 0.0047% of the GNI of the DAC countries in 2017, and in 2019 1.17% of total ODA23.
What should the Global Fund for Social Protection look like?
The design and guiding principles of the Global Fund for Social Protection should be that of support for work towards the development of universal social protection, starting with the development of social protection floor guarantees for all.
The Global Fund for Social Protection should be developed within the principles of democratic country ownership, representation and inclusivity, and accountability and transparency. Its governing body should bring together representatives from governments, relevant UN organisations, employers, workers and civil society organizations, including women's rights organizations.
The Global Fund for Social Protection will promote a global vision of solidarity, between Global North and Global South, but also through South-South solidarity by exchanging practices and providing technical support as well as offering financing. The proposal for a Global Fund for Social Protection aims to initiate a virtuous cycle in which international support complements domestic efforts and contributes to capacity-building in developing countries.
International discussions on creating a Global Fund for Social Protection should be guided by the principles of the ILO. The ILO encourages countries to adopt rights-based systems of social protection, implemented in accordance with ILO Recommendation 202 on social protection floors24, and 204 on transition from the informal to the formal economy25, as well as Convention 102 on social security26. The ILO is the leader in establishing internationally agreed principles and is a leading agency in giving practical support to social protection development in countries. The organization works on a tri-partite basis, that of governments, workers and employers, and, as such encourages that social dialogue will be at the heart of the Global Fund for Social Protection’s program of financial and technical support.
The Global Fund for Social Protection will support a coherent approach to social protection from the various international development actors. As well as being extremely low in amount, international ODA for social protection is highly fragmented in terms of financing and approaches. It is argued that, amongst those funding social protection development projects in low-income countries, the World Bank has been implementing a limited, targeted approach to social protection27; which is incompatible with the universal right to social protection specified by international agreements.28 Additionally, such coordination would allow governments a more harmonized dialogue with development actors. The Global Fund for Social Protection can therefore be a space not only for financing, but as one of technical support, system building and coordination over time to deliver universal social protection in line with the ILO standards and their guiding principles.
Functions of the Global Fund
The Global Fund for Social Protection can coordinate and finance technical assistance to countries, especially to support the capacities of local administrations, in particular with labour inspectorates, ministries for social affairs and social protection, and solidarity based financing mechanisms for social insurance, in order to put in place accountable, transparent and participative public finance management modalities, which are a key to a sustainably financed social protection policies.
The Global Fund for Social Protection can promote domestic resource mobilization for social protection, through co-financing of social protection systems, i.e. a joint financial contribution of governments and the Global Fund for Social Protection, and a commitment from governments to increase their investments in social protection. The Global Fund for Social Protection would therefore complement and support domestic efforts to mobilize resources, which would rise gradually. The Global Fund for Social Protection could provide a powerful incentive for governments to invest more in universal social protection; giving a premium to countries placing the establishment of social protection floors at the top of their political priorities.
The Global Fund for Social Protection can provide technical and financial resources to unions and civil society organizations to foster their participation in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the establishment of universal social protection floors in their country29.
The Global Fund for Social Protection can promote a horizontal approach to the design and setting up of social protection policies that are deeply rooted in the local policy process. Other global funds have been criticized for having a “vertical” focus of intervention, operating in silos focused on their particular mandate rather than the major needs of the countries being assisted, as identified in national systems. In the case of the Global Fund for Social Protection, this risk can be tackled by ensuring it covers the horizontal set of policies necessary to end poverty through making a reality of the commitment to the agreed set of human rights necessary for this. Implementation of social protection floors according to the ILO 202 Recommendation will be horizontal as floors encompass basic income security for all people in childhood, parenthood, times of unemployment, when disabled and in old age, as well as access to essential health care. Additionally, the Global Fund for Social Protection will promote coherence across the various national institutions in charge of, or linked to, social protection as well as coherence between social protection and other national policies (employment, skills, etc.).
The Global Fund for Social Protection will actively promote and illustrate impacts of social protection measures that have a transformative approach to gender inequalities, in line with recommendations of women’s grassroot organizations and local feminist activists.
The Global Fund for Social Protection will help countries respond to shocks, by increasing its support to countries affected by severe shocks, to which the national social protection system would be unable to adequately respond.
To conclude, while the financing gap for social protection will not be immediately filled — building social protection floors takes time, and coverage of all left behind populations can only be achieved gradually — the combination of political will, international solidarity, capacity-building and domestic resources mobilization will ensure that it does over time. Establishing a Global Fund for Social Protection is an important step in the right direction to ensure coherence and coordination so that social protection becomes a top political priority in the context of fulfillment of human rights and the current global health and socio-economic crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is why, as countries are implementing recovery plans, and vaccination campaigns are being rolled out, the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors:
Calls upon the UN system, the ILO, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group, and all governments, workers and employers organizations to support the establishment of a Global Fund for Social Protection, to bridge the current financing gap and enable the establishment of universal social protection floors.
Calls upon the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group and G20 States, to promote fairer and more redistributive macro-economic, tax and trade policies, enabling low- and middle-income States to make fiscal space for universal social protection.
Prepared by the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors’ working group on a global financing mechanism for social protection, whose members represent Act Church of Sweden; Action Against Hunger – France; the Africa Platform for Social Protection; Bread for the World – Germany; Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Geneva Office; HelpAge International; the International Trade Union Confederation; Oxfam International; Save the Children; Social Justice in Global Development; We Social Movements; Markus Kaltenborn, Professor of Public Law and director of the Institute of Development Research and Development Politics at Ruhr University Bochum and Michael Cichon, former director of the ILO’s Social Security Department and honorary professor of social protection at the Graduate School of Governance of Maastricht University/United Nations University in the Netherlands, September 2021.
Notes:
1 Overseas Development Institute, M. Manuel, L. Carson, E. Samman and M. Evans, (2020). Financing the reduction of extreme poverty post-Covid-19.
2 FAO, (2021). The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021. Transforming Food Systems For Food Security, Improved Nutrition And Affordable Healthy Diets For All. Rome.
3 Interviewed by HelpAge International in the framework of the report Unequal treatment - What older people say about their rights during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021). London.
5 World Bank (2021). Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures - “Living paper” version 15 (May 14, 2021). Washington. p. 4, 12.
6 World Bank (2021). Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures - “Living paper” version 15 (May 14, 2021). Washington. p. 14
7 Oxfam (2020). Shelter from the storm - The global need for universal social protection in times of COVID-19. Oxford. p. 11-17.
US$10.6 trillion were mobilized globally in social protection measures to respond to the COVID19 crisis, however, only .06 per cent of that amount was mobilized in low-income countries. F.Durán Valverde et al., International Labour Organization (2020). Financing Gaps in Social Protection: Global Estimates and Strategies for Developing Countries in Light of COVID-19 and Beyond. Geneva
8 World Bank (2021). Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures - “Living paper” version 15 (May 14, 2021). Washington. p. 13
9 The idea of a Global Fund for Social Protection was initially put forward in 2012- 2015, in preparation for the SDGs and the Third International Conference on Financing for Development of 2015. The then Special Rapporteurs on the right to food and on extreme poverty and human rights published a briefing entitled Briefing Note No.7, Underwriting the Poor. A Global Fund for Social Protection (Oct.2012).
10 In September 2020 the French Government organized a meeting to discuss the initiative of the Global Fund for Social Protection. The meeting was held in presence of high-level representatives from 13 governments, 15 international agencies as well as international social partners, international non-governmental organizations, and independent experts.
11 International Labour Conference (2021). Reports of the Recurrent Discussion Committee: Social protection (social security): Proposed resolution and conclusions submitted to the Conference for adoption. Geneva
12 During the 2021 International Labour Conference.
13 Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (2021). The Global Fund for Social Protection: International Solidarity in the Service of Poverty Eradication. Geneva
14 Report of the Secretary-General (2021). Our Common Agenda. New-York. p. 28
16 ILO (2019). Fiscal space for social protection – A handbook for assessing financing options, Geneva.
17 International Trade Union Confederation (2021). Investments in social protection and their impacts on economic growth. Brussels.
18 S. Kidd, G. Axelsson Nycander, A. Tran and M. Cretney, Development Pathways (2020). The social contract and the role of universal social security in building trust in government.
19 Covering children between 0 and 5 years-old, women with newborn children, persons with severe disabilities and older persons
20 According to the country-income classification of the World Bank, low-income countries are defined as having a GNI per capita of US$1,025 or less.
21 F.Durán Valverde et al., International Labour Organization (2020). Financing Gaps in Social Protection: Global Estimates and Strategies for Developing Countries in Light of COVID-19 and Beyond. Geneva. p. 7, 31, 48-49
22 Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (2021). The Global Fund for Social Protection: International Solidarity in the Service of Poverty Eradication. Geneva
27 Many publications expose how targeted social protection schemes undermine societies’ social contract and fabric, as well as push towards a restricted vision of social protection, granted punctually, incompatible with rights-based social protection floors. Read Caroline Broudic, revue Humanitaire n°39 (2014). Les ONG, cheval de Troie du néolibéralisme ?, and S. Kidd, G. Axelsson Nycander, A. Tran, M. Cretney, Development Pathways (2020). The social contract and the role of universal social security in building trust in government, Nairobi.
28 Social protection is enshrined in several binding international human rights instruments. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) and the International Convention on the Rights of Children (1989) explicitly proclaim the right to social security, as well as a series of other rights protected by social protection mechanisms.
29 Such participation has, for instance, already been fostered through the €22.9 million EU funded flagship program “Synergies in Social Protection and Public Finance Management”, launched in 2020 in partnership with the ILO, UNICEF and the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors. The program forsees the strengthening of national civil society organizations in eight countries (Angola, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Senegal, Nepal, Cambodia, and Paraguay), to enable civil society actors to meaningfully participate in national social protection dialogues, amplify the voices and concerns of communities and beneficiaries, and develop capacities to engage in discussions with governments on social protection design and financing as well as on monitoring and social accountability.
Members of the Global Coalition have created an ad hoc working group to work on two processes of the World Bank (the IDA20 Replenishment and the Social Protection and Jobs Compass) and they would more than welcome more people and organisations in this effort.
The International Development Association (IDA), which is the “soft window” of the World Bank is normally replenished every three years, but this process is now taking place one year earlier than planned, because of the Covid crisis. The so called Social Protection and Jobs Compass is a policy document which will replace the Social Protection and Labour Strategy 2012-2021.
The working group aims to influence the wording of these process to push forward universality of social protection and the gender transformative role of social protection. Members of the coalition are currently participating in consultation and lobby processes.
Members of the Global Coalition are invited to join the ad hoc working group on IDA20 of the GCSPF. If you want to know more or join the WG please contact Gunnel Axelsson Nycander (Act Church of Sweden) and/or Johanna Wagman (Action Contre La Faim France | ACF-France). Read more
The ad hoc group on IDA20 of the GCSPF has prepared a position paper on the draft policy commitments in the IDA20 replenishment document. The document is available here (pdf format) and here (word format).
The World Bank launched an early twentieth replenishment process of the International Development Association (IDA), its fund for the world’s poorest countries, aiming to support countries in their recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and transition to green, resilient, and inclusive development. The IDA20 replenishment will conclude in December 2021 with a policy and financial package to support 74 countries between July 2022 and June 2025. Read more
This year, the theme of IDEP is “Building Forward Together: Ending Persistent Poverty, Respecting all People and our Planet”. The Day will offer an opportunity to hear from those who are at the forefront of fighting poverty while also facing the Covid-19 pandemic and the effects of climate change.
The virtual session co-organized by of the International Movement ATD Fourth World, UNDP, UN DESA, the Permanent Missions of France and Burkina Faso to the United Nations, the International Committee for Oct17 and the NGO Committee for Social Development will take place on Zoom, on Friday October 15th, 2021 from 10am to 11:30am EST.
Please register here and join us for a time of togetherness and dialogue bringing the expertise and experience of people living in persistent poverty, civil society organizations, UN agencies and government representatives - for the design and implementation of solutions require the mobilization of all sectors of society. Register here
The UN Secretary-General released his report “Our Common Agenda” that builds on 12 commitment areas identified by Member States in the UN75 Declaration in 2020. Four tracks fed into Our Common Agenda: the Next Generation Fellows youth track, thought leaders, UN Member States, and civil society.
Paragraph 28 of the Report refers to social protection and the establishment of a Global Fund for Social Protection. Read more
The ITUC has welcomed the Global Accelerator announced by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres and its target for jobs and social protection.
The policy brief sets out a target to create at least 400 million jobs by 2030, primarily in the green and care economies, and extend social protection floors by 2025 to about four billion people currently not covered by any measures.
The Accelerator was presented during the UN's 76th General Assembly as part of the Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond Initiative (FfDI), a process in which the ITUC has been involved presenting recommendations on Financing Recovery and Building the Economy of the Future.
“Our demands have been heard,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow, who participated in the launch event. “The targets of the Accelerator will help to rebuild trust and hope with working people, as it can provide concrete answers to the shocks we face today and will face in the future.” Read more
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is pleased to invite you to a High-Level Panel Between Hunger and the Virus: Why the Covid-19 Pandemic Shows the Need to Fix Africa’s Social Safety Net.
HRW and its partner organizations have reported on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on access to food and livelihoods in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. Our research has shown that while African governments have tried to fill gaps in social protection during the pandemic, the vast majority of households have not received any government support. Meanwhile, governments in higher income countries have spent trillions of dollars on financial and in-kind assistance for their populations during the Covid-19 crisis, widening global inequality.
This high-level panel, held in advance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, brings together Human Rights Watch researchers, representatives of impacted communities, and government officials with African and international experts to discuss how to build stronger social protection systems in the wake of the pandemic.
When: Thursday, October 14, 2021, at: 9-10.30 am US EDT/1-2.30pm GMT/2-3.30pm WAT/4-5.30pm EAT.
Register online via Zoom here: https://hrworg.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__xJiU5-bRSOLnu1BsPZ9vQ
The ILO will launch the second phase of the SPF Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All at the Development Partners Meeting on 7 October 13h – 16h (CEST).
The Partners meeting is the opportunity to enhance its partnerships to respond to the needs of constituents, to implement the mandate given by the International Labour Conference to promote universal social protection at country level and globally, and to contribute to the realisation of the SDGs on social protection. Read more.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigates and reports on abuses happening in all corners of the world. We are roughly 450 people of 70-plus nationalities who are country experts, lawyers, journalists, and others who work to protect the most at risk, from vulnerable minorities and civilians in wartime, to refugees and children in need. We direct our advocacy towards governments, armed groups and businesses, pushing them to change or enforce their laws, policies and practices. To ensure our independence, we refuse government funding and carefully review all donations to ensure that they are consistent with our policies, mission, and values. We partner with organizations large and small across the globe to protect embattled activists and to help hold abusers to account and bring justice to victims.
Respect for human rights is closely intertwined with addressing poverty and extreme inequality. HRW research exposes how people experiencing poverty are often more vulnerable to having their rights violated and abuses can further entrench barriers to people meeting their basic needs. We also document how extreme economic inequality contributes to corruption and mismanagement of public resources. We push governments to end abusive policies that contribute to poverty, and advocate respect for human rights that can help achieve the building blocks for a dignified life – such as affordable healthcare, quality education, adequate housing, a living wage, social protection and safe drinking water, as well as the rights to unionize, protest, and participate in political decision-making.
Further information can be found here and here. Contact information: Lena Simet, Senior Researcher on Poverty and Inequality
Following a life-cycle approach, the report analyses progress with regard to universal social protection coverage, with a particular focus on achieving the globally agreed 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report includes access to comprehensive statistical tables containing the latest social protection data, including detailed country data on SDG indicator 1.3.1. Read more
On August 2021 the GCSPF sent a welcome letter to Mathias Cormann, new Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
As a key actor in international economic and social policy and a major representative of a group of the highest income countries, the OECD has, as part of its mandate, a critical role in the definition and implementation of development cooperation, a task of overarching and fundamental importance. Read more
These sessions are part of a series of discussions jointly organised by 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. The recordings and presentations are available and can be accessed online. Read more
The study “Social and Economic Impact of the Coronavirus on the Employment of Young People in Jordan”, prepared by the Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics Studies, explored opportunities for young people in different sectors and economic activities, the skills needed for young people to be able to enter the labor market in light of the pandemic, and highlighted the impact of the pandemic on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan.
The study noted that the employment of young men and women in Jordan is more concentrated in some specific sectors and economic activities – such as the tourism, transportation and services industries. These sectors were hit particularly badly by the pandemic, and as such many employees within those sectors lost their jobs. Additionally, all supply chains associated with food markets and restaurants – in which young people tend to be employed – were also harmed by the pandemic. The study also found that response policies implemented during the crisis did not take into account the needs of young people with disabilities. Read more
The virtual ASEAN Regional Forum on Social Protection that Empowers Women organized by OXFAM was held on 29 - 30 June 2021. The forum brought together social 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. Aura Sevilla (WIEGO), Florencia Caro Sachetti (CIPPEC, Argentina), Evelyn Astor (ITUC), María Victoria Raquiza (Social Watch Philippines, Philippines) members of the Global Coalition participated on the Forum and spoke about the Global Fund. Further information can be found here. The videos are here.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is seeking experienced applicants for the position of Deputy Director in the Business and Human Rights Division to serve as a key strategist for our growing body of work on Poverty and Inequality and to work with the Director and the staff on corporate accountability. The Deputy will report to and work alongside the Director to ensure the highest standards of research and advocacy, develop and implement the division’s strategy, liaise with other parts of the organization, and help manage an increasingly growing staff focused on human rights in the global economy.
The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience developing and implementing strategic human rights interventions and understand how to bring innovate approaches to research, advocacy and communications to effect change. Application deadline: September 30. Read more.
The virtual side event “Decade of Action to achieve Universal Social Protection by 2030” took place on 12 July 2021 during the High-level Political Forum 2021.
The event was 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). Watch the recording
From gender-responsive to gender-transformative public services. This briefing paper by the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) aims to explore the role of public services in the transformation of asymmetrical power relations between women and men. The publication argues that public services can play a decisive role in this transformation, by fostering a critical examination of gender roles, redistributing resources and opportunities and strengthening positive social practices that enhance gender equality. It puts forward five key elements for a gender-transformative approach to the management, delivery, funding and ownership of public services.
Public services enable us to tackle not only the consequences, but also the systemic and underlying factors—the uneven power imbalances — underpinning gender inequality. Read more
On July 2021 Human Rights Watch & Empowerment Initiatives (JEI) released the Report “Nigeria: Covid-19 Impact Worsens Hunger in Lagos” that documents how a five-week lockdown, rising food prices, and a prolonged economic downturn have had a devastating impact on informal workers, slum dwellers, and other urban poor families in Lagos. The absence of a functioning social security system meant that government assistance, including cash transfers and food handouts, reached only a fraction of people going hungry. The report also shows the need for increased international support for expanding the right to social security, including a reference to the Global Fund for Social Protection, to support expanded social security in the wake of the pandemic. The Global Fund could present an alternative to loans that may impose austerity measures that could harm human rights and increase poverty and inequality in the coming years. Read more
Social protection and care systems for children and families during COVID-19 and beyond. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented, disastrous impact on the ability of people to balance work and care for their children and families. This policy brief is an outcome of a collaboration between Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), UNICEF and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in advocating for family-friendly policies to protect and ensure social protection and care systems that are good for children, good for women and good for the economy. The policy brief features an increased focus on the well-being and working conditions of caregivers in the informal economy and their children’s development in low- and middle-income countries. The brief highlights the need to consider sustainable policy and protection responses instead of quick, short-term measures for more gender-transformative and equitable solutions. This represents a critical gap which, if not addressed, will make our goals to tackle child poverty, hunger and gender inequality – and fulfil the SDGs – impossible to achieve. Read more
Moussa Chrafeddine, President of I’DAD-Friends of the Disabled Association
Persons with disabilities in Lebanon represent between 10 and 15% of the total population of 7 million, totaling approximately to around 910,000 (K4D report).
As in many parts of the world, people with disabilities in Lebanon are among the most excluded and marginalized population groups. They contend with a systemic lack of provisions for rights, resources, and services and experience widespread marginalization, exclusion and violence at home and outside. This applies to all areas of their lives including access to quality care facilities. With the Lebanese economy practically in freefall, poverty and unemployment rates have reached records high, with disproportionately adverse impacts on persons with disabilities, among other most vulnerable groups. Read more
Responding together is key to overcome the COVID social, economic and health crisis caused by the pandemic. The Leave No Woman Behind 6 part mini-series of publications investigates regional and thematic dynamics which perpetuate multiple discrimination of women but also propose policy-based solutions.
The goal of the Leave No Woman Behind project is that women who face multiple discriminations, exploitation, abuse and/or violence take part in national and global processes to protect their rights and work for the implementation of the SDGs to ensure that no woman is left behind. In the first phase, the project works mainly with women and girls with disabilities. Read more
As of May 2021, Gala Díaz Langou is the new Executive Director of CIPPEC (Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth), Argentina.
Gala, who has been director of CIPPEC’s Social Protection Program since 2016, is founder and member of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors, the Childhood Debt collective (Infancia en Deuda), the Equality Agenda initiative (AgendaxlaIgualdad), Humanin Haus and is also argentine delegate for the Women 20 (W20).
As head of CIPPEC’s Social Protection Program, Gala promoted research and public policy recommendations on poverty, childhood, employment, social security and gender economic inequalities. She has a comprehensive approach on all these issues, with special concern for the feasibility and sustainability of social policies and the convergence of macroeconomics with development strategies. Read more
Action Against Hunger – France’s (AAH) released its latest policy brief documenting the impacts of poor women’s heavy workload on child undernutrition; and advocating for the recognition, reduction and redistribution of unpaid care work through universal social protection.
This policy brief is based on data from 29 AAH publications, covering 15 countries in 7 different regions from 2012 to 2021. It highlights the vicious circle between unpaid care work, poverty and hunger in patriarchal societies. To put an end to this vicious circle, AAH calls on the States which will be present at the Generation Equality Forum to work in favor of the reduction, recognition and redistribution of poor women’s unpaid care work, by defending the right and access of all to universal social protection floors as defined by ILO 202 recommendation. Read more
There is much evidence to demonstrate that all social registries have failed to achieve their main aim of accurately identifying the beneficiaries of social programmes. This is largely because social registries - which are databases - generate very high levels of targeting and exclusion errors in the social programmes that use them. This report, by Act Church of Sweden and Development Pathways, examines the utility of the so-called "social registry" within social protection systems and finds that it is minimal - unless the aim is to undertake inaccurate poverty targeting. The report argues that, instead of wasting large sums of money on social registries, countries could use the funds on much better and more useful alternatives such as building Single Registries or proving identity, through the provision of birth certificates and identity cards, to all members of society.
If governments truly wish to transform their societies and support national recovery from COVID-19, the paper argues that they need to realise that social registries will only hinder them from achieving this. Read more
The report “Bearing the brunt” by HelpAge international provides an overview of the impact of COVID-19 on older people based on insights from research in low- and middle-income countries.
Older people are at higher risk of serious illness and their odds of survival are the lowest. Many have lost their livelihoods and can’t buy the food or medicine they need to survive.
The pandemic has also exposed ageism like never before. Older people have been separated and isolated, portrayed as weak and helpless and, their rights have been ignored. This has taken a toll on their health and wellbeing, and older people now risk facing more violence, abuse and neglect than before the pandemic. Read more
In celebration of socialprotection.org’s 5-year anniversary, a global online event took place
focusing on the global health crisis. The e-Conference “Turning the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity: What’s next for social protection?” gathered the global social protection community to provide a unique opportunity for learning and collaboration.
To further disseminate the e-conference’s key discussions, the socialprotection.org platform and the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) have developed two special Policy in Focus issues. This issue provides a thematic focus, delving in more depth into the main topics discussed
during the round tables, such as financing, universal basic income, linkages to food security and employment, as well as gender-, child-, and disability-sensitive programmes, among others. Read more
This report on “Universal Quality Public Services”, prepared by PSI in collaboration with the New Economics Foundation, helps unions build strong arguments for extended public services as the bedrock for the Covid-19 recovery.
The Report outlines how Universal Quality Public Services are the most effective tool in achieving human rights, reducing inequality and ensuring equal access.
Drawing on effective case studies from across the world, the study demonstrates the positive effects of bolstering the public realm and ensuring public services are guaranteed as rights rather than treated as entitlements.
The report is designed to assist unions in countering the damaging and incorrect narrative, advanced by global institutions and leaders from across the political spectrum, that public spending is wasteful, that public services work better when marketised and that public sector workers are inefficent. Read more
The report “Impacts of social protection on social cohesion and reconciliation” by HelpAge International presents findings from a desk study on how national social protection programmes have promoted social cohesion and national reconciliation in post-conflict contexts internationally. The study documents and analyses the dynamics of how government-provided social protection programmes in a variety of contexts, with various design features, have contributed to national reconciliation and social cohesion. Key findings are that social protection has a documented impact on several dimensions of social cohesion and that programme design matters for the effects of social protection on social cohesion. Read more
The DAAD Helmut-Schmidt Scholarship supports future leaders in politics, law, economics and administration, who want to actively contribute to the social and economic growth of developing countries. This scholarship is only for the master's programme in "Social Protection", the deadline is July 31st, 2021. Read more
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. Read more
The International Labour Organisation (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
At the ILC, 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
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
Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said a Global Fund for Social Protection should be set up to increase the level of support to low-income countries, thus helping them to both establish and maintain social protection floors in the form of legal entitlements, and to improve the resilience of social protection systems against shocks. Such a Fund was affordable. The video is here. Read more
Countries must prepare for future crises by setting up a Global Fund for Social Protection, a new international financing mechanism that will help protect their populations from the next pandemic, says a new report presented today by Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on poverty, before the Human Rights Council. Read more
The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the World Council of Churches (WCC), ACT Alliance and their partners worldwide submitted an oral statement to express that they are deeply concerned by the ongoing increase in extreme poverty, hunger and human suffering and the lack of most basic protection of impoverished communities, especially in low income countries. 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.
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.
