Project “Towards Inclusive Social Protection Systems To Advance The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities” (2019-20)
Building on the process facilitated by ILO and International Disability Alliance (IDA) that led to the adoption of a joint statement on inclusive social protectionm and the current momentum on universal social protection, the UNPRPD funded project, implemented jointly by ILO and UNICEF in close cooperation with IDA seeks...
Read MoreUniversal Social Protection: Key concepts and international framework: Policy brief
This brief presents key aspects of universal social protection, and highlights how it is anchored in the current international legal and policy framework. It summarizes the progress that has been achieved so far and delimits the concept from other ideas and terms that are currently present in policy discussions....
Read MoreILO Resource Package on “Extending Social Security to Workers in the Informal Economy”
The ILO policy resource package “Extending social security to workers in the informal economy: Lessons from international experience” serves as a reference for policy makers, workers’ and employers’ organizations and other stakeholders engaged in the development of social protection strategies, or the planning, design, implementation and monitoring of systems and...
Read MoreUniversal social protection for human dignity, social justice and sustainable development: General Survey concerning the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202)
The ILO’s General Survey 2019 , compiled by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR). The Survey (published under the title Universal social protection for human dignity, social justice and sustainable development) focuses on the ILO’s Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), which calls for...
Read MorePromoting Inclusion through Social Protection: Report on the World Social Situation 2018
Universal social protection is a potent development policy tool that can alleviate poverty, inequality and social exclusion. In fact, few countries have been able to reduce poverty and improve living conditions on a broad scale without comprehensive social protection systems in place. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development underscores...
Read MoreThe Global Rise of Social Cash Transfers
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) proclaimed the equality of all human beings in dignity and rights. The right to social security, however, has been taken more seriously only since the 2000s, through calls for ‘Social Security for All’ and ‘Leaving no-one behind’. The book investigates a major...
Read MoreWelfare Conditionality: Sanctions, Support and Behaviour Change
This overview summarises the final findings of the Welfare Conditionality project (2013-2018). It presents analysis on the effectiveness, impacts and ethics of welfare conditionality, and the sanctions and mandatory support that underpin this approach. Discussion draws on analyses of qualitative data generated in interviews with 52 policy stakeholders, 27...
Read MoreHow to Design Inclusive Social Protection Systems
This policy guide, developed by ESCAP together with Development Pathways, explains how to design inclusive and robust social protection systems and focuses on tax-financed income security. It explains why universal schemes are better at reaching the poor than targeted schemes, and what policy options to consider when designing inclusive...
Read MorePro-poor or anti-poor? The World Bank and IMF’s approach to social protection
In recent years, the World Bank and IMF have played an influential role in shaping national social protection policies. Social protection comprises a significant share of World Bank loans, reaching almost 10 per cent of lending to low-income countries in 2017, while around 10 per cent of IMF loans...
Read MoreFrom Protection to Production (PtoP)
The From Protection to Production (PtoP) project is a multi-country impact evaluation of cash transfers in sub-Saharan Africa. The project is a collaborative effort between the FAO, the UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office and the governments of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. PtoP activities are mainly...
Read MoreIMF Conditionality and Development Policy Space, 1985-2014
In recent years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has re-emerged as a central actor in global economic governance. Its rhetoric and policies suggest that the organization has radically changed the ways in which it offers financial assistance to countries in economic trouble. We revisit two long-standing controversies: Has the...
Read MoreConditional Cash Transfer Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean: Coverage and investment trends
This document analyses the evolution of the population coverage and investment of conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes, which are poverty reduction initiatives, in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean over the past 20 years. The analysis is based on up-to-date, detailed information from the database on non-contributory...
Read MoreGender and Cash Transfers: A human rights-based approach
This Issue Brief explores some key gender dimensions of conditional cash transfers through the lens of the human rights-based approach to social protection. In many cash transfer programmes around the world, women are the principal beneficiaries on the assumption that this not only improves the nutrition, health and education...
Read MoreThe Rise of Homegrown Ideas and Grassroots Voices: new directions in social policy in Rwanda
At the core of Rwanda’s social policy renaissance is the emphasis on the home-grown and grassroots centred generation of intellectual and material resources, utilized with the aim of ensuring a local population familiar with and favourably disposed to government social policy. In the past decade and a half, Rwanda...
Read MoreEvaluation of the Uganda Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment Programme (One Pager 354)
Ley 1.361 por medio del cual se crea la Ley de Protección Integral de la Familia.
Establece que el Estado y la Sociedad deben garantizar a la familia el ejercicio pleno de, entre otros, el derecho a un trabajo digno e ingresos justos, a la salud plena y a la seguridad social, a la igualdad y a recibir protección y asistencia social cuando sus derechos...
Read MoreCivil Society Guide for National Social Protection Floors (SPFs)
Exclusion by Design: an assessment of the effectiveness of the proxy means test poverty targeting mechanism (ESS Working Paper No. 56)
This paper assesses the effectiveness of the proxy means test (PMT) targeting methodology. It brings together international evidence to show that it is both inaccurate and arbitrary. The mechanism suffers from high in-built design errors, additional errors introduced during implementation, and infrequent surveys, meaning that it cannot respond to...
Read MoreSocial Protection in Brazil: Impacts on poverty, inequality and growth
Brazil is one of the richest countries in the world, with a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $10,427 in 2009. Growth rates increased from 1.9% to 5.1% per year from 1998 to 2008. Yet the country also has one of the highest rates of inequality in the...
Read MoreSocial Exclusion and Access to Social Protection Schemes
This study examines the causes of exclusion from social protection systems and is based on a review of relevant literature, interviews with researchers and practitioners in Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa and...
Read MoreCash transfers: what does the evidence say? A rigorous review of programme impact and of the role of design and implementation features
Cash transfers have been increasingly adopted by countries worldwide as central elements of their social protection and poverty reduction strategies. A growing number of studies provide rigorous evidence on the impact of cash transfers, and the role of specific cash transfer design and implementation features in shaping outcomes. This...
Read MoreInformality and Income Insecurity: Is Basic Income a Universal Solution?
Is a universal (or unconditional) basic income (UBI) an effective way for states to meet their social protection commitments in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? Is it a utopian vision within reach of only the richest countries, or as several pilot schemes have shown, a realistic option for...
Read MoreGender Aware Beneficiary Analysis Of Saint Lucia’s Public Assistance Programme
Informed by the results of several investigative efforts, St Lucia is now at an advanced stage in developing and implementing an integrated social protection system. The Ministry of Social Transformation, Local Government and Community Empowerment has made major strides in establishing a social protection platform for St Lucia with...
Read MoreCase Study On The St. Lucia National Eligibility Test
Establishing gender and child responsive social protection schemes that ensure universal access to health care including maternity care, and basic income security, will protect women and their families from the effects of economic shocks and crises that may result in job and wage losses. UN Women and UNICEF through...
Read MoreConditional Cash Transfers: Learning from the literature
Eastern Caribbean countries are currently developing and implementing substantial social safety net reforms. Governments of six Eastern Caribbean countries conducted social safety net assessments in 2009 – 2010, with the support of UN Women and UNICEF in partnership with the World Bank. These reforms, which have been ongoing for...
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