Global Social Protection: New impetus from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Organization(s): Stiftung Entwicklung und Frieden (sef:)
Author: Markus Kaltenborn
Year: 2015
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The issue of social protection has undergone something of a renaissance in the development policy debate in recent years and has lately become a particular focus of interest for several international organizations, first and foremost the International Labour Organization with its Social Protection Floor Initiative.

What’s more, promoting social protection systems as a tool for long-term poverty eradication is now a much higher development policy priority for other UN specialised organisations, the World Bank and, not least, the European Union. In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, formally adopted by the UN General Assembly by consensus on 25 September 2015, the establishment of social protection systems is now expressly identified as one of the international community’s new goals.

To answer the question of how these social protection systems can be funded, especially in the developing countries, and which contribution the international community should make in this context, diverse proposals were put forward ahead of the UN summit. One of the main tasks arising in the near future is to take up these ideas and translate them into practical development initiatives.