Five years since the “great recession” started, the failed policy of austerity has left a legacy of extreme levels of unemployment, rising inequality, the marginalisation of a generation of young people and the desperation of a growing informal sector where rules simply don’t apply. International institutions did not prevent...

Inequality is growing in almost all nations, and wages are amongst the lowest on record as a share of wealth. Unemployment is the highest on record and while more than 50 per cent of workers are in vulnerable or precarious work 40 per cent of workers are trapped in...

Social protection is essential for social justice and inclusion, strong democracies, equitable growth and resilience during crises. The components of social protection programmes have diverse shapes and historic and cultural backgrounds. They are influenced by demographic, geographic, and administrative requirements and need to be context and country specific. Governments...

This paper discusses the policy options available to developing countries committed to offering universal pension coverage and maximising the incomes of older people. It presents a basic model of a pension system comprising up to three tiers that can be adapted to the circumstances of all countries. The model...

This briefing paper from the Overseas Development Institute examines the state of child social protection in...

The Yemen National Social Protection Monitoring Survey (NSPMS) is a household longitudinal survey with a nationally representative balanced sample of 6,397 households (of an initial sample of 7,152). Each household in the balanced sample was visited on a quarterly basis over a 12-month period between October 2012 and September...

Social protection is an important dimension in the reduction of poverty and multidimensional deprivation. It is an approach towards thinking about the processes, policies and interventions which respond to the economic, social, political and security risks and constraints poor and vulnerable people face, and which will make them less...

El objetivo de este libro es discutir y difundir conocimiento sobre aquellas políticas públicas, programas y marcos regulatorios que, desde un enfoque de derechos, están permitiendo ampliar la cobertura y las prestaciones de la protección social en América Latina. Por un lado, se procura brindar al lector un panorama...

Benjamin Davis, team leader of FAO-led From Protection to Production (PtoP) project, explains Social Protection in relation to FAO’s work and mandate. In particular he focuses on impacts of social cash transfers on rural livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa and how these programmes can contribute to broader economic and agriculture...

The Pacific Youth Development Framework (PYDF) 2014–20231 uses human rights principles and social protection approaches to promote inclusive and targeted investment in key youth populations to improve universal access to basic services and opportunities for young people in the Pacific. The PYDF comprises four priority outcomes for youth across...

ESCWA puts out an newsletter, Social Development Bulletin, which discusses current development issues in the Western Asia region. This edition covers social protection as a method to achieve just and sustainable development.   Link to Arabic...

Disability is an intrinsic aspect of the human condition and most people will experience disability at some point in their lives. Globally, one billion people—or 15 per cent of the world population—are estimated to be living with disability. By contrast, Arab countries report comparatively low prevalence of disability, ranging...

Since the 1970s in particular, the countries of Western Asia and those of the Asia-Pacific region have been closely linked to each other through highly extensive movements of people. Opportunities created by the rapid development of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), but also other countries in...

Basic social services such as education, water and sanitation, healthcare and housing are intended to meet essential human needs. States are given the task of guaranteeing equal access to these services, either through direct provision or through the regulation of services provided by other institutions, such as businesses or...

Worldwide, the prevalence of disability tends to be higher within indigenous communities than among non-indigenous groups.1 This high prevalence of disability is both a cause and a consequence of severe poverty, violence and unsafe living conditions, including exposure to environmental degradation, toxic waste and the adverse impacts of development...

Twenty years after the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, and at a time when the global community is defining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the post-2015 era, the international consensus on the need to achieve gender equality seems stronger than ever before. Empowering women and...

Despite Fiji’s status as a middle-income country, a high proportion of children live in poor and income-insecure families. The Department of Social Welfare administers several social transfer schemes for low-income and vulnerable individuals and families, including the Care and Protection Allowance for children. This report examines levels of child...

Par l’adoption de cette Stratégie, le Gouvernement de Côte d’Ivoire s’inscrit dans les grandes orientations adoptées au niveau international par les Nations Unies et au niveau régional par l’Union Africaine. En avril 2009, le Système des Nations Unies a proposé un « socle de protection sociale » comme une...

Children represent over half of the Senegalese population and a large portion of them remains poor and vulnerable. Health, education and poverty indicators suggest that many children are in critical situations, in urgent need of social protection and that significant disparities are found across location and wealth. Nationwide, 5%...

Few people would disagree that children need protection and support, and that they should receive priority in policy interventions, including social protection. These beliefs are underpinned by the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which has been ratified by 192 of 195 of the world’s countries....

Social protection is globally recognized as a critical component of national development strategies and key to achieving inclusive pro poor, equitable development. To realize Uganda’s social protection goals the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in partnership with the Department for International Development (DFID), Irish Aid and UNICEF,...

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Thematic Guideline is a reference document targeting the wide ranging internal and external stakeholders in social protection. The purpose of the Guideline is to provide basic information and knowledge about social protection such as an overview of social protection around the world, trends...

In discussing the ways to protect and promote the human right to social security, particularly the right to old age security, Amartya Sen’s work provides important insights. Sen (2009) argues for understanding human rights as powerful moral claims, transcending a legal interpretation of these rights (as legal demands, motivation...

This report examines the economic crisis’ effect on child social protection in...

This briefing paper addresses the state of social protection for children in...