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...

Basic social services such as education, water and sanitation, health care and housing are intended to meet essential human needs. States are responsible for guaranteeing equal access to these services, either through direct provision or through the regulation of services provided by the private sector and civil society organizations....

This report provides evidence that social protection is an effective instrument to reduce inequalities, and by so doing, contributes to the integration of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. It examines in particular the inequalities faced by children, persons of working-age, older persons and in relation...

This paper seeks to estimate the costs and impacts of expanding the coverage and improving the quality of cash transfers to older people and to families with young children in the countries of Latin...

This brief synthesizes research findings, analysis and policy recommendations on creating an alternative gender-responsive macroeconomic agenda. Macroeconomic policy, including fiscal and monetary policy, is often thought of as gender-neutral. But economic policy choices affect women and men differently because of their different positions in the economy, both market (paid)...

This brief synthesizes research findings, analysis and policy recommendations on transforming pension systems to reduce gender gaps and protect women’s income security in old age. Ageing has a female face. Women not only live longer than men but are also less likely to enjoy income security and economic independence...

This brief synthesizes research findings, analysis and policy recommendations for realizing the triple dividend from early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. ECEC services have come to occupy an important place on the global policy agenda. While some developed countries have long invested in this area, a growing number...

This brief synthesizes research findings, analysis and policy recommendations on making social protection floors work for women. The idea of a social protection floor (SPF) is now firmly established on the global development agenda. Defined as a set of minimum guarantees, including basic income security for children, working-age adults,...

The report looks at the existing social protection schemes in the ASEAN Member States from the angle of the four guarantees of the social protection floor, that are: health care for all and income security for children (including access to necessary goods and services), those in working age, and...

Cash transfer programmes have been implemented in many countries as a key component of their national social protection floors and because these programmes provide a modest but regular income to poor households, they have the potential to reduce poverty and to enhance women’s economic empowerment. However, there have been...

The definition of social protection programmes varies widely, as do the types of interventions included and the specific outcomes sought. These programmes can be implemented through public and/or private sectors, with the involvement of single or multiple government sectors, or by some combination of these actors. This brief will...

This report examines a range of issues, from women and girls lack of access to sanitation and hygiene services to their strategies for dealing with menstrual hygiene management while playing their roles in families, communities, at work, at school, etc. The study also addresses the impact of perpetrated beliefs...

This paper: (i) examines the latest IMF government spending projections for 187 countries between 2005 and 2020; (ii) reviews 616 IMF country reports in 183 countries to identify the main adjustment measures considered by governments in both high-income and developing countries; (iii) applies the United Nations Global Policy Model...

This guide provides an overview of social protection concepts, approaches, issues, debates and the evidence. It primarily focuses on longer-term developmental social protection, rather than humanitarian responses, and on low-income countries, drawing on other contexts where appropriate. The aim is to provide an overview of issues, a selection of...

The paper analyses the evolving politics of claims-making by women workers in the Global South in the context of a globalized economy. It addresses the following questions. What kinds of claims are prioritized in relation to women workers? Who is making these claims? To whom are they addressed? What...

The SDGs stand a chance of hitting the ground running. Even before they are put before the UN General Assembly, politicians, policy makers, civil society, business and the media have been reacting positively to the new sustainable development agenda. The agenda is indeed to be welcomed. It responds to...

The concept of social inclusion, also referred to as social integration or social cohesion, represents a vision for “a society for all”, in which every individual, each with rights and responsibilities, has an active role to play (Report of the World Summit for Social Development, 1995). While various definitions...

This paper examines prospects for enhanced regional migration governance and protection of migrants’ rights in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Migration in this region is substantial in scale and diverse in nature, incorporating economic, political and mixed migration flows. In addition to movements between countries within the region,...

The expansion of social protection in low- and middle-income countries over the last two decades has been accompanied by a growing number of studies on the distributional impact of social protection spending. When such analyses consider social protection separately from tax policy, they provide a partial picture of the...

This background note focuses on the current discussion among actors in the humanitarian and social protection sectors regarding the use of existing social protection programmes to provide an emergency response. It outlines the overlaps between social protection and humanitarian responses, considers a range of recent examples from low- and...

This study examines the delivery and impact of Nepal’s Child Grant, so as to identify implementation barriers and recommend ways to improve effectiveness. The cash transfer is targeted at all households with children aged up to five years in the Karnali zone and at poor Dalit households in the...

Social protection has become an increasingly prominent public policy tool in Nepal over the past two decades. Since the insurgency’s end in 2006, the government, with the support of development partners, has explicitly integrated social protection programming into its broader post-conflict development and reconstruction agenda (Holmes and Uphadya, 2009;...

Patterns of marginalisation and exclusion are present all over the world, with stark and persisting inequalities in access to water and sanitation. Progress made in the water and sanitation sector does not always benefit those who are most in need of these services, in particular the poorest, people living...

This paper exams why social protection is needed for persons living with HIV;  goals, actions and  results for HIV-sensitive social protection; global priorities in HIV-sensitive social protection and the role of UNAIDS in meeting this...

Social protection increases the resilience of households to shock and reduces barriers to essential services. When done well, it is based on a comprehensive assessment of risks and vulnerabilities, including those related to HIV and AIDS. A social protection strategy and its constituent programmes are designed to reduce, mitigate...