This paper examines the evidence on the political economy of “targeting.” It will begin by examining the history of social security in developed countries, focusing in particular on the evolution of Poor Relief in 19th Century Europe. It will then examine contemporary tax-financed old age pensions and Poor Relief...

This edition of The State of Food and Agriculture makes the case that social protection measures will help break the cycle of rural poverty and vulnerability, when combined with broader agricultural and rural development measures. This report’s key messages are: Social protection programmes reduce poverty and food insecurity. Effective...

This brief explains the importance of water supply, sanitation and hygiene in post-2015 sustainable development...

In 2000 the Member States of the United Nations signed the Millennium Declaration, which later gave rise to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Goal 7, to ensure environmental sustainability, included a target that challenged the global community to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to...

This paper explains From Protection to Production (PtoP), a four-year agreement between FAO at DFID to study the impact of cash transfer programmes on household economic decision-making and the local economy in sub-Saharan Africa....

This brief describes key findings of a four-year research project, From  Protection to Production (PtoP), which is implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with UNICEF. Oxford Policy Management partnered with FAO to design and implement the qualitative field research component. The PtoP project analyzed the...

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...

The IPC-IG One-Pager is an extremely popular publication that seeks to  introduce readers to an idea or concept explored more in depth in a separate larger publication (i.e. Working Paper, journal article, book chapter, report  or project etc.). One pagers effectively allow for an introductory summary of a larger piece of...

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...

This handbook is an edited and augmented version of the report in Towards the Establishment of Social Safety Nets (SSN) in Developing Countries, compiled by a JICA study group that carried out in 2003 called Basic Research on Social Safety Nets. This handbook is extracted several sections from the...

In April 2000, the Japanese government launched its fifth social insurance scheme, the Long-term Care Insurance, to respond to the increasing demand for long-term care. Since then, the Long-term Care Insurance has been established in Japanese society as an essential system for people’s lives, while it has various challenges....

Japan’s health insurance coverage has been receiving great interest from other countries. However, how and why Japan achieved universal health coverage about half a century ago has not been unravelled. This paper aims to analyze Japan’s path to universal health insurance coverage from various perspectives and draw policy lessons...

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...

Although there have been improvements over the past decade in social indicators such as life expectancy, primary school enrolment and literacy, the Arab region continues to face serious development challenges, including high rates of poverty, food insecurity and hunger, and child and maternal mortality.Extreme poverty increased from 4.1 per...

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...

Welfare systems in Arab countries are at their limits. Stretched by substantial population growth over the past years, the Governments are increasingly unable to integrate all people from all ages, all regions and all income groups into the labour market and into social protection schemes. After initial years of...

Whatever one thinks of as factors of growth and development, the human factor – human intelligence and creativity – is the most important source. Abundance of capital and natural resources certainly helps, but it still takes people to turn such resources into their most productive use. Markets do not...

The UN Women discussion paper series is a new initiative led by the Research and Data section of UN Women, to provide grounded, fresh and robust perspectives on some of the contemporary challenges to achieving gender equality and women’s rights, and offer insights into policy innovations that are making...