2023-07-07 00:00:00
© Minzayar Yes / UNICEF BRUSSELS / GENEVA / NEW YORK (ILO News) – Thirteen million people in 24 countries have benefited from increased access to better social protection systems through an innovative program on sustainable financing.
Sustainable financing of social protection systems encompasses how governments mobilize, allocate and manage public resources to ensure their long-term viability. The program, titled Enhanced synergies between social protection and public financial management (SP&PFM) aims to strengthen the design and financing of national social protection systems and thus improve the lives of millions of women, men and children.
The program – funded by the European Union (EU) and jointly implemented by the International Labor Organization (ILO), UNICEF and the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) – held an international symposium to showcase some of the innovative approaches used to strengthen rights-based social protection systems and prioritize gender sensitivity, disability inclusion and resilience to shocks. It is also helping to make social protection systems more resilient so that they can cope with future shocks, for example by designing and reforming unemployment protection systems in Peru and Ecuador.
Examples presented at the symposium included support for country responses to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Elsewhere, better synergies have helped expand social protection for Kyrgyzstan’s 200,000 people with disabilities, increased family benefits for 316,000 households with children in Senegal, and increased social protection for 230,000 informal economy workers in Nepal.
The program underlines the crucial and strategic role of social protection in fostering resilient and inclusive economies, and highlights the need for integrated policies, sustainable public financial management and strong multilateral coordination. One of the keys to its success has been greater coordination between the Ministries in charge of finance and social protection. The effective participation of employers’ and workers’ organizations, as well as civil society from Africa, Asia and Latin America, in the design, financing and governance of social protection schemes has also been crucial.
“This innovative partnership has achieved impressive results in enhancing synergies between social protection and public financial management, supporting 17 countries in their response to COVID-19, improving the lives of millions of people and demonstrating that the Social protection is not only a human right, but also an investment,” said Erica Gerretsen, Director of Human Development, Migration, Governance and Peace at the European Commission’s International Partnerships Department.
“Austerity often reduces the scope for governments to expand fiscal space and mobilize domestic resources, threatening budget allocations for social protection and social investments,” said Shahra Razavi, Director of the ILO’s Department of Social Protection. “Therefore, working on the specific link between social protection and public financial management is literally a matter of life and death.”
“The program has shown the importance of partnerships in closing funding gaps and increasing access to social protection for all, particularly children,” said Natalia Winder-Rossi, Director of Social Policy and Programs Group for UNICEF Social Protection. “UNICEF will continue to build on the momentum created through this collaboration to leverage its country presence, public finance and programmatic expertise, and commitment to advance these important goals.”
“The program took advantage of collective action by strengthening civil society networks to better engage with state institutions,” said Uzziel Twagilimana, representative of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors. “We call on governments to establish institutional dialogue mechanisms on social protection policies, including their sustainable financing.”
He International Symposiumheld on June 27 and 28, 2023, brought together more than 200 representatives of governments, employers and workers, as well as other interested parties.
Notes to editors
For more information, contact
Rosalind Yard, ILO, Geneva, [email protected]Helen Wylie, UNICEF, New York, [email protected]Ana Pisonero-Hernández, Spokesperson for the European Commission, Brussels, [email protected]Ana Claudia Zeballos, GCSPF, [email protected]
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