December 2016: International Volunteer Day

Welcome to the new edition of socialprotection.org’s newsletter!
 

We dedicate this month’s newsletter to the International Volunteer Day, celebrated on 5 December, as a token of appreciation for the commitment and passionate work of volunteers worldwide, and, in particular, those who have helped us promote the socialprotection.org platform. Our deepest gratitude goes to all of socialprotection.org's Ambassadors, research and social media volunteers, and interns (photo).

 

Strengthening this bond with volunteers, we have just launched the 2017 Ambassador Programme. We invite individuals from all around the world to join us and participate in interesting activities to promote and disseminate socialprotection.org!

As usual, this month we also bring you interesting content on issues related to social protection. New publications shared by the members of the platform address topics such as the Brazil Without Extreme Poverty Plan, the cost of civil service pensions in sub-Saharan Africa, cash transfers and humanitarian aid. 

We also have new features on the platform to introduce.

Enjoy your reading!

Cash transfers and humanitarian aid
Our Ambassador Ms. Lucia Conti shared the report “Doing cash differently: how cash transfers can transform humanitarian aid”, published by the Overseas Development Institute. This report, written by the High Level Panel on Humanitarian Cash Transfers, identifies 12 crucial steps to scaling up cash transfer programmes, including capitalising on digital technology and private sector expertise and opening up programmes to greater competition.
 
Civil service pension costs in sub-Saharan Africa
Ms. Ngoc-Dung Tran, who works with the World Bank Group (WBG), shared the study titled “Issues for Civil Service Pension Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa”. The paper discusses the benefits and potential downsides to unifying civil service and national pension systems, drawing on regional and international best practices and experience.

Brazil Without Extreme Poverty Plan
Our colleagues from the Brazil Learning Initiative for a World without Poverty (WWP) shared the paper "Brazil Without Extreme Poverty Plan Series no. 11: Monitoring", which assesses the three levels of monitoring involved in the Plan: monitoring macro results, monitoring the results of actions and monitoring family trajectories.
 

Looking for a great new opportunity?  In the Discussion Forum area, under the Connect tab, we have recently launched a forum titled "Institutions and Networking" where you can explore job opportunities and calls for papers announced by our partners.  

In addition, you can post job opportunities and calls for papers in the field of social protection, to share with our specialised community!
 

Virtual Campus
 

Missed a Webinar? Recently, socialprotection.org hosted its first webinar in French: Protection sociale et renforcement de l’agriculture familiale (“Social Protection and Strengthening Family Farming”), If you missed it, you can view the presentation, listen to the session recording and read the summary.

Likewise, you can view the presentation and listen to the session recording of the webinar Protección social y la inclusión financiera de las mujeres en la agricultura familiar (“Social protection and the financial inclusion of women in family farming”), held in Spanish. This was the fourth webinar of the Gender-Sensitive Social Protection Webinar Series, jointly organised by the IPC-IG and FAO.
 

News
 

Rwanda: Maternity leave benefits for working mothers
Rwanda has put into effect a new social security protection mechanism ensuring maternity leave benefits to working mothers, who can now stay home with their newborn babies for up to 12 weeks without fear of losing their full pay. The scheme is part of the government's commitment towards empowering Rwandan women to physically recover and give newborns the best start in life. It also aims at preventing maternity leave from becoming a barrier to women's contribution to national development. Read the full article published on the AllAFrica.com website here.

Bangladesh: Social protection to cover every person with disability
The government of Bangladesh is making a plan to bring all persons with disabilities from children to old-age citizens under a social protection programme, which should provide its beneficiaries with financial support and health and education facilities. As part of the government’s plan, 103 service centers have been established for supporting disabled persons around the country. Click here to access the full article.