UNICEF and IPC-IG paper series on Regular Social Protection Landscapes in South Asia

By Abdul Alim (Regional Social Policy Advisor, UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia), Fabio Veras, Rafael Osório and Pedro Arruda (IPC-IG).

Since the early 2000s South Asian countries have been experiencing strong economic growth coupled with a renewed commitment of different governments in the region to tackle poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion through the provision of equal access to basic healthcare, education, decent work and/or sustainable livelihoods. Social protection initiatives have been implemented in many countries as an important enabler to ensure access to services and income security. However, the achievements of such commitments in terms of wellbeing improvement for the region’s population, particularly for the poor and vulnerable has been uneven.

By 2009 UNICEF released a landmark publication taking stock of social protection landscapes in South Asia from a comparative perspective. In that work, programmes were analysed regarding their legal frameworks, funding availability, overall set up and effects as measured by impact evaluations. Ten years later, much has changed in that landscape, and this time UNICEF ROSA has partnered with the IPC-IG to produce a series of papers looking at these social protection features through the following specific studies.

1. Social spending in South Asia: An overview of government expenditure on health, education and social assistance.

• Research Report No. 44. Social spending in South Asia—an overview of government expenditure on health, education and social assistance by Carolina Bloch
• Executive Summary (also available in Portuguese) 
• One Pager No. 455. Public spending on health, education and social assistance in South Asian countries (also available in Portuguese and French) by Carolina Bloch
• Webinar on “Social expenditure, legislative frameworks and findings of impact evaluations of social protection in South Asia”

2. Overview of non-contributory social protection programmes in South Asia from a Child and Equity Lens.

• Research Report No. 46. Overview of non-contributory social protection programmes in South Asia from a child and equity perspective by Pedro Arruda, Yannick Markhof, Isabela Franciscon, Wesley Silva and Charlotte Bilo
• Executive Summary 
• One Pager 441. Overview of social protection systems in South Asia by Fabianna Ferreira, Pedro Arruda, Yannick Markhof and Isabela Franciscon
• One Pager 442. Child-sensitive social protection in South Asia—assessing programmes' design features and coverage of children by Charlotte Bilo
• Webinar on “Non-contributory Social Protection in South Asia: An overview from a child, equity and gender perspective”

3. Gender and Social Protection in South Asia: An Assessment of the Design of Non-contributory Programmes.

• Research Report No. 38. Gender and social protection in South Asia: an assessment of the design of non-contributory programmes by Raquel Tebaldi and Charlotte Bilo
• Executive Summary.
• Webinar on “Non-contributory Social Protection in South Asia: An overview from a child, equity and gender perspective”
• One Pager No. 431. Gender and social protection in South Asia: an assessment of non-contributory programmes by Charlotte Bilo

4. Social protection legislative frameworks in South Asia from a child-rights perspective.

• Research Report No. 55. Social protection legislative frameworks in South Asia from a children's rights perspective by Luca Lazzarini
• Executive Summary
• One pager No. 463. Social protection legislative frameworks in South Asia from a children's rights perspective by Luca Lazzarini
• Webinar on “Social expenditure, legislative frameworks and findings of impact evaluations of social protection in South Asia”

5.  Social assistance programmes in South Asia: an evaluation of socio-economic impacts.

• Research Report No. 62. Social assistance programmes in South Asia: an evaluation of socio-economic impacts by Yannick Markhof, Isabela Franciscon, Nicolò Bird and Pedro Arruda
• Executive Summary
• One pager No. 494. Social assistance programmes in South Asia: an evaluation of socio-economic impacts by Nicolò Bird, Isabela Franciscon, Yannick Markhof, Pedro Arruda and Krista Alvarenga
• Webinar on “Social expenditure, legislative frameworks and findings of impact evaluations of social protection in South Asia”

6. Despite having a mostly comparative focus, the studies above are also produced to inform some country specific analysis which are put forth by the following series of prodcuts:

• One Pager No. 485. Social protection profile: Afghanistan by Beatriz Burattini, Pedro Arruda and Luca Lazzarini
• One Pager No. 486.  Social protection profile: Bangladesh by Fabianna Bacil, Gabriel Soyer and Nicolò Bird
• One Pager No. 490. Social protection profile: India by Fabianna Bacil and Nicolò Bird
• One Pager No. 491. Social protection profile: Maldives by Krista Joosep Alvarenga, Isabela Franciscon and Luca Lazzarini
• One Pager No. 488. Social protection profile: Nepal  by Isabela Franciscon and Pedro Arruda
• One Pager No. 492. Social protection profile: Pakistan by Yannick Markhof, Pedro Arruda, Isabela Franciscon and Khurram Arif
• One Pager No. 493. Social protection profile: Sri Lanka by Isabela Franciscon and Pedro Arruda
• Webinar on “Profiles of the social protection systems of Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan prior to COVID-19 and snapshots of their responses to the pandemic”
• Webinar on  “Profiles of pre-COVID-19 social protection system of India and Pakistan and a snapshot of their COVID-19 responses”
• Webinar on “Profiles of pre-COVID-19 social protection systems in Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives and a snapshot of their COVID-19 responses”

After almost two years of intense bibliographic and field research to most countries of the region, and rounds of validation by multiple stakeholders, we are happy to share with you the results of this partnership between UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA), the UNICEF Country Offices of South Asia and the IPC-IG. We hope these texts can give an overview of the social protection in the region, highlighting set ups that work best to tackle shared challenges across the region, and that this compiled information helps to promote cooperation and institutional learning across the region. We hope this work can also stimulate government and development players to step up covering still existing knowledge gaps that remain at both, the regional and country-specific levels.

Enjoy your reading! 

Check out our complementary series on Covid-responsive social protection landscapes in South Asia! It should be noticed that by the time most the studies listed below were coming out, South Asia and the entire world has been hit by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemics that has triggered sound social protection responses that, at least for the time being, have altered social protection landscapes irreversibly. Because at that time we already had most of the above indicated studies in a very advanced stage, it wouldn’t make sense to revamp all of them to include social protection responses to Covid. Instead, we decided to fast track an additional, complimentary research series entitled UNICEF AND IPC-IG PAPER SERIES ON COVID-RESPONSIVE SOCIAL PROTECTION LANDSCAPES IN SOUTH ASIA. Check it out!