Social protection is a fundamental human right that is also key to realising other economic, social, and cultural rights, including the rights to food, health, and education and addressing poverty and vulnerability, promoting decent work and inclusive economic growth, and increasing resilience to shocks. However, many agricultural workers and other rural populations do not have access to adequate social protection.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the large and persistent gaps in coverage, comprehensiveness, and adequacy of social protection. Although the pandemic has shown once more the critical importance of social protection for protecting lives and livelihoods, as reflected in the surge of new social protection measures following the outbreak of the pandemic, most of the measures that have been put in place are temporary, some of them have already been phased out and gaps in coverage remain.

To address the crisis in a more effective and lasting way and increase resilience, more permanent solutions are necessary to reinforce social protection systems, particularly with respect to ensuring universal access to adequate social protection for all, including rural populations. Rural populations are three times more likely to live in extreme poverty (defined as living on less than $1.9 per day) than urban populations and are more likely to be in informal employment. Rural populations also face higher exposure to various risks, including working poverty, malnutrition and hunger, poor health, work-related injuries, natural disasters, and climate change. It is therefore essential to accelerate efforts to extend social protection to all by building on the current momentum, as well as previous experiences and lessons learned.

The aims of this webinar were:

• To launch the joint FAO/ILO report on “Extending social protection to rural populations: Perspectives for a common FAO and ILO approach”, available in English, Spanish and French.
• To explore innovative approaches to extending social protection to rural populations and to learn from country experiences.

The discussion was guided by the recommendations of a just published joint FAO/ILO report “Extending social protection to rural populations: Perspectives for a common FAO and ILO approach”. The publication is available in English, Spanish and French.

 

Moderator 

Alejandro Grinspun, Senior Economist, Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equity Division, FAO

 

Speakers

Ariunzaya Ayush, Minister for Labour and Social Protection, Mongolia

Ezequiel Barbenza, Director of Registration and Formalization; Secretariat of Family, Peasant and Indigenous Agriculture and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Argentina 

Benjamin Davis, Director, Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equity Division, FAO

Cecilia Mbaka, Head of the National Social Protection Secretariat, Kenya

Hazim Rahahleh, General Director of the Jordanian Social Security Corporation

Shahra Razavi, Director, Social Protection Department, ILO

 

Discussant 

Christina Behrendt, Head of Social Policy Unit, Social Protection Department, ILO