The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a stress test for social protection systems worldwide, exposing often dramatic gaps in their coverage, comprehensiveness and adequacy and thereby jeopardizing the health, incomes and jobs of billions of people. These protection gaps, pre-existent to the crisis and further exacerbated by it, are associated with insufficient public investment in social protection.

To realize the right to social security for all by 2030, more investment in universal social protection is indispensable. Social protection systems should be primarily financed from domestic resources. Options exist even in low-income countries, including by broadening the tax base; tackling tax evasion and building fair and progressive tax systems together with a sustainable macroeconomic framework; duly collecting social security contributions and tackling the avoidance of social security contributions; reprioritizing and reallocating expenditure; and eliminating corruption and illicit financial flows. Exceptionally, for countries with limited domestic fiscal capacities to invest in social protection or countries facing increased needs due to crises, natural disasters or climate change, international financial resources, in combination with technical assistance, could complement and support domestic resource mobilization for social protection.

Yet, investing more in universal social protection is not sufficient. Countries also need to invest better, guided by international social security standards. This requires, first, greater consensus at the national level between the institutions in charge of public finance management, including financing social protection, and the institutions responsible for the design and implementation of social protection systems, through integrated national policies and financing frameworks. Second, more dialogue and coherence need to be achieved between international financial and development institutions to avoid contradictory policy advice on the level and nature of investment in social protection; in addition, multilateral cooperation, for example on tax matters or debt restructuring, is needed to create an enabling environment that facilitates domestic resource mobilization. International social security standards, in particular the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), working in tandem with the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) are an internationally agreed roadmap to guide the design, financing and governance of national social protection systems. Specifically, in Recommendation No. 202, countries adopted 19 guiding principles to establish and maintain comprehensive, adequate, sustainable social protection systems for all.

This webinar aimed to:

1. launch two ILO working papers on investing more and better in universal social protection; and
2. engage in a roundtable discussion on how to close social protection and financing gaps through more and better investments in universal social protection. The discussion will be organized around the following questions:

• Which strategies can and have countries used to successfully mobilize more domestic resources for social protection?
• To what extent and how can the international community complement and support domestic resource mobilization and sustainable financing strategies?
• How can additional resources be systematically used to build universal social protection systems in line with international social security standards?
• How can countries and the international community increase coherence between social protection and financing priorities?
• How can countries and the international community create an enabling environment for domestic resource mobilization?

 

Discussants:

Mira Bierbaum, Technical Officer, Social Protection Department, ILO

Valérie Schmitt, Deputy Director, Social Protection Department, ILO

 

Panelists:

Kathrin Oellers, Head of Division Population Policy and Social Protection, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Marcus Manuel, Senior Research Associate, ODI

Richard Rori, Social Protection Policy and Research Analyst, National Social Security Fund, Kenya

 

Moderator: Shahra Razavi, Director, Social Protection Department, ILO

 

Resources:

Bierbaum, Mira, and Valérie Schmitt. 2022. “Investing Better in Universal Social Protection:  Applying International Social Security Standards in Social Protection Policy and Financing.” ILO Working Paper No. XX. Geneva: International Labour Office.

Bierbaum, Mira, and Valérie Schmitt. 2022. “Investing More in Universal Social Protection:  Filling the Financing Gap through Domestic Resource Mobilization and International Support and Coordination.” ILO Working Paper No. XX. Geneva: International Labour Office.

Durán Valverde, Fabio, José Pacheco-Jiménez, Taneem Muzaffar, and Hazel Elizondo-Barboza. 2020. “ Financing Gaps in Social Protection: Global Estimates and Strategies for Developing Countries in Light of COVID-19 and Beyond." ILO Working Paper No. 14. Geneva: International Labour Office.

ILO. 2021. “Resolution and Conclusions Concerning the Second Recurrent Discussion on Social Protection (Social Security)." International Labour Conference. 109th Session.

ILO. 2021.World Social Protection Report 2020–2022: Social Protection at the Crossroads: In Pursuit of a Better Future. Geneva: International Labour Organization.

ITUC. 2021. “Investments in Social Protection and Their Impacts on Economic Growth.” Brussels: International Trade Union Confederation.

UN. 2021. “Global Fund for Social Protection: International Solidarity in the Service of Poverty Eradication.” Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Olivier De Schutter.

UN. 2021. “Our Common Agenda: Report of the Secretary-General.” New York City: United Nations.

UN. 2021. “Secretary-General’s Policy Brief: Investing in Jobs and Social Protection for Poverty Eradication and a Sustainable Recovery.” New York: United Nations.