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

This issue is dedicated to International Women’s Day (IWD 2017), which was celebrated on 8 March. To highlight the importance of the date, we present two must-read publications: the new
Policy in Focus magazine ‘Social Protection: towards gender equality’, and the paper ‘Making Social Protection Gender Sensitive for Inclusive Development in Sub-Saharan Africa’

In this edition, we also announce our upcoming webinars, featuring topics ranging from shock responsive social protection in Pakistan and the Philippines, to reactive social protection in the face of emergencies in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Finally, we are pleased to present the new ambassadors for South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific regions, who will be promoting the platform. 

Enjoy your reading!
Publications Search
Check out the highlighted publications of the month!
Social protection and gender equality 
Ms. Raquel Tebaldi, Research Assistant at the IPC-IG, shared the new edition of the Policy in Focus magazine entitled ‘Social Protection: towards gender equality’, which features a wide range of contributions from women policy practitioners and scholars, presenting case studies and reflections from Brazil and various African countries. This special issue, which was co-edited by Ms. Tebaldi  and Ms. Flora Myamba, formerly at the Policy Research for Development REPOA, was published ahead of IWD 2017.
Gender-sensitive social protection 
Mr. Frank van Kesteren, Knowledge Manager at the INCLUDE Secretariat, shared the paper ‘Making Social Protection Gender Sensitive for Inclusive Development in Sub-Saharan Africa’, which illustrates the importance of a gender lens in social protection and highlights how gender-blind social protection policies risk entrenching gender inequalities. 
Virtual Campus
This month, socialprotection.org is pleased to present to you the following webinars:

Thursday
16 March
9am - 10am
(Washington, GMT -5)



The Inter Agency Social Protection Assessments (ISPA) Coordination Team will talk about four ISPA tools and how they can support building coherent social protection systems considering countries’ needs and demands, as well as help them to move from fragmented to harmonized social protection systems. This webinar will be held in Spanish.

Thursday
23 March
8am 
(London, GMT)


Oxford Policy Management (OPM) will share case studies of these two countries, which have been experimenting with building on their social protection system to provide effective disaster response. This is the third webinar of the Shock-responsive Social Protection Series at socialprotection.org.

Thursday
30 March
2pm
(Brasilia, GMT -3)


Come and join the experts from Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in the fourth webinar presentation organized by socialprotection.org about the role of social protection in emergency response. This webinar will be held in Spanish. 
Have a look at our partners' webinars!
 
15 March, 10am (New York, GMT -5): Connecting humanitarian cash transfers programming and National Social Protection Programs in Liberia and Sierra Leone: the case of the Ebola response – Organized by the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP), this webinar will present the case of the linkages made between the national social protection programs (NSPPs) of Liberia and Sierra Leone with humanitarian Unconditional Cash Transfer Programs (UCT) during the recovery phase of the Ebola response and  discuss the value of its connection to NSPPs.

28 March, 2:30pm (Accra, GMT): Inequality, Poverty and the Role of Social Protection: Global Evidence with a Focus on Ghana - Organized by the World Bank Group (WBG) and the UNICEF, this seminar will focus on a recent WBG flagship report, Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016, on poverty and inequality, and the role that social protection can play in reducing inequality, ending extreme poverty and improving the livelihoods of the poorest.

Missed a webinar? Do not worry! All recordings of the past webinars are available on socialprotection.org after each session.


News
Cash benefit scheme launched for poor, pregnant women in Bangladesh, by The Daily Star, February 20, 2017.

Ghana government to set aside 50% MASLOC funds for female applicants, by the Ghana Business News, March 8, 2017.

 
Events
Check out the highlighted event of the month!

22-26 May
Santiago, Chile 


More details here
Training Course on Social Protection instruments throughout the life cycle
 
This course of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) aims at developing the competencies of civil servants, providing them with the conceptual bases of social protection and knowledge about public policies, programmes and regulatory frameworks. This training will be delivered in Spanish, and applications will be received until April 23, 2017.
Discussion Forum
Looking for a new job opportunity? 
Visit the Discussion Forum area and have a look at the forum 'Institutions and Networking', where you can explore job opportunities and calls for papers announced by our partners.

Likewise, we also invite you to post your own job opportunities and calls for papers in the field of social protection to share with the platform’s specialised community!
Ambassador Programme
 
This month we are proud to present to you the new socialprotection.org’s ambassadors for South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific regions. They are Ms. Abegail Guado, from the Philippines; Ms. Kanokphan Jongjarb, from Thailand; and Ms. Amiya Sharma, Ms. Rekha Singh and Mr. Saravana Kumar, from India.