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Introduction On 26th October 2023, the ILO organized a webinar , hosted by socialprotection.org, to discuss the key findings and recommendations of the recently-published paper “ A global fund for social protection. Lessons from the diverse experiences of global health, agriculture and climate funds ”. The webinar drew together the lead authors of the paper as well as discussants with expertise in global governance and social policy to explore the challenges and questions arising from this research. The panellists presented experiences of setting up global funds across various sectors and the potential implications for a putative GFSP. The discussion, moderated by Shahra Razavi (Director, Social Protection Department ILO) focused on institutional governance arrangements...Read more

Policies and interventions seeking to build resilience among the poor and vulnerable need to be underpinned by an understanding of the communities they target. An adequate understanding of who the vulnerable are and the ways in which they are vulnerable is imperative for actors both within and outside the social protection systems and allows for intervening more effectively before, during and after a natural disaster. Yet, information to guide decision-makers is scarce in many developing countries, which partly stems from the costs and complexities of collecting socioeconomic data. In the United Beneficiary Registry (UBR), Malawi is endowed with a comprehensive social registry, both in population coverage and in the range of variables stored, which reflects an understanding of poverty as...Read more

With a few years from the height of the pandemic, precious lessons on social protection responses keep pouring in. A case in point is Sierra Leone: a review by Sandford shows that while not a full-fledged “anticipatory” system, Sierra Leone’s initial 2020 pandemic response (ECT-1) was based on early “triggers” (in this case simply the emergency declaration and development of an operations manual). This activated fast disbursements of contingency financing which helped supporting about 30,000 low-income informal sector workers: it took less than a month from manual clearance to first payment! The paper also details a range of challenges from initial stages, including for example the use of data gathered in partnership with non-traditional actors (and the suspension of...Read more

Let me start with the joint life-saving effects of two programs: a Lancet article by Aransiola et al evaluated the long-run, combined effects of social pensions (BPC) and Bolsa Familia conditional cash transfers (BF) on child mortality in Brazil . Based on data from nearly 2,500 municipalities over fifteen years, 2004-2019, they found that both programs were effective, with the mortality-reducing effects of BF being higher among children under-1 and BPC’s being more prevalent among those aged 1-4 years old. Coverage mattered: for example, BF had no effect in municipalities with the lowest coverage and poverty rates, but had the highest impact where coverage expanded the most. Both Pending on future scenarios, the programs could in tandem avert between 87,808–148,736...Read more