Strategic Dialogue on Building Inclusive Social Protection Systems
While countries in the Asia-Pacific have committed to nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, around 60 per cent of all women, men and children in Asia and the Pacific only have partial or no social protection coverage at all. The importance of inclusive social protection in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is acknowledged with social protection is specifically referenced in targets towards the goals to end poverty, achieving gender equality and reducing inequality within and among countries.
ESCAP, as the regional development arm of the United Nations in Asia and the Pacific, therefore brought together policy-makers, practitioners and thought-leaders to discuss how to build effective and inclusive social protection systems in order to extend coverage to all.
The Dialogue took place from 14 to 15 of November 2017 in Bangkok and discussed how to deliver on the global commitment to inclusive social protection through six (6) interactive sessions:
Session 1: Social Protection: what’s in it for Asia and the Pacific?
In this session we discussed why social protection is essential for people, planet and prosperity.
Session 2 – Designing social protection systems: how to ensure that no one is left behind?
In this session, top-line trends and the current state of social protection in Asia and the Pacific were explored, and we discussed how the design and reform of social protection systems and schemes can make it or break it for inclusiveness, including:
• Approaches to building national social protection systems
• Universal and targeted social protection
• Conditional and unconditional social protection
• Improving access to social protection for persons with disabilities
Session 3 – Implementation: how can we do it better?
In this session participants shared lessons learned, good practices, and discussed how to implement more inclusive social protection systems in Asia and the Pacific.
Session 4 – Political economy: how can we navigate it?
In this session we explored the significance of political economy in financing and building inclusive social protection systems.
Session 5 – Financing: how can we increase investment in social protection?
In this session we discussed the fiscal space for financing social protection and approaches to invest more in social protection through best practices in Asia and the Pacific.
Session 6 – Strengthening social protection in Asia and the Pacific: what’s next?
In this session participants summed up the approaches to design, implementation and financing to take forward and how to generate political support.