Progress on better social protection for 30 million people
Twenty- five million people have benefited from improved access to social protection in the last two years, due to the ILO's Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All. The programme's annual Development Partners meeting noted significant progress made by the Programme in expanding and improving access to social protection globally.
The meeting reviewed the achievements of first two years of the programme’s second phase, in 2021 and 2022. In this period the programme worked in 50 countries and territories, playing a role in 56 institutional changes that brought measurable improvements in social protection for 30 million people. These changes included the adoption of national social protection strategies, the design and adoption of individual social protection programmes, and the implementation of improvements in the governance and operations of social protection systems.
The Programme’s second phase , which runs between 2021 and 2025, aims to extend and improve social protection coverage, access and adequacy levels for 60 million people. It works with 50 focus countries, providing on-demand “cross-country” policy advice in 16 thematic areas , including strengthening financial governance, digitizing administrative systems and leveraging social protection systems in the fight against climate change.
At the outset of the meeting, Mia Seppo, Assistant Director-General for Jobs and Social Protection of the ILO reflected on the programme’s trajectory so far. “Since its inception, we have more than doubled our country presence to 50 countries,” she said. “We have started country support and developed expertise on the role of social protection in responding to the climate emergency and on the digital transformation of social protection. But we need to further develop these areas and also support our constituents in improving their capacities to generate and consolidate social protection statistics which is also a priority if we want to measure progress made towards universal social protection.”
To achieve its ambitious Phase II targets, around 35 additional staff have been recruited under the programme to help implement more than 25 new projects, and an additional US$ 38 million in financial resources was mobilized in the 2021–22 period. In addition, a dedicated online tool has been launched to allow for the systematic measurement of the Programme’s results. However, there remains a resource gap of USD 53.6 million need to achieve by 2025 the objectives articulated in the strategy for its second phase.
The meeting was attended by representatives from many countries that support the programme financially and technically, as well as from those in which programme activities have taken place. The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Manpower of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Anwar Sanusi, expressed his appreciation for accomplishments made in his country through programme interventions. “Indonesia has made great progress towards establishing a social protection system that covers a wide range of risks as part of its strategy to promote inclusive growth. Yet it is not operating at its full potential,” he said. “Indonesia appreciates the ILO’s efforts in promoting policies and providing assistance to countries to supply adequate levels of social protection to all members, including through the ILO Global Flagship Programme.”
The Flagship Programme was inaugurated in 2016, becoming the ILO’s first comprehensive and cohesive global development cooperation effort on social protection. It aims to create systems that are universal, all-encompassing, coherent with other policies, and leave no one behind. It also serves as a vehicle for achieving some of the outcomes of the International Labour Conference’s 109th Session in June 2021 , the UN Secretary-General’s “Our Common Agenda ” and the Global Accelerator for Jobs and Social Protection .
The Development Partners meeting, on 24 March 2023, brought together 180 government officials, employers’ and workers’ representatives and other stakeholders.