By Olivier De Schutter, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
Progress on poverty eradication is fading fast. We’re halfway to 2030, the deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and the number of people living in extreme poverty is higher than it was four years ago.
Continue reading “Social protection is key to ending poverty. So why is it so neglected in ODA?”By Alexander Pick, Economist, OECD Development Centre
Check out the upcoming international conference Together to achieve Universal Social Protection by 2030 for more on this topic
A systematic approach lies at the core of universal social protection. However, it is not immediately obvious what the term means, or why it is so important. After all, do we not take other systems for granted, like the system of government or health and education systems?
A social protection system must reflect the needs of the people it covers — ideally the entire population, throughout their lives and whatever their income — and it must incorporate the full range of different programmes that exist as well as the multitude of institutions involved. It must also harness different financing mechanisms for sustained and sustainable expansion. The fundamental objective of a social protection system is to get these moving parts working together to ensure coordination and coherence – to fill gaps, avoid duplication and optimise resource allocations to provide effective coverage against the most important risks people face. Continue reading “Social protection systems: not simple, but worth the effort”
