International Labour Office 1 The Social Protection Floor and Social Safety Nets: Two alternative concepts ? Michael Cichon, ILO Veronika Wodsak, ILO Varatharajan Durairaj, WHO 12 May 2010

International Labour Office 2 Structure of the presentation Point One: Roots of the Protection Floor concept Point Two: The CEB Inititiave and its definiton of theSocial Protection floor Point Three: Comparing the Social Protection Floor and Social Safety Nets Point Four: Where are we? What next?

International Labour Office 3 One: The Human Rights Roots … Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security” further explained by article 25 and echoed by the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights (1966,1976) as commented by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights in 2008 stating – Progressive implementation of the right to social security while maintaining – a core obligation to select a core group of social risks and contingencies for immediate implementation Other international legal instruments like the Convention of the Right of the Child (1990) THE SPF CONCEPT TRIES TO PROVIDE a LOGICAL AND COHERENT FRAMEWORK FOR THE CORE CONTENT OF THE BASIC SOCIAL RIGHTS EVEN IN TIMES OF CRISES

International Labour Office 4 One: A UN System Emergency response to the crisis In April 2009, the UN Chief Executives Board (CEB) has agreed on nine joint initiatives to confront the crisis, accelerate recovery and pave the way for a fairer and more sustainable globalization: 1.Additional financing for the most vulnerable 2.Food Security 3.Trade 4.A Green Economy Initiative 5.A Global Jobs Pact 6.A Social Protection Floor 7.Humanitarian, Security and Social Stability 8.Technology and Innovation 9.Monitoring and Analysis

International Labour Office 5 Two: What is the Social Protection Floor (SPF)–Initiative?.. The SPF Initiative aims at joint UN action to promote access to essential services and social transfers for the poor and vulnerable. It includes: – A basic set of essential social rights and transfers, in cash and in kind, to provide a minimum income and livelihood security for poor and vulnerable populations and to facilitate access to essential services, such as health care – Geographical and financial access to essential services, such as health, water and sanitation, education, social work

International Labour Office 6 Two: Social Protection Floor – A definition => The definition transcends the mandate of any individual UN agency, so a coherent, system-wide approach is needed.

International Labour Office 7 Two: The transfer package of four essential guarantees : Universal access to a nationally defined basic package of health benefits, Income security for all children at absolute poverty level through family/child benefits aimed to facilitate access to basic social services: education, health, housing. Access to basic means tested/self targeting social assistance (ensuring a minimum income of the absolute poverty level) the for the poor and unemployed in active age groups. Income security (at the level of the absolute poverty line) for people in old age, invalidity and survivors through basic pensions.

International Labour Office 8 Two: The key characteristics Benefit eligibility and levels are guaranteed entitlements as of right in certain contingencies Contingencies can be defined through Belonging to a certain population subgroup (young, active age, old) Being in need (in need of HC, or in need of income transfers due to lack of income) or a combination thereof Social protection floor guarantees thus can be targeted or universal, key is universal protection of « all in need of such protection » The SPF is thus a permanent component of a national social security/protection system not an adhoc mechanism = systemic insurance of all against poverty Cash transfers schemes are generally partial income security guarantees and thus elements of a complete SPF

International Labour Office 9 Two: The characteristics … The package is giving concrete contents to the human right to social security It is the minimum level of protection that a decent society that has the power to collect revenues should provide to all its residents A package definition is needed to ensure that national planning processes aim at the implementation of a complete set of guarantees even if that can only be implemented over time, that countries implementing only part of the floor are aware of the opportunity cost in terms of not (yet ) implemented

International Labour Office 10 Two: Operationalisation We measure the SPF achievement (closure of the gap) by: share of people in need/entitled covered*proportion of coverage gap closed Proxy cost: If we were to close the US 1.25 poverty gap: in least developed countries: 45 bill. US$ = 8.9 % of their GDP, in less developed countries: 117 Bill US$ = 0.9% of their GDP Requires domestic financing, external financing can only provide short-term support

International Labour Office 11 Two: Key actors in the UN initiative At country level, the Initiative is owned/supported by: Government institutions: ministries of labour, health, finance, agriculture, social security institutions etc. Non-governmental actors: social partners, national NGOs, etc. UN country teams It is supported internationally through: The Global advisory network of UN agencies: ILO, WHO, FAO, IMF, OHCHR, UN Regional Commissions, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNDESA, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNHABITAT, UNHCR, UNODC, UNRWA, WFP, WMO, World Bank Development partners: Regional Development Banks, bilateral donors, International NGOs

International Labour Office 12 Two: Real life evidence… “Compendium of Evidence on Cash transfer programs in Developing Countries” A number of countries are already providing basic guarantees 28 countries in the study: – 8 in Africa, – 9 in Asia, – 11 in Latin America Number of studies: 80 studies during 1999 and 2008 Number of programmes: 63 Estimated number of total beneficiaries (primary and secondary, at the end of 2008): between 150 and 200 million people Expenditure starts at less than 0.5% of GDP…

International Labour Office 13 Three: Safety Nets or Social Protection Floors? CriteriaSafety NetsSocial Protection Floor Overall ObjectivePoverty reduction/ Support government choices that support efficiency and growth Giving effect to the Human Right to Social Security Type of interventions Targeted set of non- contributory transfers, depending on government priorities Universal entitlement to protection through a defined basic package for all in need Benefit levelsMinimum consistent with adequacy, defined as “meaningful benefits” National poverty lines RoleSNs as transitory response measures/ short term (crisis, reforms) Rights-based, systemic “insurance” against poverty for all residents

International Labour Office 14 Commonalities: safety nets / SPF policies… Are one element of a broader social protection policy / social policy framework Aim at redistribution, risk management, poverty reduction, investment opportunities Require a substantial investment in institutional structures/ administrative and implementation capacities Need sustainable financing Need to be flexible/dynamic

International Labour Office 15 Set theory relations… Social security social protection floor Safety nets

International Labour Office 16 Four: What has been done so far? Manual for country operations established Global Advisory Network constituted Advocacy at global, regional, national levels had some success => e.g. Global Jobs Pact, UNCSocD RESOLUTION Rapid SPF assessments methodology is being developed South-South dialogue has started Activities started in several countries: Burkina, Benin, Cambodia, Maldives, Mozambique, Thailand, soon to start: Ethiopia, Honduras … SPF Training for national planners

International Labour Office 17 Four: What next at the global level? Short to medium term: Training of planners Country projects to be completed SOUTH SOUTH learning dialogue: success stories and workshop Country scans Interagency Stocktaking Meeting November 2010 Long-term: Concept to be anchored in official institutional strategies of the UN agencies, e.g. through ILO recurrent review in 2011, and possibly standard setting instruments