The Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, launched under Brazil’s G20 Presidency in 2024, seeks to accelerate progress towards ending extreme poverty and hunger while tackling inequality. Bringing together over 200 members including governments, international organisations, and other partners, the Alliance aims to mobilise political commitment, align public and private financing, and promote evidence-based policy solutions that are country-led and centred on those most affected. 

In this episode, we unpack the Alliance’s mandate and early achievements, explore how it supports countries in identifying needs and scaling proven policy instruments, and discuss what lies ahead as the Global Alliance moves from coordination to large-scale implementation. 

Meet our guests: 

Renato Domith Godinho, Director, Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty Support Mechanism  Kevin Watkins, Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics

In our Quick Wins segment, we speak with Raphaël Duteau, Manager for AI and Data Ethics at Employment and Social Development Canada, about the opportunities Artificial Intelligence presents for social protection. He also shares insights on the AI Hub launched under the Digital Convergence Initiative. 

References: 

Resource | Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty 

Resource | AI Hub 

Webinar recording | The AI Hub for Social Protection - supporting responsible AI in social protection 

In this episode, we explore how TRANSFORM is being institutionalised as a core approach to continuous capacity building for social protection practitioners and leaders across Africa. The conversations focus on how the initiative has supported the development of rights-based, inclusive social protection systems and how its content and methodology are being embedded within training programmes to strengthen leadership and skills at national and decentralised levels. This episode also reflects on the future of TRANSFORM in the context of shifting global dynamics, including changes in the official development assistance landscape.

The episode concludes the three-part TRANSFORM Podcast Series, which presents the initiative's achievements 10 years since its inception through conversations with guests from the continent. In case you missed the prior episodes of the series, you can access them here: 

• Ep. 1 | Social Protection Capacity Building in Africa: 10 Years of TRANSFORM
• Ep. 2 | Promoting a Culture of Social Protection in Africa

Hosted by Abidemi Coker, a passionate TRANSFORM Master Trainer.

Meet our guests for episode 3:

• Patience Matandiko, Technical Officer - Social Protection, ILO Malawi
• Emmanuel Danjuma, National Programme Coordinator - Social Protection, ILO Nigeria
• Thokozani Mtapaonga, Principal, Magomero Community Development College, & Deputy Director in the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Malawi

For our testimonial segment, we welcome Samuel Kapingidza, Social Protection Specialist at the UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa, and the TRANSFORM Advisory Group chairperson.

To learn more and explore how TRANSFORM can be tailored for your context and how you can get involved with the initiative, go to https://transformsp.org and contact transform_socialprotection@ilo.org.

In this episode, we explore how TRANSFORM has helped promote a ‘culture of social protection’ across Africa, shaping how civil servants approach their roles and how institutions adapt to address lifecycle challenges using TRANSFORM’s building-block methodology. The conversations highlight the initiative’s leadership effects and its influence at national and sub-national levels, while also examining how it has supported the integration of social protection into the priorities of the African regional bodies and governments.

This is the second of the three-part TRANSFORM Podcast Series, which will present the initiative's achievements 10 years since its inception through conversations with guests from the continent. In case you missed the first episode of the TRANSFORM series, you can access it here: Ep. 1 | Social Protection Capacity Building in Africa: 10 Years of TRANSFORM

Hosted by Abidemi Coker, a passionate TRANSFORM Master Trainer.

Meet our guests for episode 2:

• Thebuho Kavubya, District Social Welfare Officer, Ministry of Community Development and Social Services of Zambia.
• Ivan Oscar Langa, Social Protection and Policy Specialist and a TRANSFORM Master Trainer from Mozambique.

For our testimonial segment, we welcome Felix Mwenge, TRANSFORM Coordinator and the Technical Officer for TRANSFORM and Knowledge Management at the ILO Country Office for Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique.

To learn more and explore how TRANSFORM can be tailored to your own context and how you can get involved with the initiative, go to https://transformsp.org and contact transform_socialprotection@ilo.org.

In this special episode with Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, we explore where global efforts stand today to combat poverty and how international actors can strengthen their support, particularly through a human-rights lens. The discussion brings what an effective path forward might look like in today’s complex global context, and how poverty, as a deeply transversal issue, is interlinked with a myriad of other major themes requiring international and national attention.

Our regular podcast episodes will take a short break in January 2026, but we will be back in February with exciting guests and new social protection topics. In the meantime, we leave you with our special TRANSFORM podcast series, which will feature two more episodes: one to be released later this month and the other in January. Stay tuned!

Meet our guests:

• Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

For our Quick Wins segment, we have Marco Knowles, Senior Social Protection Officer at FAO, talking about the latest publication on social protection for rural populations within green climate fund projects. We also discuss the latest development on COP30 in Belém and the advocacy efforts that have been made so far.

Publication: Weathering the storm: poverty, climate change and social protection

Publication| Breaking the cycle: ending the criminalization of homelessness: Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter

Publication | The Poverty of Growth

Publication | Eradicating poverty beyond growth: Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter

Publication | Non-take-up of rights in the context of social protection: Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter

Publication | Social protection and inclusive climate action – A review of social protection for rural populations within Green Climate Fund projects

 Do cash transfers drive inflation? Is social protection a cost to the economy, or an investment in its future? And who should these systems ultimately serve? In this second and final episode on social protection myths and misperceptions, we turn to the economic and systemic dimensions — how social protection interacts with markets, fiscal policy, and national development. Drawing on global evidence and practice, we examine whether cash transfers distort prices, how they influence local economies, and what the data tell us about affordability and return on investment. We also explore the broader role of social protection beyond poverty reduction: as a foundation for inclusive and resilient societies. While not all answers are clear-cut, the discussion highlights how context, programme design, and policy choices shape outcomes, and why understanding these nuances is critical for effective, sustainable systems.

Meet our guests:

Davide Rasella, ICREA Research Professor and Head of the Global Health Impact Assessment and Evaluation Group, ISGlobal and ISC. Dennis Egger, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Oxford. Laura Carvalho, Associate Professor of Economics, University of São Paulo. For our Quick Wins segment, we spoke with Konstantinos Papadakis, Principal Social Affairs Officer at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, who shared insights on the outcomes of Second World Summit for Social Development.

Resources:

Podcast | Ep.54 | Social Protection Myths and Misperceptions Part 1

Publication | Do cash transfers cause inflation?

Publication | The multiplier effects of government expenditures on social protection

Publication | Social protection systems, redistribution and growth in Latin America

Publication | Impact of social protection on child malnutrition and mortality across 46 LMICs: a longitudinal study over two decades with insights from the COVID-19 pandemic

Publication | Effects of conditional cash transfers on tuberculosis incidence and mortality according to race, ethnicity and socioeconomic factors in the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort

Publication | Effect of a conditional cash transfer programme on AIDS incidence, hospitalisations, and mortality in Brazil: a longitudinal ecological study

Publication | Evaluation and Forecasting Analysis of the Association of Conditional Cash Transfer With Child Mortality in Latin America, 2000-2030

This episode introduces listeners to the origins and essence of the TRANSFORM initiative—an innovative, leading capacity-building program designed to strengthen social protection systems in Africa. It explores what sets TRANSFORM apart from other training programs and how it was designed as a uniquely African initiative, tailored to the continent’s context and adaptable to the needs of its countries and communities. 

The episode is the first of a three-part TRANSFORM Podcast Series, which will present the initiative's achievements 10 years since its inception through conversations with guests from the continent. The series explores the impact of TRANSFORM on the social protection in the region, showcasing achievements in building culture and its integration into institutions. 

Hosted by Abidemi Coker, a passionate TRANSFORM Master Trainer. 

Meet our guests for episode 1: 

• Emmy Tony Ameny, Assistant Commissioner of Programmes, Office of the Prime Minister of Uganda 
• Kate Blaine, Instructional Designer and Facilitator, Learn to Lead
• Vincent van Halsema, Global Social Protection Advisor, WFP, and former TRANSFORM Hub Coordinator 

For our testimonial segment, we welcome Aly Cisse, Social Protection and Labour Migration Specialist and a TRANSFORM Master Trainer from Senegal.  

To learn more and explore how TRANSFORM can be tailored to your own context and how you can get involved with the initiative, go to https://transformsp.org and contact transform_socialprotection@ilo.org.

Thirty years after the landmark World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, the world reconvenes in Doha for the second edition of the Summit — a defining moment to assess global progress in poverty eradication, employment, and social inclusion. As nations prepare to renew their commitments to the Copenhagen Declaration, the Summit offers a crucial opportunity to reflect on the evolving role of social protection in advancing the social development agenda. 

In this episode, we look back at the forces that shaped the first Summit and explore how the Copenhagen Declaration helped elevate social protection in global discourse. We trace the evolution of social development and consider what progress has been made, what gaps remain, and how today’s challenges, from conflict and fiscal pressures to climate and geopolitical change, are redefining the global agenda. We also examine the potential impact of the upcoming Summit for universal social protection, sustainable financing, and multilateral cooperation in an era of mounting headwinds. 

Meet our guests: 

• Ms. Iffath Sharif, Global Director for Social Protection and Labour, World Bank 
• Ms. Shahra Razavi, Director of the Social Protection Department, International Labour Organization (ILO) 

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Marta Pedrajas, Deputy Assistant Director for Multilateral Development Policies at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, to delve into a special side event at the WSSD 2025: the First Leaders’ Meeting of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty She also explores what this new global initiative to eradicate poverty and hunger could mean in practice. 

References: 

Publication | Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development 

Publication | World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal social protection for climate action and just transition 

Publication | Sevilla Commitment: Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development 

Publication | Elements paper for the outcome document of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development 

Event |  First Leaders’ Meeting of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty 

Event | Universal Social Protection for Equitable Growth and Equitable Societies 

In this bonus episode, we explore the critical role of social protection in Gaza. Our guest expert unpacks how humanitarian community has found creative ways to deliver and scale up cash assistance through particular digital systems amid extreme adversity. How can social protection systems adapt in the face of prolonged instability? How can data be better managed in crisis situations? Where do fundings for these programmes come from? Tune in for a vital conversation on the ongoing humanitarian support and the resilience of systems supporting people in Gaza.

Meet our guests:

Carla Lacerda, Social Protection Cash and Voucher Thematic Working Group, STAAR Facility

Disclaimer: This episode was recorded on September 22, 2025. While we recognize that there have been further developments in Gaza since then, the discussions in this episode remain relevant and important to highlight.

Is social protection just a handout? Does it discourage work? Or are the systems plagued by fraud? In this episode, we unpack some of the biggest myths surrounding social protection systems and explore the real data behind the rhetoric.

Despite the strong evidence base available and data which overwhelmingly proves the strengths of social protection in combating poverty and vulnerability, social protection practitioners are often faced by questions or doubts about mechanisms which have been, at some level, settled by evidence, practice and experience.

Whether you're a sceptic or a supporter, this conversation might challenge your assumptions and bring greater clarity to the debate.

Meet our guests:

• Rema Hanna, Jeffrey Cheah Professor of Southeast-Asia Studies, Harvard Kennedy School
• Tia Palermo, President at Policy Research Solutions (PRESTO)

On this episode we do not have a Quick Wins guest, as there will be a Bonus episode coming out mid-October. But our host, Jo, has highlighted a couple of resources (shared below) from Rema and Tia for you to enjoy in the meantime.

References:

Publication | Dispelling myths on gender and cash transfers: Evidence Summary

Publication | Social Protection: Policymaker Beliefs and Empirical Evidence

Additional references:

Publication | Conditional, unconditional and everything in between: a systematic review of the effects of cash transfer programmes on schooling outcomes.

Publication | The effects of cash transfers on adult labor market outcomes

Publication | Debunking the stereotype of the lazy welfare recipient: Evidence from cash transfer programs

Publication | Theoretical underpinnings and meta-analysis of the effects of cash transfers on intimate partner violence in low-and middle-income countries

Publication | The impact of cash transfers: a review of the evidence from low-and middle-income countries

Publication | A mixed-method review of cash transfers and intimate partner violence in low- and middle-income countries

Publication | Myth-busting? Confronting six common perceptions about unconditional cash transfers as a poverty reduction strategy in Africa

Publication | The Effectiveness of Cash and Cash Plus Interventions on Livelihoods Outcomes: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Publication | Social safety nets, women’s economic achievements and agency: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Publication | Do cash transfers alleviate common mental disorders in low-and middle-income countries? A systematic review and meta-analysis

This year, 2025, marks the 10th anniversary of the socialprotection.org platform—a milestone that offers the perfect opportunity to reflect on how far social protection has come over the past decade, and where it is headed next.

Since 2015, when social protection was anchored in the Sustainable Development Goals (mainly under SDG 1 as a pillar of poverty reduction), the field has expanded and evolved in response to new global challenges. In this episode, we look back at key turning points: from the unprecedented expansion of programmes during COVID-19, to the growing recognition of social protection as a driver of women’s empowerment, and its emerging role in climate adaptation, mitigation, and crisis response.

But we don’t stop there. We also look ahead, asking what the next years may hold for social protection in the face of constrained financing, political pushback on climate and gender agendas, and shifting global priorities.

Meet our guests:

• Fabio Veras Soares, Researcher at the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)
• Edward Archibald, Senior Technical Advisor at STAAR (Social Protection, Technical Assistance, Advice and Resources)
• Zehra Rizvi, Social Policy Specialist, UNICEF

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Mariana Balboni, Coordinator of the socialprotection.org platform. Having been part of the platform’s story almost from the very beginning, Mariana reflects on its major achievements of the past 10 years in building and growing this global knowledge-sharing community. She also looks ahead to the next decade sharing the platform’s priorities for supporting the global community of practice, elaborating on how socialprotection.org will continue to evolve to meet emerging challenges in  the field, and her hopes for what the platform can achieve in the years to come.

In face of the climate emergency, integrating social protection into countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs) is essential for supporting vulnerable communities, advancing low-carbon transitions, and unlocking climate finance to expand adaptive social protection systems. With many countries set to update these critical climate instruments under the scope of the Paris Agreement, this is a critical moment to explore the topic. 

In this episode, we examine how social protection is being woven into national climate policies, with a spotlight on Cambodia’s pioneering approach—not only mentioning social protection but recognising it as a distinct sector in its new NDC 3.0. We delve deeper to discuss what it takes to bridge climate action and social protection, from building resilience and inclusive adaptation, to unlocking climate finance and coordinating across ministries. 

Meet our guest:  

• Dr. Matthew Walsham, Social Protection Specialist (Climate), Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). 

• Mr. Sophornreaksmey Sreng, Deputy Secretary General, General Secretariat for the National Social Protection Council, Kingdom of Cambodia. 

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Sayanti Sengupta, Technical Advisor for Social Protection & Climate at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, expanding on concrete steps countries can take to advance the critical agenda of integrating social protection into NDCs.  

References: 

Publication | Integration social protection in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) 

Publication | Weathering the storm: poverty, climate change and social protection: Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights 

Database |  Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Registry | UNFCCC 

As the world prepares for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), the need to rethink how we fund social protection has never been more urgent. Debt burdens, shrinking official development assistance (ODA), and growing global inequalities are squeezing fiscal space, especially for low- and middle-income countries, putting the goal of Universal Social Protection by 2030 increasingly out of reach. In this episode, we explore the bold reforms needed to unlock sustainable financing for social protection and a just transition.

In the first part, we discuss how the global financial architecture must evolve to meet the needs of low- and lower-middle income countries—and how innovative tools like special drawing rights (SDRs) could offer solutions. Then, we reflect on what financing for social protection should look like in today’s crisis-prone world, unpacking the political choices behind budget constraints, the role of domestic resource mobilization, and how international solidarity can help turn political commitments into meaningful and measurable outcomes.

Meet our guests:

• Hassatou Diop N’Sele, Vice President for Finance and CFO, African Development Bank Group
• Celine Julia Felix, Social Protection Specialist for Social Protection System Strengthening, UNICEF
• Lena Simet, Senior Researcher and Advocate, Human Rights Watch

For Quick Wins, Jamele Rigolini, Senior Advisor for Social Protection and Labor at the World Bank, joins us to discuss the State of Social Protection Report 2025 and why expanding not just coverage, but adequacy is key in today’s uncertain world.

Resources:

Event | 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4)

Publication | African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want

Publication | A Call for Action on Financing Social Protection

Publication | State of Social Protection Report 2025: The 2-Billion-Person Challenge

Publication | World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal social protection for climate action and a just transition  

Health is a human right, as well as a cornerstone of social protection systems. Yet globally, millions remain excluded from essential care, with financial hardship and systemic gaps still standing in the way of universal health coverage.

In this episode, numbered as the 50th of the Social Protection Podcast, we take a close look at Zambia’s National Health Insurance Scheme as a case study for how countries are working to expand social health protection, and what the social protection and health sectors can learn from each other to achieve the shared goal of universal coverage.

Meet our guests:

•  Herryman Moono, Director of Research, Planning & Strategy at the National Health Insurance Management Authority of Zambia
•  Lou Tessier, Health Protection Specialist at the International Labour Organization (ILO)

For our Quick Wins segment, we speak with Peter Ombasa, Senior Social Protection Specialist and Assistant Director of Children's Services of the Government of Kenya, about the USP2030 Joint Statement: Key messages on Social Protection for the World Social Summit 2025.

Resources:

Blog post | Social Protection for Health and Wellbeing

Publication | Towards Universal Health Coverage: Social Health Protection Principles

Publication | World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal social protection for climate action and a just transition

Publication | Financing gap for universal social protection: Global, regional and national estimates and strategies for creating fiscal space

Publication | Universal social security is feasible in low-income countries: a critical review of the ILO’s calculations on the cost of bridging the gap

Podcast | Think Change episode 70: how can development financing be reformed? The road to Seville

In conflict settings, ensuring that social protection is responsive, durable, and conflict-sensitive is critical, yet often underexplored. In this episode, we delve into the intersections between humanitarian assistance, development cooperation, and peacebuilding – the so-called "Triple Nexus" – and how social protection fits within it.

We examine how social protection actors, humanitarian agencies and peacebuilding specialists can work together to strengthen resilience, foster stability, and avoid exacerbating conflict. Our guests explore lessons from contexts like Ethiopia and Ukraine, the complexities of targeting and accountability, and the political dimensions of social protection in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

This marks the third and final episode of the "Social Protection in Conflict and Protracted Crisis" series, produced by socialprotection.org, organised by STAAR Facility and BASIC Research and in partnership with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO, which has funded the series and provided invaluable support in shaping the episodes and connecting us with guests.

Meet our guests:

• Ric Goodman – Director, Social Protection and Resilience, DAI Global UK
• Rachel Goldwyn – Senior Conflict Sensitivity and Social Safeguards Advisor, WFP Sudan
• Lukáš Voborský – Team Leader, Technical Assistance Facility of the PeReHID Initiative

For our Quick Wins segment, we welcome Hassan-Alattar Satti, independent researcher and consultant, who shares key resources on maintaining social protection in conflict settings, focusing on lessons from Sudan.

Resources:

• Publication | Maintaining and strengthening social assistance systems in conflict settings: Sudan case study
• Publication | Effective Social Protection in Conflict: Findings from Sudan
• Blog | Towards a conflict-sensitive role for grassroot organisations in social protection in Sudan

The need for greater ‘localisation’ of humanitarian and social assistance is clear in conflict and protracted crisis settings. The increasing difficulty for international organisations to operate is a key driver of localisation, as is the recognition of the essential role local actors (including government and civil society) play in improving the relevance, legitimacy, sustainability and effectiveness of aid. For social protection programs, the role of government as a local actor may be particularly complex or contested in these settings. This episode will explore the progress and challenges of this shift towards localisation, and how local organisations in Yemen and Southeast Asia have stepped up where international or government systems are weak.

Meet our guests:

• Abeer Al-Absi, Independent Consultant, STAAR Facility and BASIC Research
• Aung Naing, Research Consultant

For our Quick Wins segment, we welcome Courtenay Cabot Venton, where she talks about the study ‘Passing the Buck: The Economics of Localizing International Assistance’ with the Share Trust and the Warande Advisory Centre.

Resources:

• Humanitarian Activism, Social Protection, and Emergent Citizenship in Myanmar
• Sustaining Yemeni Capacities for Social Assistance

In times of conflict and protracted crises, social protection systems are often strained, yet they remain vital in supporting the most vulnerable populations. In this episode, we examine how gender-responsive social protection can mitigate the impact of crises on women, children, and other marginalised groups.

This episode examines the specific vulnerabilities of women and marginalised groups in these settings, the ways social protection programs are adapting to complex and evolving challenges, and key lessons for sustaining and expanding social protection in fragile contexts. We also explore the case of Lebanon, a country facing a multifaceted socio-economic crisis, compounded by political instability, refugee influx, and conflict.

This marks the first episode of our new three-part series on "Social Protection in Conflict and Protracted Crisis", produced by socialprotection.org in partnership with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO, which has funded the series and provided invaluable support in shaping the episodes and connecting us with guests.

Meet our guests:

• Rachel Sabates-Wheeler – Professorial Research Fellow & Director of the Centre for Social Protection at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
• Rima Al-Mokdad – Technical Specialist on Social Protection, Data & Research at UN Women in Lebanon

For our Quick Wins segment, we welcome Buumba Chityaba, a Human Rights Governance Specialist, to discuss the key takeaways from the recent Roadmap for the Use of Social Protection to Tackle Child Marriage in Zambia report.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming industries worldwide, and social protection systems are no exception. From improving targeting and service delivery to enabling predictive interventions, AI has the potential to make social protection and humanitarian programs smarter and more responsive. But with these opportunities come significant challenges: data privacy concerns, biases in algorithms, and the risk of reducing human oversight in critical decision-making processes.

In this episode, we explore how AI is being integrated into social protection systems globally, aiming to address pressing questions such as: How can AI enhance social protection without compromising fairness and accountability? What safeguards are needed to ensure that data remains secure and ethical principles are upheld?

Meet our guest:

• Thomas Byrnes, Humanitarian & Social Protection Consultant, Founder and Director of MarketImpact

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Ralf Radermacher, Head of Programme, Social Protection, at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, sharing some key takeaways from the ‘AI for Social Protection’ workshop, which took place from 19–21 November 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Resources:

Publication | Harnessing the Transformative Potential of Generative AI for Humanitarian Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance Opportunities, Risks, Barriers, and Recommendations

Publication | How AI is Transforming Humanitarian Aid: Insights for Market-Based Professionals

Publication | Novissi Togo: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Deliver Shock-Responsive Social Protection

Join us for the 2024 Year in Review episode of the Social Protection Podcast!

In this year’s special (and final) episode, we delved into pivotal discussions and transformative insights that shaped the evolving landscape of social protection. From the growing recognition of social protection’s role in responding to climate change, to exploring gender-responsive approaches, and rethinking program designs in the face of crises, this episode revisits the most influential ideas and critical debates of the year. 

Reflecting on conversations with eminent thinkers, we reflect on the progress, challenges, and innovative practices that have defined the field of social protection in 2024.

Meet our guest:

• Dr Keetie Roelen, Senior Research Fellow in Poverty and Social Protection at The Open University.

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Patricia Velloso, Knowledge Management Officer at UNICEF, and Marina Brunale, Growth and Engagement Officer at the Global Landscapes Forum, to reflect on the trajectory of the Social Protection Podcast, as well as the year that has passed.

Resources:

Publcation | World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal social protection for climate action and a just transition

Publcation | The Untapped Potential of Global Climate Funds for Investing in Social Protection

Publication | World Survey on the Role of Women in Development 2024

Publication | Gender-Responsive Age-Sensitive Social Protection: A conceptual framework

Publication | IDS Bulletin: Reimagining Social Protection

Publication | Thinking afresh: Closing the global funding gap to realise universal social protection

Publication | Anti/Postwork Feminist Politics and a Case for Basic Income

Event Recording | For a just transition in adaptation: The role of social protection in the Global Goal on Adaptation

Event Recording | Safeguarding Human Development: Mobilizing Climate Finance for Social Protection

Referenced Episodes:

Ep. 4 | Bolsa Familia | Flagship Special Episode

Ep. 30 | Impacts of Social Protection

Ep. 36 | Gender-Transformative Social Protection

Emerging Trends in the Indo-Pacific Series Ep. 03 | The Future of Climate Change and Social Protection Responses

Ep. 41 | The Evolution of Universal Basic Income: From Pilots to Policy

Bonus ep. | Partnerships for Social Protection: bridging divides, driving change

Ep. 43 | World Social Protection Report 2024-26

Ep. 44 | Social Registries and Beyond

Data and information systems are fundamental building blocks of social protection programmes. They all need a process and a mechanism for collecting, storing and processing data. However, developing these registries presents enormous challenges. Especially in finding ways for these to become truly dynamic, so that social protection systems can respond effectively to peoples’ changing circumstances, such as in the face of shocks. This is perhaps one of the greatest hurdles facing the sector.

In this episode, we’ll cut through the terminology and periodic controversy to talk about how these information systems work, and how to make them work better.

Meet our guests:

• Rodrigo Assumpção, President of DataPrev (Brazil)
• Valentina Barca, Independent Social Protection Expert

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Gabrielle Smith, Independent consultant and member of the STAAR Facility.

Episode resources:

Publication | Implementation Guide – Good Practices For Ensuring Data Protection And Privacy In Social Protection Systems

Publication | Passing the Buck: The Economics of Localizing International Aid

The World Social Protection Report is the ILO's flagship publication, offering an in-depth look at the state of social protection globally. The 2024-26 edition focuses on universal social protection as a key factor for just transitions and climate action. In this episode, we dive into the latest findings, exploring both the progress made and the gaps that remain. Our conversation covers how countries are working towards expanding social protection to address climate adaptation and mitigation. We'll examine Brazil’s and Gambia’s evolving policy landscape, and their ambitions for building and expanding social protection systems. 

Meet our guests: 

• Christina Behrendt, Head of the Social Policy Unit, ILO Universal Social Protection Department 

• Momodou K. Dibba, National Coordinator, National Social Protection Secretariat in the Office of the Vice President, the Gambia 

• Débora Freire, Deputy Secretary for Fiscal Policy, Ministry of Finance, Brazil 

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Naila Kabeer, Professor of Gender and Development at the Department of International Development, LSE. 

Episode resources: 

• Publication | World Social Protection Report 2024-26: Universal social protection for climate action and a just transition  

• Publication | World survey on the role of women in development 2024 - summary of key issues that will be covered in the report 

In the dynamic landscape of social protection, partnerships and collaborations serve as vital pillars of strength, innovation, inclusivity, and sustainability.

September marks the ninth anniversary of socialprotection.org. This year, we are celebrating partnerships for social protection throughout the month by highlighting the significance of alliances in amplifying social impact and ensuring inclusivity through key partnerships, instruments, and interagency mechanisms such as the Social Protection Inter-Agency Cooperation Board (SPIAC-B), the Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection (USP 2030), the G20, and the socialprotection.org platform itself.

In this bonus episode, we invited representatives from the ILO and the World Bank, who co-chair SPIAC-B and USP 2030, to discuss the importance of partnerships in navigating diverse perspectives and policies within global social protection. They speak candidly about the sometimes heated policy differences and debates within the sector and the importance of collaboration in bridging these divides and driving the progressive expansion of social protection worldwide.

It's a wide-ranging conversation about how far the sector has come and the significant challenges it will need to grapple with in the future.

Meet our guests:

• Shahra Razavi, Director of the Universal Social Protection Department, International Labour Organization (ILO)
• Iffath Sharif, Global Director for Social Protection and Jobs, World Bank Group 

Episode Resources:

• Publication | Social Protection in the Developing World
• Publication | Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights 2019

In this episode, we delve into the world of social protection with one of its foremost experts, Professor Armando Barrientos, Emeritus Professor of Poverty and Social Justice at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.

We discuss his groundbreaking new book, Social Protection in Latin America, and explore the argument that social protection systems or institutions are not just safety nets but also mechanisms of stratification. We also talked about what that means, why it matters, and how it shapes the lives of millions across the region.

Finally, we also examine the crucial role of politics in shaping social protection and debate whether Latin America should aspire to the European model of a welfare state. From the Latin American innovative approaches to their global influence and the future of social protection, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of social justice and public policy.

Episode resources:

• Book | Social Protection in Latin America. Causality, Stratification and Outcomes
• Task Force | Global Alliance against Poverty and Hunger
• Publication | The relationship between cash-based interventions and violence: A systematic review and evidence map

Across the world, interest for universal social protection mechanisms has skyrocketed, in particular following the pandemic and its transversal effects on the poor, vulnerable and not so vulnerable populations. Social assistance mechanisms such as child benefits or elderly pensions have already had a history of encompassing the entire group with universal mechanisms in some countries; however, universal basic income (UBI) schemes are still in the stage of theoretical and policy discussion, without having been set up.

In this context, Brazil is an interesting case: in 2004, Brazil adopted a law that establishes a “Renda Básica de Cidadania” (Basic citizenship income). That effort was pushed by its rapporteur, Mr. Eduardo Matarazzo Suplicy, who was a senator at the time and a vigorous UBI advocate to this day. In this podcast episode, we will talk about how the Basic citizenship income came to be, the possible advantages of adopting an UBI, the main challenges and what lessons have been learned with the recent discussions on the theme.

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Jurgen de Wispelaere, discussing his recently launched publication at the International Social Security Review, a Specia Issue called ‘Emergency basic income: Distraction or opportunity’.

Meet our guests:

• Eduardo Suplicy, State Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo
• Jurgen De Wispelaere, IPR Policy Fellow, Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath

Episode Resources:

• Publication: Special Issue: Themed double issue: Emergency basic income: Distraction or opportunity

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global effort across a wide range of areas in which countries are working to achieve the targets set out by the international community. Social Protection can play a role in contributing to most of the SDGs. To ensure objectives are reached, building and using evidence as well as applying the necessary analytical tools are important to discuss.

In this episode we examine if investments in social protection could help accelerate progress towards the SDGs. We talk about the role of research, evaluation, and advocacy in driving change for policies and programmes towards achieving this ambitious agenda.

Meet our guests:

• Tayllor Spadafora, Social Policy Specialist, UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa regional office.
• Michala Assankpon, Regional Evaluation Officer at the WFP regional bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean.

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Laurel Patterson, Director for the SDG Integration at UNDP.

Episode Resources:

• Publication | Regional Evaluation of WFP’S contribution to Shock-Responsive Social Protection in Latin America and the Caribbean (2015–2022)
• Publication | WFP Evaluation – Summary of Evidence. Social Protection.  
• Publication | Impact Evaluation Report External Evaluation of the Mchinji Social Cash Transfer Pilot
• Publication | Ghana LEAP 1000 Programme: Endline Evaluation Report
• Programme Profile| A Cash Plus Model for Safe Transitions to a Healthy and Productive Adulthood
• Website | SDG Push

Throughout the Indo-Pacific region, climate change is already threatening livelihoods and exacerbating poverty. Extreme weather events and rising sea levels are creating new vulnerable populations in unprecedented ways. To tackle climate change, countries will need to undergo major economic and social transformations, which could risk leaving even more people behind.

So, what do these changing risks mean for the way social protection is designed? And what kinds of radical rethinking might be necessary to build systems for the future? In this episode, our guests are grappling with these questions, working to reimagine social protection schemes to confront the realities of a changing climate.

This is the grand finale of a three-part series of the Social Protection Podcast titled "Emerging Trends for Social Protection in the Indo-Pacific," presented by socialprotection.org. We extend our gratitude to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for their invaluable support in shaping this series and facilitating connections with the most suitable guests for each episode.

Meet our guests:

• Sreng Sophornreaksmey, Director of the Policy Department at the General Secretariat for the National Social Protection Council for the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
• Palash Kanti Das, Director of the Ultra-poor Graduation Program for BRAC in Bangladesh.
• Anna McCord, Lead for the Climate Change and Social Protection Research Initiative at the Poverty and Inequality practice.

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Inge Stockl, an independent social protection consultant working on a range of social protection assignments in the Asia Pacific region.

Episode Resources:

• Publication | Fiji Anticipatory Action
• Publication | On the Front Foot: Envisaging a model for anticipatory action in the Pacific.
• Publication | The Economics of Acting Early - Evidence of Climate and Disaster Actions in the Pacific
• Podcast | Emerging Trends in the Indo-Pacific Series Ep. 01 | The Evolution of SP in the Pacific

------

As we produced this episode, numerous climate-change related disasters have occurred globally, including incidents in Brazil, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Tanzania, and France.

As you will hear from our guests' discussions in this episode, the impacts of climate change are increasingly evident, leading to more frequent and severe disasters.

In addition to the social protection and humanitarian action provided by different actors, such as governments, NGOs, and international organizations, if you wish to support those affected by these and other natural disasters, please refer to official channels for ways to help. You can also contribute to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund’s Climate Action, which pools contributions from across the globe into a single fund and allocates money to humanitarian partners on the front lines of emergency responses when climate-related disasters strike.

In Southeast Asia the gig economy is growing fast. Attracted by the promise of flexibility, independence, and low entry costs, gig workers offer their services on a task-by-task basis facilitated through a digital platform or app. The appeal of this model has attracted millions of workers in the region, however, unlike traditional employees, gig workers often lack access to essential social protection schemes, such as health insurance, old-age pension, and unemployment benefits.

In this episode, we examine the challenges presented by this new employment trend. Workers often face precarious working conditions which leave them vulnerable to shocks and unexpected events.  We discuss how governments, unions, and the platforms themselves can work to bridge social protection gaps and extend coverage to this growing group.

This is the second episode of a three-part series titled "Emerging trends for Social Protection in the Indo-Pacific", presented by socialprotection.org. We extend our gratitude to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for their invaluable support in shaping this series and facilitating connections with the most suitable guests for each episode.

Meet our guests:

• Brendan Chia, Head, Regional Public Affairs and Policy for Grab.
• Francis Kim Upgi, Director of Economic and Social policy for ITUC
• Yesim Elhan-Kayalar, Advisor, Office of the Chief Economist at ADB

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Cyrus Afshar, Social protection Officer at WIEGO and host of WIEGO’s Informal Economy Podcast.

Episode Resources:

• Publication | Gig Economy Employment during the Pandemic: An Analysis of GrabFood Driver Experiences in the Philippines
• Publication | Social Protection as a Solar System
• Podcast | Informal Economy Podcast
• Publication | Challenges and strategies to increase social protection financing for workers in informal employment
• Webinar | Is social protection to blame for informality?
• Podcast episode | Challenging Global Social Protection Orthodoxies

This episode will explore the ways social protection has evolved in Pacific Island countries, starting with provident funds to the slow growth of lifecycle schemes for the elderly and people with disabilities. It will then look at how the COVID-19 crisis and the impacts of disasters and climate change have changed the way Pacific nations are thinking about social protection. 

This episode will ask, how do governments see the social protection landscape evolving in the future? Will countries continue to take a slow and gradual approach, focused on incremental growth of lifecycle schemes? Or has the growing interest from development partners and the growing pressures of climate change shifted priorities and approaches? 

This marks the inaugural episode of a three-part series focusing on emerging trends for Social Protection in the Indo-Pacific, presented by socialprotection.org. We extend our gratitude to the Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for their invaluable support in shaping this series and facilitating connections with the most suitable guests for each episode. 

Meet our guests:

• Veremo Muria, Director, Fiji’s Department of Social Welfare (MWCSP) 
• Shirin Gul, Technical Specialist for Social Protection, Kiribati's Ministry of Women, Youth, Sports and Social Affairs (MWYSSA) 
• Karishma Houda, Team Leader, Partnerships for Social Protection (P4SP) 

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Lisa Hannigan, Senior Social Protection Specialist, Australian Government/Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Lisa discusses the significance of dignity in social protection, drawing from discussions and publications on the subject.  

Quick Wins 

• Publication | Crowding-out or crowding-in? Effects of LEAP 1000 unconditional cash transfer program on household and community support among women in rural Ghana

In today's episode, we delve into a pressing topic: the evolving landscape of social protection systems and their critical role in addressing the unique needs of women and girls throughout their lives.

There's a growing recognition of the importance of tailoring social programmes to meet these specific needs, but we're also becoming more aware of how these programmes may inadvertently perpetuate gender norms, assuming women's roles in work and caregiving.

Can social protection systems be a catalyst for change? Can they challenge the very structures and norms that perpetuate gender inequalities?

As we commemorate International Women's Day this month, join us as we explore the concept of gender-transformative social protection. We'll examine how these programmes and systems have the potential to drive transformative change, paving the way for a more equitable future.

Meet our guests:

• Tara Cookson, Canada Research Chair in Gender Development and Global Public Policy, University of British Columbia.
• Maja Gavrilovic, Social Protection Consultant.
• Lauren Whitehead, Social Protection and Gender Lead, UNICEF HQ.

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Tia Palermo, president at Policy Research Solutions—PRESTO, and associate professor at the University of Buffalo. She shared insights and highlights from several recent papers in the field.

Resources

• Publication | Promoting Gender-Transformative Change through Social Protection: An analytical approach
• Publication | Social protection systems and gender: A review of the evidence
• Publication | Changing rural women’s lives through gender transformative social protection: A paper on gender transformative social protection concepts, evidence and practice in the context of food security and nutrition.

 Quick Wins

• Publication | Mapping gender and social protection data
• Publication | Leveraging social protection to support women’s and girls’ climate resilience in low- and middle-income countries
• Publication | Unconditional cash transfers and safe transitions to adulthood in Malawi

Among the decisions made at the last Conference of Parties (COP28), was the establishment of the new Loss and Damage Fund, designed to assist countries most vulnerable to climate change.  We talked to our guests about the structure of this new fund and the possibilities for countries to draw on such climate financing mechanisms to build and enhance their social protection systems.

In this episode, we delved into the role of social protection in supporting major transitions in energy, industry and food systems necessary to reduce carbon emissions and meet global targets, and how social protection systems can support a just transition for all.

Meet our guests:

• Gala Dahlet, Social Protection Officer, FAO.
• Jana Bischler, Technical Officer for Social Protection and Climate Change, ILO.
• Ann Vaughan, Senior Advisor for Climate Change in the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, USAID.

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Hazel Calderon, the leader of fisheries and aquaculture social protection for FAO, who shared insights and highlights from the latest FAO event on social Protection for fisheries.

Resources

• Publication | The Relevance of Social Protection Systems for the Loss and Damage Fund and Funding Arrangements
• Livestream | Events at the just transition pavilion at COP28

Quick Wins

• Website | Social Protection for Fisheries and Aquaculture (SocPro4Fish)

Join us for our special End-of-Year episode, where we unravel the tapestry of 2023, exploring the critical discussions and ground-breaking studies that shaped the landscape of social protection.

From adaptive social protection initiatives to food security policies, we delve into the hot topics that ignited debates across the globe. Discover the key takeaways from eye-opening studies that explored climate adaptation, social protection impact, and migration. As we bid farewell to 2023, we invite you to reflect on the wins, challenges, and transformative moments that defined the year in social protection.

In the Quick Wins segment, our guest Roberta Brito will highlight the latest content from socialprotection.org's Digest. She will offer a sneak peek into an upcoming piece, providing a glimpse into emerging trends. 

Meet our guests:

• Rodolfo Beazley, Independent Consultant
• Roberta Brito, Researcher, socialprotection.org

Resources:

• Publication | Social Protection in the Developing World
• Compilation | Social Protection Digest #1

In this episode, we’re talking about the G20 – an annual gathering of the world’s largest economies and a major global forum for discussing a wide range of economic issues. In recent years, that has included social protection, a set of policies used by many countries to stabilise economies in the face of successive crises.

Brazil takes over the G20 presidency from India on 1 December 2023. At this crucial moment of handover, we have invited researchers from both countries to talk about how G20 agendas are shaped, how social protection has featured, and their shared goal of expanding the voice of the Global South in this premier international forum.

Meet our guests:

• Jhanvi Tripathi, Associate Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, and Coordinator, Think20 India Secretariat.
• Fábio Veras Soares, Director of International Studies, Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea)

For our Quick Wins segment, we are joined by Carla Mejia, Regional Nutrition Advisor for WFP in Latin America and the Caribbean. We discuss the evidence and impact of social protection interventions on nutrition and food security in light of a recent joint study by WFP, IDS and IFPRI, which proposes an analytical and operational framework linking social protection and better nutrition outcomes.

Resources

• Publication | G20 Policy for Health Systems: Promoting Holistic Outcomes and Addressing Vulnerabilities in Healthcare
• Publication | Leveraging Knowledge Sharing for Social Protection
• Publication | Towards a Robust Social Protection System in the Post Pandemic Era
• Speech | President Lula during Session 2 - One Family of the G20 Summit

Quick Wins

• News | Social Protection Pathways to Nutrition

In 2022, an estimated 100 million people were displaced, and more than 40 million of those were children. Many of these children were displaced for at least five years, often much longer, and most are hosted in low- and middle-income countries, where social protection systems often face many restrictions.

In this episode, we discuss how some countries are taking steps towards extending social protection to displaced children and their families, while slowly building systems for host populations. We examine the consequences of displacement for host countries and host communities, the factors leading to children’s exclusion in these countries, and some examples of programmes taking an integrated approach.

At the end of this episode, in lieu of our usual Quick Wins segment, we're featuring a special update on how cash and voucher assistance is being implemented in the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Meet our guests:

• Christina Lowe, Research Associate at ODI
• Nupur Kukreti, Policy Specialist, and lead on social protection in humanitarian and fragile contexts, UNICEF
• Rana Nassar, Regional Representative in the CALP network in the Middle East and North Africa.

Resources:

• Publication | Strengthening inclusive social protection systems for displaced children and their families.
• Publication | A promise of tomorrow: the effects of UNHCR and UNICEF cash assistance on Syrian refugees in Jordan.
• Publication | Improving social protection for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Egypt: an overview of international practices.

We have launched the Social Protection Digest, a quarterly compilation that brings together practitioner guides, evidence-based studies, and policy and conceptual discussions on a wide range of topics. Carefully hand-picked by our team at socialprotection.org

The digest serves as an essential resource for you to keep up with what's new in social protection. After you have read the Social Protection Digest, let us know what you think by taking our three-minute survey.

In this engaging episode, we delve into the vital concept of accountability within social protection programmes and humanitarian initiatives. Our host, Jo Sharpe, joins experts Suchi Pande and Louisa Feres for a deep dive into why accountability is the lynchpin of programme effectiveness.

Our guests shed light on the fundamental elements of accountability, including communication strategies, outreach efforts, grievance redressal mechanisms, and the crucial role of audits. Louisa provides unique insights into the various ways accountability is perceived and practiced within humanitarian contexts, challenging conventional wisdom.

Join us as we unravel this intricate web that ensures the success of social protection programmes.

Meet our guests:

• Suchi Pande, Scholar in Residence, Accountability Centre, American University
• Louisa Seferis, Independent Humanitarian Practitioner and member, Better Assistance in Crises (BASIC) research team
• Kamilla Adan Hassan, Independent Researcher from Baidoa, Somalia

For the Quick Wins segment:

• Valérie Schmitt, Deputy Director, Social Protection Department, ILO

Resources:

• Accountability in crises: connecting evidence from humanitarian and social protection approaches to social assistance
• Struggles for Accountability in the 2022 Cost-of-living Crisis: Lessons from the Global Protest Wave
• The Politics of Complaint: A Review of the Literature on Grievance Redress Mechanisms in the Global South

Quick Wins

• Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions

This September marks the eighth anniversary of socialprotection.org, and we are celebrating across the platform by looking at social protection and its impacts.

This episode features a wide-ranging discussion on this theme, what we know about what social protection can do and how that evidence has influenced policy, practice and the global spread of ideas to shape the sector into what it is today.

In the Quick Wins segment, we preview our Humans of Social Protection series, in which people who benefit from social protection programmes tell their own stories of how they have impacted their lives.

It is estimated that around 418 million children benefit from school meals—around 41 per cent of children enrolled in primary school, a figure that has been increasing despite interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a social protection mechanism, school-feeding programmes play a crucial role for children and families, especially when combined with local procurement policies for local smallholder farmers.

In this episode, we discuss how school feeding programmes impact vulnerable households and smallholder farmers, as well as how better to combine these two aspects in home-grown school feeding initiatives. We also explore the role of international cooperation in sharing experiences and advancing good practices.

The value of unpaid care and domestic work has been estimated at around 11 trillion US dollars—roughly 9 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP)—while low-paid domestic workers make up more than 20 per cent of the global care workforce. Social protection mechanisms can play a major role in achieving a balance between increasing access to high-quality care and reducing gender inequalities resulting from unpaid care work.

This episode focuses on how social protection mechanisms, particularly social care services, can help ameliorate the inequities involved in care work, including access, recognition and remuneration.

Meet our guests:

• Silke Staab, Research Specialist at UN Women
• Adriana Paz Ramírez, Latin America Regional Coordinator for the International Domestic Workers Federation

Resources:

• Child Care Services and Women’s Work
• UN Women. 2023. Innovations in Childcare to Advance Women’s Economic Empowerment
• UN Women. 2022. Increase Women’s Economic Empowerment by Transforming the Care Economy. Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition, Economic Empowerment Section of UN Women.

For our Quick Wins segment, Ralf Radermacher, Head of the Social Protection Sector Initiative at GIZ, shared some key takeaways from the Global Forum on Adaptive Social Protection, a 3-day event that gathered policymakers, practitioners, and social protection experts to jointly examine and discuss the scope and potential of ASP to foster resilience and promote adaptation.

Quick Wins Resource

• Event | Global Forum on Adaptive Social Protection - Opening and Closing Sessions | World Bank Live

Adaptive Social Protection is an area of social protection that aims to build resilience of poor and vulnerable households by developing their capacity to prepare for, cope with, and adapt to shocks. In this episode, we are looking at adaptive and shock-responsive social protection in action in some of the most disaster-affected parts of the world.

We talk about how ASP can help build the resilience of households and enable people to take anticipatory actions before the onset of a shock. We draw from experiences in the Philippines and the Caribbean to learn how programmes can contribute to this type of approach, what is the importance of building appropriate registries and information systems, and what kind of financial instruments are put in place to funding ASP responses.

Meet our Guests:

• Riyad Katkhoda, Social Protection & Cash-Based Lead at the Caribbean Multi-country Office for the United Nations World Food Program
• Rosela Agcaoili, Social Policy Specialist at UNICEF Philippines

For our ‘’Quick Wins’’ segment, James Jumba, Independent Consultant, who previously worked as a Social security prosecutor at the National Social Security Fund in Kenya and is a former socialprotection.org Ambassador, shares with us the highlights of the Kenya Social Protection Conference and how Kenya could benefit for more resilience building approaches to climate risks.

Episode Links:

• E-learning | Micro-course series on Adaptive Social Protection
• Publication | Joint reviews for Adaptive Social Protection Systems - A working paper
• Publication | Adaptive Social Protection: Building Resilience to Shocks
• Publication | Strengthening Resilience through Social Protection Programs: Guidance Note
• Publication | Disaster Risk Finance for Adaptive Social Protection
• Publication | Adaptive Social Protection – The delivery chain and shock response
• Publication | Building on government systems for shock preparedness and response: The role of social assistance data and information systems

Quick Wins Links

• Event | The Kenya Social Protection Conference 2023
• Publication | Building resilience to climate risks through social protection: from individualised models to systemic transformation

Additionally, do not forget to take your time through our 5-minute annual satisfaction survey and register for the upcoming Global Forum on Adaptive Social Protection.

In this episode, our guests focus on the role of active labour market policies (ALMPs) in guaranteeing, supporting or even creating income-generation activities. Among other topics, we discuss the possible role of ALMPs in reducing informality in developing countries, and how well-integrated they are with other social protection mechanisms such as social insurance and social security. 

Guests for this episode include: 

• Veronica Escudero, Senior Economist, ILO 
• Denni Pusba Purbasari, Executive Director, PMO Prakerja 

• Jean Claude Muhire, Rwanda Program Director, Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI)

In the “Quick Wins” segment, Jean Claude Muhire, Rwanda Programme Director for the Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative, BRAC, explains how ‘Graduation’ approaches, famous for being implemented in Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, are now being implemented in different contexts such as in Rwanda.

Quick Wins links: 

Article: https://oecd-development-matters.org/2022/06/27/how-graduation-can-complement-social-protection-for-women-in-extreme-poverty/  

https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2023/01/04/strengthening-social-protection-systems-in-rwanda-to-increase-resilience-and-build-human-capital#:~:text=Rwanda%20struggled%2C%20however%2C%20to%20translate,percent%20of%20the%20total%20population  

In this episode of the "Social Protection for Prevention of and Response to Gender-based Violence" series, our guests talk about how social protection schemes can provide assistance to people fleeing gender-based violence. These people are vulnerable and may need many kinds of support.

We look at examples of programmes providing cash support for survivors of domestic violence, as well as those that facilitate access to other services, such as referral pathways, healthcare, housing, etc.

Guests for this episode include:

• Tara Patricia Cookson, Assistant Professor of Gender, Development and Global Public Policy at the University of British Columbia and co-founder of Ladysmith;
• Merike Blofield, Director of the Institute for Latin American Studies at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies and Professor of Political Science at the University of Hamburg; and
• Gerson Nombora, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF Mozambique.

In the “Quick Wins” segment, Mayra Cardozo, a Brazilian lawyer and gender researcher, member of the National Human Rights Commission of the Federal Council of the National Bar Association of Brazil and Professor of Criminal Law at EPD, shares some of the findings of her research on the programmes in place in Brazil that help women and children who are survivors of domestic violence.

The joint webinar and podcast series "Social Protection for Prevention of and Response to Gender-Based Violence" is produced by socialprotection.org and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), with support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Tune in for the first webinar of the series, Girls Deserve Better: Countering Violence Against Adolescents through Social Protection, taking place on 28 March at 8.30 AM EDT.

Episode links:

Webinar: Harnessing Social Protection the Address Violence against Women and Girls

Book: Unjust Conditions: Women’s Work and the Hidden Cost of Cash Transfer Programs

Publication: A diagonal and social protection plus approach to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 syndemic: cash transfers and intimate partner violence interventions in Latin America

Article: UNICEF Mozambique shows how 'cash and care' accelerate child well-being

Quick Wins link:

Article: Financial Support for Victims of Domestic Violence in Brazil

In this episode of the "Social Protection for Prevention of and Response to Gender-Based Violence" series, our guests discuss how economic factors can drive gender-based violence at the community level, and why this is important for social protection programming. The focus is on designing social protection programmes that can prevent gender-based violence against women and people with diverse gender identities, expressions, and sexual orientations (SOGIESC).

The guests draw on available evidence and practical experience to discuss various aspects of the social protection delivery chain, including targeting, registration, payment, and the unique risks and issues related to people with diverse SOGIESC.

Guests for this episode include Shalini Roy, Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and Emily Dwyer, Founder and Co-Director of Edge Effect.

In the "Quick Wins" segment, two guests from the World Bank—Alessandra Heinemann, Social Protection Specialist, and Gender Lead, and Palak Rawal, Gender and Social Protection Consultant—offer practical advice on designing social protection programmes that can safeguard and prevent gender-based violence. They also share additional resources for further reading on the topic.

The joint webinar and podcast series "Social Protection for Prevention of and Response to Gender-Based Violence" is produced by socialprotection.org and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), with support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Tune in for the first webinar of the series, Girls Deserve Better: Countering Violence Against Adolescents through Social Protection, taking place on 28 March at 8.30 AM EDT.

Episode links:

• Publication: Cash transfers and intimate partner violence: A research view on design and implementation for risk mitigation and prevention
• Publication: We don’t do a lot for them specifically: A scoping report on gaps and opportunities for improving diverse SOGIESC inclusion in cash transfer and social protection programs, during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond
• Podcast: How can social protection impact gender-based violence?

Quick Wins links

• Publication: Safety first: How to leverage social safety nets to prevent gender-based violence
• Online course: How to leverage social safety nets to prevent gender-based violence
• Publication: Invisible women: exposing data bias in a world designed for men

Kicking off the three-part series ‘’Social Protection for Prevention of and Response to Gender-Based Violence’’, this episode presents a deep dive into what we know about the impacts of social protection on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and some of the remaining knowledge gaps. We look at economic empowerment programmes and how they can help reduce economic stress and challenge gender norms that often drive violence in community settings. 

Drawing from the available evidence, our guests were also invited to reflect on both the positive pathways through which social protection can contribute to reducing intimate partner violence (IPV) and the possibility of it introducing risks of increased violence. Finally, as some food for thought, what would a feminist social protection policy look like?  

Our guests for this episode: 

• Ana Maria Buller, Associate Professor in Social Sciences and Director of the Gender Violence and Health Centre, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 
• Lusajo Kajula, Principal Investigator, UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti 
• Amber Peterman, Research Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 

For our ‘Quick Wins’ segment, Wessel van den Berg (MenCare Officer at Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice) talks about ways to engage men in the dialogue around gender norms and roles as part of a gender transformative approach. What does this entail for social protection? 

The ‘’Social Protection for Prevention of and Response to Gender-Based Violence’’ series is produced by socialprotection.org and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), with the support from UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). 

Episode links:

A mixed-method review of cash transfers and intimate partner violence in low- and middle-income countries

Effects of Government-Implemented Cash Plus Model on Violence Experiences and Perpetration Among Adolescents in Tanzania

Government of Ethiopia's public works and complementary programmes: A mixed-methods study on pathways to reduce intimate partner violence

Public Work Programs and Gender-Based Violence : Evidence from Lao PDR

Domestic violence and workfare: An evaluation of India’s MGNREGS

Can transfers and behavior change communication reduce intimate partner violence four years post-program? Experimental evidence from Bangladesh

Public Work and Private Violence

Cash Transfer and IPV Research Collaborative

Transfer Project

Quick Wins links:

Applying a Masculinities Lens to the Gendered Impacts of Social Safety Nets

MenCare: A Global Fatherhood Campaign

State of South Africa’s Fathers 2021

Gender-transformative Bandebereho couples’ intervention to promote male engagement in reproductive and maternal health and violence prevention in Rwanda: Findings from a randomized controlled trial

A cluster randomized-controlled trial of a community mobilization intervention to change gender norms and reduce HIV risk in rural South Africa

The COVID-19 crisis has led to an acceleration in electronic payments of social protection benefits through individual bank accounts or mobile money. According to one global estimate, 80 million women opened accounts for the first time during the pandemic to receive government payments. Digital payments have long been seen as the first step towards improving people's financial inclusion and, by extension, their financial health.  

In this episode, we discuss the idea of unbanked individuals gaining access to banking services and digital transactions, financial literacy, and savings options, and how this contributes to insurance, remittances, and other aspects. We also highlight the importance of careful and deliberate policy design to ensure that digital accounts can, in fact, open the door to greater financial inclusion instead of ending up as dead ends. 

Our guests for this episode: 

• Dr. Moizza Binat Sarwar, Research Fellow, Equity and Social Policy, ODI 
• Astrid Devalon, Digital Financial Inclusion and Women's Economic Empowerment team lead, WFP  

In the quick wins segment, Dominique Leska-See (Advisor for Digital Social Protection, GIZ) and Anita Mittal (Senior Advisor, Lead - Digital Convergence Initiative, GIZ) present the Digital Convergence Initiative for Universal Social Protection. 

Resources:

Webinar | Demand and supply perspectives on Digital Financial Inclusion and cash transfers: findings from a WFP study in the Asia-Pacific region 

Publication | Is going digital the solution? Evidence from social protection

Webinars | Talking interoperability - Dialogue Series 

Publication | Digital Financial Inclusion and Women’s Economic Empowerment through Cash Transfers 

Website | Digital Principles 

Convergence Initiative Flyer

After 2 years of COVID-19-dominated headlines, record inflation rates, and climate events taking centre stage in the global debate, it comes as no surprise that social protection might be called on to respond to these multifaceted crises. But can we forecast what the future of social protection might hold based on its latest developments? 

For the final episode of the year, we invited Ugo Gentilini, Global Lead for Social Assistance at the World Bank, for a wide-ranging interview looking back at the main social protection themes in 2022. Among other topics, we talk about persisting myths, pathways for universality and the most interesting papers released over the year to help you catch up with that reading goal you might have set for yourself some months ago. 

To shake up our traditional format a bit, the interview was paired with contributions by other members of our Social Protection Community, drawing attention to the big highlights of 2022, and their resolutions for the coming year. This episode features contributions from: 

• Tomoo Okubo, Policy Specialist, UNICEF 
• Christina Dankmeyer, Social Protection and Climate Change Specialist, ILO 
• Vania Budianto, PhD Candidate, Australian National University 
• Dr. Safdar A. Sohail, Dean of the National School of Public Policy (NSPP), Pakistan 

Resources: 

• Weekly Social Protection Links: Ideas, evidence and practices from the world of social protection... by Ugo Gentilini 
• World Social Protection Report 2020-22: Social protection at the crossroads – in pursuit of a better future 
• Tracking Global Social Protection Responses to Price Shocks: Living Paper v.3 
• The impact of a poverty reduction intervention on infant brain activity
• The Politics of Distributing Social Transfers: State Capacity and Political Contestation in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
• How Effective Is (More) Money? Randomizing Unconditional Cash Transfer Amounts in the US 

In the aftermath of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) and the important debates that followed, this episode discusses the relevance of social protection as an actionable strategy for climate action.  

This year was marked by severe climate events and risks, with a rise in heatwaves, floods, droughts, and wildfires, leading to significant effects on those most vulnerable to environmental hazards. Many no longer perceive climate change as a future threat, but rather as a pressing reality that places countless people at risk of deteriorating living conditions and even losing their livelihoods.  

How can social protection help address the risks posed by climate change today and in the future? To bring the issue into perspective, we asked our guests to reflect on both climate adaption and mitigation, focusing on possible pathways for environmental restoration and nature-based solutions, as well as an equitable transition towards a post-carbon economy.  

Shedding light on these concerns, we heard from Bessie Msusa, Chief Economist in the Department of Economic Planning and Development in Malawi, and Cecilia Costella, Independent Consultant and Senior Advisor with the Red Cross Climate Centre. Finally, for this month’s Quick Wins, we were joined by Felicity O’Brien, Assistant Director at the Social Protection Team at Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). 

Resources: 

Podcast | Poverty Unpacked Episode #28: Climate change – How can people in poverty be better supported to cope with climate shocks? 

News | Climate change increased rainfall associated with tropical cyclones hitting highly vulnerable communities in Madagascar, Mozambique & Malawi 

Publications | Can Social Protection Tackle Risks Emerging from Climate Change, and How? a Framework and a Critical Review 

Website | 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence 

Webinar | Harnessing Social Protection to Address Violence Against Women and Girls 

Publication | "We don't do a lot for them specifically": A scoping report on gaps and opportunities for improving diverse SOGIESC inclusion in cash transfer and social protection programs, during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond 

Webinar | ‘’We don’t do a lot for them specifically'': diverse SOGIESC (aka LGBTIQ+) inclusion in social protection and cash-based assistance 

Publication | The role of socialprotection.org in fostering knowledge exchange and capacity-building in social protection through a knowledge brokering perspective  

Social protection can play an important role in ensuring that poor and vulnerable people meet their nutritional needs. What are the factors at play? This episode helps explain how social protection can contribute to improving food security and reducing the nutrition gap.

While the adequacy of social protection interventions seems to be at the forefront of the discussion, the state of food systems and prices must also be considered. On average, social protection covers only 5-10 per cent of household food costs. With food prices surging to record levels over the past two years, this has become a pressing challenge, especially in the face of long-term risks to human development.

Our guests for this episode have contributed greatly to unpacking these topics:

• Saskia de Pee, Chief of Analytics and Science, Nutrition Division, WFP
• Jessica Owens, Regional Advisor, Social Policy, UNICEF ROSA
• Marco Knowles, Senior Social Protection Officer, FAO

For our ‘’Quick Wins’’ segment, Martha Santos (Programme Manager for South-South and Triangular Cooperation at UNICEF) provided her inputs directly from the Global South-South Development Expo (GSSD Expo 2022).

Resources:

• The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022: Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable
• Tracking Global Social Protection Responses to Price Shocks: Living Paper v.3
• WFP's Fill the Nutrient Gap tool
• ISPA’s Food Security and Nutrition tool (FSN)
• (Webinar) Global Food and Nutrition Crisis and Building Forward Better
• (Webinar) Ripple effects of the war in Ukraine: What role can 'adaptive' social protection play to prepare for and respond to anticipated global price shocks and hunger?
• Global South-South Development Expo 2022
• ESCAP-led Thematic Solution Forum on Social Protection and Health: South-South and Triangular Cooperation to Enhance Capacity to Produce and Deliver vaccines

The UN General Assembly has declared 2022 as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022) to enhance global awareness and promote collaboration around the theme. To provide guidance for related initiatives, the IYAFA Action Plan was structured around seven pillars, including social and environmental sustainability. Social protection can provide valuable contributions to all of them. 

In this episode, our guests were invited to reflect on the role of social protection in covering vulnerable fisheries and fish workers against various social and climate-related risks and uncertainties. They also shared country case examples and reflected on some of the main aspects around the furthering of social protection for the fisheries sector. 

Along with our host, Jo Sharpe, Daniella Kalikoski and Daniela Salazar—both Fishery Officers at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)—and Sebastian Mathew, Executive Director of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) participated in this rich discussion. 

In the second part of the episode, Fabio Veras, Research Coordinator at the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) presents some quick wins in celebration of the IPC-IG’s 18th anniversary.  

Resources: 

International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022) 

IYAFA 2022’s Global Action Plan 

Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication 

Insights from an analysis of Seguro-Defeso’s legal framework 

Webinar: Impact Evaluation of the Seguro Defeso in Brazil 

Cash Transfer Programmes in Brazil: Impacts on Inequality and Poverty 

Achievements and Shortfalls of Conditional Cash Transfers: Impact Evaluation of Paraguay’s Tekoporã Programme  

Yemen National Social Protection Monitoring Survey (NSPMS): 2012-2013 – Final Report 

In this episode, we are talking about social protection and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent triple crisis of food, energy and finance have set back progress towards the SDGs. Social protection is seen as an SDG accelerator that can contribute to many, even most of the SDG targets from ending poverty and hunger to improving gender equality and access to health and education, and even tackling inequality and climate change.

But can we make enough progress in the time left to achieve the SDGs?

Our guest on this episode, Nenad Rava - Head of programmes at the Joint SDG Fund - talks about how social protection interventions can catalyse change and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition, in September we are celebrating the seven-year anniversary of socialprotection.org – which hosts the Social Protection Podcast. In this special Quick Wins, we will hear from Mariana Balboni – Coordinator of socialprotection.org - about the platform’s most exciting features and some of its achievements.

Resources Joint SDG Fund - Integrated Policy for Leaving No One Behind

Financing United Nations Catalytic Action to ‘Rescue’ the Sustainable Development Goals - 2021 Annual Report

Promoting the Specific Needs of Women and Girls: The Joint SDG Fund Gender Marker

UN collaboration on social protection: Reaching consensus on how to accelerate social protection systems-building

Closing Gaps: Making Social Protection Work for Women in Mexico

Accelerating Vietnam’s Transition Toward Inclusive and Integrated Social Protection

Albania - Improving Municipal Social Protection Service Delivery

Quick wins resources

socialprotection.org

e-Conference: Turning the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity: What’s next for social protection?

Social Protection and COVID-19

Dashboard: Social protection responses to COVID-19 in the Global South

Webinars

Social protection responses to COVID-19 [Task force] Online Community

Social protection in crisis contexts Online Community

e-Courses

Targeting is one of the most widely debated topics in social protection. Who should receive support from social protection systems? How do we identify the ‘right’ people, and reach them?

The way countries choose to target programmes involves weighing up a complex set of issues, including cost and coverage, the likely degree of ‘error’ over who is excluded and included, the need to respond dynamically to changing circumstances and shocks, and the need to build political support for investments, as well as trust and community cohesion.

In the meantime, our targeting toolkit is still made up of a handful of fundamental methods and approaches, each with their strengths and weaknesses, when it comes to the critical task of selecting and reaching people in need.

In this episode we introduce some of the key trade-offs most frequently invoked when making decisions about targeting social protection and ask our guests about the latest thinking on how to reconcile these challenges and dilemmas.

Our guests for this episode are:

Rachel Sabates-Wheeler — Research Fellow, IDS

Matthew Wai-Poi — Senior Economist, World Bank

Plus, to contribute to our monthly segment of ‘Quick Wins’ which highlights news, achievements, and research that have shaped recent developments and sparked our interest, we heard from:

Nazanin Akhgar, Chief of Social Policy/PME, UNICEF Iran

Resources Book co-authored by speaker Matt Wai-Poi - Revisiting Targeting in Social Assistance : A New Look at Old Dilemmas

Quick wins resources

Webinar - Iran's Welfare System: Towards an Integrated Social Protection System for children and adolescents

UNICEF's Global social protection programme framework

Programme Guidance: Strengthening Shock-Responsive Social Protection Systems

Rolling out cash plus in selected provinces in Iran

What do social protection systems need to look like to promote inclusion, autonomy and participation for people with disabilities?

Cash transfers are certainly important to meet basic living costs, as well the ‘extra’ costs that people with disabilities often need to pay just to access essential services. However, people with disabilities also have high needs for healthcare, assistive devices, and extra support to go to school or be employed. Traditional models of social protection that assume incapacity or poverty as prerequisites for receiving assistance may not be well designed to support persons with disabilities to achieve full and effective participation in public life.

In today’s episode, we’re featuring case studies on disability-inclusive social protection systems from Fiji and Thailand that bring cash and complementary programmes together to help achieve this goal.

Our guests for this episode are:

• Joshco Wakaniyasi, Programme Manager, Pacific Disability Forum, Fiji
• Phatcharamonth Pitipanyakul, Director, Division of Rights and Welfare of Persons with Disabilities at the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Thailand
• Alexandre Cote, Disability and Social Protection Policy Specialist, UNICEF

Alexandre Cote also contributed to our monthly segment of ‘Quick Wins’, which highlights news, achievements and research that have shaped recent developments and sparked our interest.

Resources:

Conference: Disability - Social Protection - Inclusion: Dialogue for change

Webinar: Social protection and community support system for inclusion of persons with disabilities

Practitioner Note 1: Inclusive targeting, identification and registration

socialprotection.org Satisfaction Survey 2022

In this episode, we will tackle the elephant in the room when it comes to discussions around universal approaches to social protection: financing.

While high- and middle-income countries are in a better position to increase the share of domestic resources allocated to social protection, either through taxation, social contributions, etc., a considerable number of countries lack the means for domestic financing. This is why international financing mechanisms are increasingly being called for, most notably in the form of a global fund for social protection.

But what shape should such a fund take? What are the lessons available to date? How to address the coverage gaps in social protection given differences in fiscal space? And finally, how did the COVID-19 pandemic influence those trends in social protection financing?

These and other questions are addressed by our guests in this episode:

• Charles Lwanga-Ntale, Independent Consultant
• Helmut Schwarzer, Head of Public Finance, Actuarial and Statistics Unit of the Social Protection Department at the International Labour Organization
• Marcus Manuel, Independent Consultant

Plus, to contribute to our monthly segment of ‘Quick Wins’ which highlights news, achievements, and research that have shaped recent developments and sparked our interest, we heard from:

• Dr. Zina Nimeh, Associate Professor of Public Policy at UNU-MERIT and Maastricht

Links from the episode:

A/HRC/47/36: Global fund for social protection: international solidarity in the service of poverty eradication - Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

Blog series: Global Financing

A Global Fund for Social Protection to promote policy and fiscal space to make the right to social protection a reality for all

Last month, we had a bonus episode about the conflict in Ukraine, and how social protection systems could support a fast-growing refugee crisis. As we enter the seventh week of the conflict, the challenge of supporting both the population staying and fleeing deepens.

However, this episode carries a glimmer of hope: today, we are talking to specialists who are making the most of social protection systems to support the people in need.

We will hear from Gabriele Erba, Beneficiary Data Systems Specialist for UNICEF, discussing the registration system the agency just implemented with the government. Gabriele has been working for the last 12 years to design, implement and research cash transfers in humanitarian settings.

In addition, we will hear from Paul Harvey, partner with Humanitarian Outcomes, on how Ukrainian social protection systems are still being delivered and how are they being affected by the conflict. Paul Harvey is also the co-Director of the BASIC research, which examines social assistance in protracted crises. He’s been researching humanitarian issues for the last 20 years and before that was an aid worker.

Along with this episode, socialprotection.org also hosted a special webinar to comment on the Ukrainian refugee response and where and how humanitarian cash can link to and support social protection systems – hearing directly from the Government of Poland and specialized researchers on the topic.

Our guests for this episode are:

Gabriele Erba, Beneficiary Data Systems Specialist for UNICEF; and

Paul Harvey, partner with Humanitarian Outcomes and co-Director of the BASIC research

Links and resources related to this episode:

Webinar: The social protection response for Ukrainian refugees: Poland’s Big4 social protection programming presentation and discussion on the regional response

Ukraine poll: U-Report

Publication: Ukraine – can social protection be sustained and support a humanitarian response?

Last month’s bonus episode: Ep. 11 | Bonus Edition | Social Protection for Ukrainian Refugees

Webinar: Ripple effects of the war in Ukraine: What role can 'adaptive' social protection play to prepare for and respond to anticipated global price shocks and hunger?

World Bank’s paper:  ‘Tracking social protection responses in Ukraine and neighbouring countries’.

This month, we celebrate our first year of the Social Protection Podcast. Over 16 episodes, we have explored controversial ideas like Universal Basic Income, dived deep on landmark programmes like Bolsa Familia and explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social protection systems worldwide.

In this episode, we are talking about another ambitious agenda, Universal Social Protection or USP2030. Under the co-leadership of the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation, USP2030 was created with a mission to achieve social protection for all at any time. To this end, it urges countries and international partners to support the global commitment to implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, by 2030.

The third USP 2030 membership assembly will be held this month and we thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss one of the many paths to expanding social protection. We have asked our guests to reflect on approaches that blur the traditional lines between social assistance and social insurance and what it might take to reach that ambitious 2030 goal. 

Our guests for this episode are:

• Maliki, Director for Poverty Alleviation and Community Empowerment, Ministry of national Development Planning
• Shea McClanahan, Senior Social Policy Specialist, Development Pathways

Plus, to contribute to our monthly segment of ‘Quick Wins’ which highlights news, achievements, and research that have shaped recent developments and sparked our interest, we heard from:

• Veronika Wodsak, Social Protection Policy Specialist, ILO

Resources:

Disability - Social Protection - Inclusion: Dialogue for change

World Social Protection Report 2020-22: Social protection at the crossroads – in pursuit of a better future

The USP 2030 Agenda

Global partnership for Universal Social Protection to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

Since the conflict in Ukraine broke out at the end of February, the world has witnessed the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II, with over two million people – mostly women, children and the elderly- fleeing into neighbouring countries.

The outpouring of voluntary support and solidarity for Ukrainian refugees has been remarkable. But for those without family and friends in the region, what institutional support is available, and what will refugees be able to access in the long term?

In this episode, we look at the roles social protection systems in receiving countries, along with humanitarian cash-based interventions, are playing in the response.

Our guest for this episode is:

• Susanne Klink, Livelihoods and Socio-Economic Inclusion lead for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Regional Bureau for Europe

Links from this episode:

UKRAINE SITUATION FLASH Update 1, UNHCR, March 8th

Ukraine Refugee situation data portal, UNHCR

Social protection: Integration Policy Brief I, UNHCR, September 2021

The UN Ukraine Flash Appeal and inter-agency Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for the Ukraine situation

UNHCR Social protection website

EC press release on temporary protection directive

This is the second of a two-part series about UBI. You can find the first episode here. 

This month we continue our discussion on the Universal Basic Income (UBI), a radical idea to extend regular, unconditional cash benefits to everyone. The UBI challenges certain social protection orthodoxies, for example by providing an equal amount of support to all, independent of needs, and by removing obligations on the part of recipients in order to receive benefits. There are different views on how generous a UBI should be, whether it’s in addition to, or replaces other forms of social spending. And the literal multi-billion dollar question is – how to pay for it! 

This episode is the second of a two-part series on UBI. In the first episode, our guests discussed the implications of UBI for the world of work. If you missed it, we suggest you start there.  

In this second episode, we ask our guests to reflect on the ways UBI fits in with social protection systems. The truth is that despite many pilots and trials in countries as diverse as Kenya, Canada, and Finland, no country has managed to implement a full UBI. Drawing from these experiences, we address what is commonly the number one objection to making UBI a reality - namely, cost. More specifically, we delve into aspects of affordability (How can countries finance it? How generous should it be?), equity (How to address specific deficits?), and, ultimately, its feasibility (Can it ever be achieved?). 

Our guests for this episode are: 

• Francesca Bastagli, Director of the Equity and Social Policy programme and Principal Research Fellow at ODI. 
• Jurgen De Wispelaere, Assistant Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and Adjunct Professor in Philosophy of Social Policy at Tampere University 

Plus, to contribute to our monthly segment of ‘Quick Wins’ which highlights news, achievements, and research that have shaped recent developments and sparked our interest, we heard from: 

• Jim Pugh, co-founder of the US-based Universal Income Project. 

Links from this episode: 

Maid (Netflix show) 

The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again | interview 

Emergency Basic Income during the Pandemic 

The Rise (and Fall) of the Basic Income Experiment in Finland 

Exploring Universal Basic Income: A Guide to Navigating Concepts, Evidence, and Practices 

Event - BIEN 2022: Crisis and Transformation 

This is the first episode of a two-part series about UBI. You can find the second episode here. 

The first episode of the year in the Social Protection Podcast brings a radical proposal for extending social protections: the Universal Basic Income, or UBI.

Fundamentally, a universal basic income is a benefit provided in cash without conditions to everyone. It is a large topic that has been generating heated discussions in the social protection field for many years now. In that sense, we divided this discussion into two episodes.

In this episode, we'll focus on the UBI and the World of Work. Fears around automation and the changing nature of work fuel popular and policy interest in the UBI. But the prevailing narrative that welfare makes people lazy and less inclined to work may be one of the biggest obstacles to overcome if a UBI is ever to be achieved.

We'll unpack the evidence around whether a UBI could change the way we value work and what that could mean for gender equality and workers' bargaining power. We'll also look at how arguments for and against the UBI play out across the political spectrum.

Then in next month's episode, we'll look at how a UBI could fit more broadly into social protection systems, asking whether it would be a major disruption or just another plank in the social protection floor.

Our guests for this episode are:

• Francesca Bastagli is Director of the Equity and Social Policy programme and Principal Research Fellow at ODI. 
• Jurgen De Wispelaere - Assistant Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and Adjunct Professor in Philosophy of Social Policy at Tampere University and

Links from the episode

Emergency Basic Income during the Pandemic

Exit strategy or exit trap? Basic income and the ‘power to say no’ in the age of precarious employment

The Rise (and Fall) of the Basic Income Experiment in Finland

Exploring Universal Basic Income: A Guide to Navigating Concepts, Evidence, and Practices

Webinar - Exploring universal basic income: lessons for COVID-19 response and beyond

Event - BIEN 2022: Crisis and Transformation

Plus our monthly round-up of ‘Quick Wins’, highlighting news, achievements and research that have sparked our interest.

Quick Wins from Zehra Rizvi - Social protection in emergencies specialist (consultant)

The big SP e-Vent: You spoke up, we listened - but what should we do next?

It's December and we've made it to the end of 2021. This was another year dominated by COVID-19 in the field of social protection - and we've certainly spent plenty of time talking about that on this show. But while we were preoccupied with the pandemic, what else did we see happening in the social protection world?

In this episode, we bring three guests to spotlight non-COVID related news, papers and events from the year just gone. We'll talk about how to design safety nets to reduce gender-based violence, the role of social protection in food systems and on climate change mitigation, as well as a call for Latin American countries to develop welfare states.

We also asked our guests for their new year's resolutions, and, for the first time, our podcast team chimes in with recommendations.

Our guests for this episode are:

• Prof. Armando Barrientos, Professor Emeritus of Poverty and Social Justice at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester in the UK and Mercator Fellow at the Global Dynamics of Social Policy at the University of Bremen;
• Alessandra Heinemann
• Garima Bhalla, Economist and Social Protection Specialist at FAO

Links from the episode:

ASPIRE Database

Safety First toolkit

Five things you should know about how safety nets can curb gender-based violence

Social Protection and Labor: A Key Enabler for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

Building welfare states in Latin America, but which type?

Intergenerational nutrition benefits of India’s national school feeding program

We like our metaphors in social protection. We talk about safety nets, even ropes and ladders, to catch people as they fall into poverty, and help them climb out of it. In this episode we’re talking about Social Protection Floors - the nationally defined set of social protection systems that provide basic health and income support guarantees to all citizens.

The crisis created by COVID-19 has shone a light on the gaps in social protection in many countries. But building comprehensive systems takes time and investment and despite international agreements, coverage is still increasing slowly. Between 2017 and 2021, the proportion of the global population covered by at least one social protection benefit increased by just two percent, and over half the world’s population remain completely unprotected.

Our three guests bring unique perspectives on where we are today on the path towards achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on social protection. You will hear from Kenya's experience in expanding its social protection; how networks of civil society actors are supporting comprehensive systems around the world; and how the ILO is tracking progress towards this goal and supporting countries in their domestic efforts to finance social protection.

Our guests for this episode are:

• Valérie Schmitt, Deputy Director, ILO Social Protection Department
• Richard Rori, Social Protection Policy and Research Analyst at the National Social Security Fund, Kenya
• Koen Detavernier, Advocacy Officer, We Social Movements (WSM); and Advisor, International Network for Social Protection Rights (INSP!R)

Links from the episode:

We Social Movements - Corona

R202 – Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202)

World Social Protection Data Dashboards

Policy in Focus - What's next for social protection in light of COVID-19: challenges ahead

Secretary-General’s Policy Brief: Investing in Jobs and Social Protection for Poverty Eradication and a Sustainable Recovery

Resolution concerning the second recurrent discussion on social protection (social security)

Fiscal Space for Social Protection: a handbook for assessing financing options

Financing gaps in social protection: Global estimates and strategies for developing countries in light of the COVID-19 crisis and beyond

Building Social Protection Floors for All: Report of the first phase 2016–2020

ILO Global Flagship Programme

World Social Protection Report 2020-22: Social protection at the crossroads – in pursuit of a better future

Extending Social Security to Workers in the Informal Economy

Plus our monthly round up of ‘Quick Wins’, highlighting news, achievements and research that have sparked our interest:

Quick Wins from Karina Levina and Yannick Markhof – participants of this year’s Ambassadors Programme at socialprotection.org

Do Conditional Cash Transfers Improve Education and Labour Market Outcomes in the Future Generation?

Education, Income and Mobility: Experimental Impacts of Childhood Exposure to Progresa after 20 Years

Delivering income and employment support in times of COVID-19: Integrating cash transfers with active labour market policies

Stress Testing Social Protection: A rapid appraisal of the adaptability of social protection systems and their readiness to scale up – A guide for practitioners

Humans of Social Protection – Posts

Widow raising six children in Cameroon Instagram / Facebook

Single mother and school teacher in Kyrgyzstan Instagram / Facebook

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for people and governments worldwide, as well as massive new demands for social protection. It has also sparked an extraordinary collective effort to track developments in the field.

socialprotection.org has played a role in that collective effort, hosting a dedicated online community webinars, papers, and conferences devoted to sharing knowledge on COVID-19, extracting analyses of trends from huge datasets, delving into the details of implementation and lessons learned. And most importantly, sharing all of this knowledge to inform more effective responses.

socialprotection.org is reaching the end of a special campaign celebrating its sixth anniversary. In our last episode, we took a broad view of trends, looking at what some of the most important changes have been—as well as considering those that may have received less attention.

This month, we bring you an in-depth view of social protection programmes in India and Botswana. We'll look at how these were adapted and adjusted to meet the challenges of the pandemic, while considering what lasting effects there might be.

In India, the flagship public works programme had to expand rapidly to accommodate increased demand—and it's greatly expanded budget has driven greater convergence with other forms of public assistance. In Botswana, the government announced last year an overhaul of the country’s social protection schemes to increase the provision of systematic protection across the life cycle in response to the COVID-19 experience.

Our guests for this episode are:

Rajeev Ahal, Director of Natural Resource Management and Agro-ecology at GIZ India, and

Lillian Mookodi, a Research Fellow in the Human and Social Development Unit at the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA), about the changes on the horizon. Lillian also worked with the United Nations on a new social protection strategy for Botswana building on the experiences during the COVID-19 crisis.

Links from the episode:

Botswana National Social Protection Recovery Plan

Impact of COVID-19 on public works programs: policy options in the short and medium term

socialprotection.org's Micro-courses:

What is social protection? An introduction

Social protection programmes

Social Protection and Rural Poverty

Adaptive Social Protection

Integrated and digital social protection information systems

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for people and governments all over the world, as well as massive new demands for social protection. It has also sparked an extraordinary collective effort to track social protection development.

Our team at socialprotection.org has played a role in that collective effort, hosting a dedicated online community webinars, papers, and conferences devoted to sharing knowledge on COVID-19, extracting analyses of trends from huge datasets, delving into the details of implementation and lessons learned. And most importantly, sharing all of this knowledge to inform more effective responses.

This month, socialprotection.org celebrates its sixth anniversary by focusing on the remarkable efforts of social protection experts to mobilise knowledge and provide advice to inform the responses to the pandemic.

This will be the first of two episodes exploring what has changed since the COVID-19 outbreak, from the perspectives of people who have been directly involved in global efforts on social protection.

Our guests for this episode are:

Maya Hammad, a researcher at the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), which earlier this year launched an online interactive dashboard that tracks COVID-19 responses in the global south; and

Edward Archibald, an independent consultant working with the Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19 Expert Advice Helpline, better known by its acronym SPACE, which has been working to advise governments across the globe.

Links from this episode:

SPACE Useful COVID-19 and Social Protection Materials

Other SPACE publications

Methodological note for IPC-IG’s dashboard

What are the lessons learned from the social protection response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

TRANSFORM: Full Document - SRSP

Adaptive Social Protection: The delivery chain and shock response

Once in a while, a social protection programme becomes famous. Whether because they are efficient, ground-breaking, innovative - or quite the opposite - , these programmes somehow become part of the popular imagery, serving as an international reference of what to do (or not to do).

These top-of-mind programmes have been researched and evaluated thoroughly for many years, but while you may know their main features and facts, you'll probably less familiar with the disagreement, compromise and evolution that has made them what they are today.

In this episode, we'll speak with three designers and implementers of Brazil's Bolsa Familia program. One of the world's best known conditional cash transfers.

Our guests this week are:

• Luis Henrique Paiva, Research Coordinator at Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea)
• Ricardo Paes de Barros, Coordinator of the Centre of Research for the Development of Educational Public Policy at INSPER.
• Tereza Cotta, Specialist in Public Policy and Government Management in the Ministry of Economy of the Federal Government of Brazil.

Links from episode:

Bolsa Família 2003-2010: Avanços e desafios

Great Policy Successes: Brazil’s Bolsa Família Programme

The effects of conditional cash transfer programmes on adult labour supply: An empirical analysis using a time-series-cross-section sample of Brazilian municipalities

Targeting in the Bolsa Família programme from 2012 to 2018 based on data from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (One Pager)

The effects of conditionality monitoring on educational outcomes: evidence from Brazil’s Bolsa Família programme

The effects of Brazil’s Bolsa Família programme on poverty and inequality: an assessment of the first 15 years

Cadernos de Estudos N.30: Desenvolvimento social em debate

Bolsa Família 15 Anos (2003-2018)

Plus our monthly round up of ‘Quick Wins’, highlighting news, achievements and research that have sparked our interest.

Quick Wins from Fabio Veras from International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG):

• The anatomy of behavioral responses to social assistance when informal employment is high
• Cash Transfers and Formal Labor Markets: Evidence from Brazil
• The Effects of Cash Transfers on Adult Labor Market Outcomes
• Conditional cash transfer and informality in Brazil

In the months of June and July, the Social Protection Podcast is hosting a special series in partnership with ODI and GIZ. Across six episodes, our guest host Francesca Bastagli, Director of the Equity and Social Policy programme and Principal Research Fellow at ODI, will moderate conversations around the guiding question: “Covid-19: a turning point for social protection?”.

These six episodes are part of an ODI research project, funded by GIZ, on the emerging evidence and learning from social protection measures adopted in the early months, and within the first year, of the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. It asks how effective have social protection responses to Covid-19 to date been, especially for some of those hardest hit, including refugees, women, informal workers and people living in urban areas? What policy features enabled or hindered adequate crisis response? And, while many of the measures are temporary, what potential opportunities and risks do they present for strengthening social protection in the long term?

The ODI-GIZ study covers six thematic areas, each with an accompanying paper. Each week of this podcast special series, Francesca will be joined by the lead author of one of the papers, along with an expert discussant.

This episode looks at informal workers and social protection during Covid-19 and beyond. Prior to the crisis, many informal workers were faced with little to no access to social protection and healthcare, insecure earnings and precarious work conditions. This made them especially vulnerable to the health and socioeconomic impacts of Covid-19 as the pandemic developed. What social protection measures have been taken to try to extend provision to informal workers during the crisis? How well have these policy measures and adjustments worked in supporting informal workers over the course of the pandemic? And what trade-offs, risks and opportunities do the crisis and subsequent policy adjustments present for filling historic gaps in social protection for informal workers on a permanent basis?

This episode was inspired by the ODI-GIZ project thematic paper “Extending social protection to informal workers: Emerging lessons from Covid-19 crisis response” by Laura Alfers and Francesca Bastagli (forthcoming).

Our guests this week are:

• Laura Alfers, Director of the Social Protection Programme, WIEGO
• Gautam Bhan, Faculty Member, Indian Institute of Human Settlements

Episode links

Webinar recording - Taking stock at the one-year mark: social protection during COVID-19 and beyond

COVID-19, Informal Workers and WIEGO’s Work during this Crisis 

WIEGO: Social Protection Responses to COVID-19

Lessons for Social Protection from the COVID-19 Lockdowns Report 1 of 2: State Relief 

In the months of June and July, the Social Protection Podcast is hosting a special series in partnership with ODI and GIZ. Across six episodes, our guest host Francesca Bastagli, Director of the Equity and Social Policy programme and Principal Research Fellow at ODI, will moderate conversations around the guiding question: “Covid-19: a turning point for social protection?”.

These six episodes are part of an ODI research project, funded by GIZ, on the emerging evidence and learning from social protection measures adopted in the early months, and within the first year, of the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. It asks how effective have social protection responses to Covid-19 to date been, especially for some of those hardest hit, including refugees, women, informal workers and people living in urban areas? What policy features enabled or hindered adequate crisis response? And, while many of the measures are temporary, what potential opportunities and risks do they present for strengthening social protection in the long term?

The ODI-GIZ study covers six thematic areas, each with an accompanying paper. Each week of this podcast special series, Francesca will be joined by the lead author of one of the papers, along with an expert discussant.

This episode explores the financing of social protection during Covid-19 and beyond, with a focus on international financing and Official Development Assistance (ODA). Both prior to and during the pandemic, ODA played a critical role in supporting social protection provision in many low and middle-income countries. The Covid-19 response has prompted adjustments in ODA flows, instruments and processes. Which measures facilitated, or hindered, the timely mobilisation and disbursement of resources for social protection crisis response? What are the emerging trade-offs, risks and opportunities for addressing the social protection financing gap in the longer term? And what lessons are emerging for the equitable and sustainable provision of social protection going forward?

This episode was inspired by the ODI-GIZ project thematic paper “Official development assistance financing for social protection: Lessons from the Covid-19 response” by Anna McCord, Cécile Cherrier, Nathalie Both and Francesca Bastagli (2021).

Our guests this week are:

• Anna McCord, Research Associate, Equity and Social Policy, ODI
• Michal Rutkowski, Global Director for Social Protection and Jobs, World Bank

Episode links

Webinar recording - Taking stock at the one-year mark: social protection during COVID-19 and beyond

In the months of June and July, the Social Protection Podcast is hosting a special series in partnership with ODI and GIZ. Across six episodes, our guest host Francesca Bastagli, Director of the Equity and Social Policy programme and Principal Research Fellow at ODI, will moderate conversations around the guiding question: “Covid-19: a turning point for social protection?”.

These six episodes are part of an ODI research project, funded by GIZ, on the emerging evidence and learning from social protection measures adopted in the early months, and within the first year, of the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. It asks how effective have social protection responses to Covid-19 to date been, especially for some of those hardest hit, including refugees, women, informal workers and people living in urban areas? What policy features enabled or hindered adequate crisis response? And, while many of the measures are temporary, what potential opportunities and risks do they present for strengthening social protection in the long term?

The ODI-GIZ study covers six thematic areas, each with an accompanying paper. Each week of this podcast special series, Francesca will be joined by the lead author of one of the papers, along with an expert discussant.

The Covid-19 pandemic has aggravated many gender inequalities, with women more likely to experience job and livelihood losses than men, taking on the lion’s share of the increase in unpaid care work, and facing heightened risks of gender-based violence and exploitation due to lockdown measures and financial strain.

How have social protection measures taken since the onset of Covid-19 fared in providing adequate support to women negatively affected by the crisis? Does the emerging evidence point to initiatives taken to date undermining or supporting gender equality? What policy lessons are emerging to help ensure social protection and crisis response are gender-responsive moving forward?

This episode was inspired by the ODI-GIZ project thematic paper “Have social protection responses to Covid-19 undermined or supported gender equality? Emerging lessons from a gender perspective” by Rebecca Holmes and Abigail Hunt (2021).

Our guests this week are:

• Rebecca Holmes, Research Associate, ODI and Deputy Team Lead, SPACE
• Hoodah Abrahams-Fayker, National Advocacy Manager, Black Sash (South Africa)

Episode links

Social protection, women’s and girls’ empowerment and gender equality | odi.org

Strengthening Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) During the Implementation of Social Protection Responses to COVID-19

Gender and Social Protection in the COVID-19 Economic Recovery: Opportunities and Challenges

Webinar recording - Taking stock at the one-year mark: social protection during COVID-19 and beyond

In the months of June and July, the Social Protection Podcast is hosting a special series in partnership with ODI and GIZ. Across six episodes, our guest host Francesca Bastagli, Director of the Equity and Social Policy programme and Principal Research Fellow at ODI, will moderate conversations around the guiding question: “Covid-19: a turning point for social protection?”.

These six episodes are part of an ODI research project, funded by GIZ, on the emerging evidence and learning from social protection measures adopted in the early months, and within the first year, of the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. It asks how effective have social protection responses to Covid-19 to date been, especially for some of those hardest hit, including refugees, women, informal workers and people living in urban areas? What policy features enabled or hindered adequate crisis response? And, while many of the measures are temporary, what potential opportunities and risks do they present for strengthening social protection in the long term?

The ODI-GIZ study covers six thematic areas, each with an accompanying paper. Each week of this podcast special series, Francesca will be joined by the lead author of one of the papers, along with an expert discussant.

This episode looks at social protection in urban contexts since the onset of the pandemic, with a particular focus on social assistance and cash transfers. When Covid-19 hit, existing provision of urban social assistance was limited in many low and middle-income countries. The crisis quickly exposed this gap, with urban dwellers facing a high risk of infection and livelihoods losses as the virus spread. In response to these urgent needs, emergency measures were widely taken to step up assistance in urban areas. How well have these efforts supported urban residents through the crisis so far? Do the Covid-19 measures hold potential to help address gaps in provision in the longer term? What is the emerging evidence and learning for improving future social protection for urban dwellers?

This episode was inspired by the ODI-GIZ project thematic paper “Covid-19: crisis as opportunity for urban cash transfers?” by Keetie Roelen, Edward Archibald and Christy Lowe (2021).

Our guests this week are:

• Keetie Roelen, Research Fellow and Co-Director of the Center for Social Protection at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
• Ugo Gentilini, Global Lead for Social Assistance, World Bank

Episode links Entering the City : Emerging Evidence and Practices with Safety Nets in Urban Areas (2015)

Cash in the City : Emerging Lessons from Implementing Cash Transfers in Urban Africa (2021)

Webinar recording - Taking stock at the one-year mark: social protection during COVID-19 and beyond

In the months of June and July, the Social Protection Podcast is hosting a special series in partnership with ODI and GIZ. Across six episodes, our guest host Francesca Bastagli, Director of the Equity and Social Policy programme and Principal Research Fellow at ODI, will moderate conversations around the guiding question: “Covid-19: a turning point for social protection?”.

These six episodes are part of an ODI research project, funded by GIZ, on the emerging evidence and learning from social protection measures adopted in the early months, and within the first year, of the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. It asks how effective have social protection responses to Covid-19 to date been, especially for some of those hardest hit, including refugees, women, informal workers and people living in urban areas? What policy features enabled or hindered adequate crisis response? And, while many of the measures are temporary, what potential opportunities and risks do they present for strengthening social protection in the long term?

The ODI-GIZ study covers six thematic areas, each with an accompanying paper. Each week of this podcast special series, Francesca will be joined by the lead author of one of the papers, along with an expert discussant.

This episode explores social protection implementation and delivery. The pandemic raised operational challenges for social protection systems, arising from both lockdown measures and virus transmission risks and the stark increases in demand for assistance among millions of people in need of support. Amid these crisis conditions, operational adjustments and innovations were adopted, including through an increased reliance on digital approaches. How well have the measures taken to date worked, especially for those previously excluded from social protection systems? Do the innovations adopted promise to support inclusive, adaptive social protection going forward, or risk perpetuating gaps and inequities? What lessons are emerging for system strengthening and response to future shocks?

This episode was inspired by the ODI-GIZ project thematic paper “National cash transfer responses to Covid-19: operational lessons learned for social protection system-strengthening and future shocks” by Christy Lowe, Anna McCord and Rodolfo Beazley (2021).

Our guests this week are:

• Christy Lowe, Research Officer - Equity and Social Policy Programme, ODI.
• Madhumitha Hebbar, MAINTAINS project Lead Researcher, Independent Consultant

Episode links

Social protection response to Covid-19 and beyond: lessons for adaptive social protection and future crises

Towards shock-responsive social protection - COVID-19 case studies

On-demand and up-to-date? Dynamic inclusion and data updating for social assistance

Webinar recording - Taking stock at the one-year mark: social protection during COVID-19 and beyond

In the months of June and July, the Social Protection Podcast is hosting a special series in partnership with ODI and GIZ. Across six episodes, our guest host Francesca Bastagli, Director of the Equity and Social Policy programme and Principal Research Fellow at ODI, will moderate conversations around the guiding question: “Covid-19: a turning point for social protection?”.

These six episodes are part of an ODI research project, funded by GIZ, on the emerging evidence and learning from social protection measures adopted in the early months, and within the first year, of the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. It asks how effective have social protection responses to Covid-19 to date been, especially for some of those hardest hit, including refugees, women, informal workers and people living in urban areas? What policy features enabled or hindered adequate crisis response? And, while many of the measures are temporary, what potential opportunities and risks do they present for strengthening social protection in the long term?

The ODI-GIZ study covers six thematic areas, each with an accompanying paper. Each week of this podcast special series, Francesca will be joined by the lead author of one of the papers, along with an expert discussant.

This first episode is on social protection and refugees. Even before Covid-19, refugees were among the most marginalised in their host countries, with restrictions on their access to employment, social protection, healthcare and other public services. This left them especially exposed to the impacts of the pandemic. Efforts to extend or step up provision to refugees include: the extension of national social protection policies to refugees and alignment or integration of humanitarian led responses with social protection government measures. How effective have these been? What are the emerging lessons and is this a turning point for extending social protection to refugees in a more permanent fashion?

This episode was inspired by the ODI-GIZ project thematic paper “Social protection provisions to refugees during Covid-19: lessons learned from government and humanitarian responses.” by Jessica Hagen-Zanker and Nathalie Both (2021).

Our guests this week are:

• Jessica Hagen-Zanker, Senior Research Fellow, ODI
• Andrew Mitchell, Senior Social Protection Officer, Division of Resilience and Solutions, UNHCR

Episode links

Take socialprotection.org's 2021 Satisfaction Survey

Social protection response to Covid-19 and beyond: Lessons learned for adaptive social protection

Webinar recording - Taking stock at the one-year mark: social protection during COVID-19 and beyond

Social protection responses to forced displacement

Cash transfers to Syrian refugees in Lebanon: promoting social cohesion and protection?

UNHCR Social protection responses to COVID-19 for forcibly displaced persons

UNHCR Cash Assistance and COVID-19 Main Findings from Post-Distribution Monitoring Report

UNHCR Cash Assistance and COVID-19: Emerging Field Practices I

UNHCR Cash Assistance and COVID-19: Emerging Field Practices II

UNHCR COVID19 Emerging practices - Livelihood and Economic Inclusion

In March, the United States brought in a temporary, near-universal child benefit as part of the American Rescue Plan, enacted as a response to COVID-19. Many in government are pushing to make it permanent, and that would make it a significant change in US social policy. But, of course, child-focused social protection benefits are relatively common in other countries, including lower and middle income countries. And even if the contexts are different, the debates may be familiar.

In this episode, we explore the debates around universality and investment in early childhood in the US. We compare them with those in upper-middle income Argentina, which has had near-universal child allowances since 2009. And, we'll talk about how these developments fit with global trends.

Our guests this week are:

• Sophie Collyer, Research Director at the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University in New York.
• Oscar Cetrangolo, Director at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Buenos Aires
• David Stewart, Chief of Child Poverty and Social Protection at UNICEF headquarters in New York.

Links from episode:

Unicef Case Study - Towards universal social protection for children: Achieving SDG 1.3

Plus our monthly round up of ‘Quick Wins’, highlighting news, achievements and research that have sparked our interest.

Quick Wins from Dr Keetie Roelen from Institute of Development Studies:

• Resources by the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty
• Brief on child-sensitive social protection
• Recent episode of Poverty Unpacked
• Resources on Covid-19 and social protection published by SPACE
• The new COVID-19 page on socialprotection.org
• Research by Marion Ouma, a political scientist from Kenya, who wrote about how social protection took shape in Kenya

In this episode, we’re talking about economic inclusion. Economic inclusion programmes typically target the poorest people and seek to address the many barriers to escaping poverty by providing multiple, complementary interventions. These generally include providing cash transfer assets, but also training, mentoring, access to finance and so on. These programmes are increasing in popularity as evidence starts to show promising and lasting results.  

According to a major report published earlier this year, there were economic inclusion programmes running in 75 countries – many still quite new – reaching 92 million people.  And, with the number of poor living in extreme poverty on the rise for the first time in a decade due to COVID-19, and the increasing focus on re-engaging people in the economy post-pandemic, the time may be ripe for a big push on taking more of these programmes to scale. 

Our guests bring real life examples and discuss recent findings to illustrate the challenges, lessons learned and best practices on graduation programmes. 

Featuring: 

• Lauren Whitehead, the Director of Technical Assistance for BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative, a global program partnering with governments in Africa and Asia on integrating economic inclusion into existing social protection programs; and 
• Colin Andrews, the Program Manager in the World Bank’s Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice. He leads the Partnership for Economic Inclusion, a multi-partner initiative to support the scale-up of national economic inclusion programs, and is the lead author of the State of Economic Inclusion report: The Potential to Scale, launched earlier this year. 

Links from episode: 

Global Learning Event on Economic Inclusion for the Poorest – Moving to Scale (27-28 April).  

The State of Economic Inclusion Report 2021: The Potential for Scale 

BRAC website 

Plus our monthly round up of ‘Quick Wins’, highlighting news, achievements and research that have sparked our interest. 

Quick Wins from Fazley Elahi Mahmud, from DFAT’s Social Protection Hub: 

• Social Protection for Economic Inclusion: Adapting the Graduation Approach in Asia and the Pacific webinar, hosted by Asian Development Bank with Socialprotection.org  
• Food vs Food Stamp: Evidence from An At-Scale Experiment in Indonesia,   
• WIEGO’s Informal Economy Podcast 
• Informal Economy Podcast: Social Protection - #17 Universal Basic Income in South Africa 
• Informal Economy Podcast: Social Protection - #18 Social Protection Needs For Older Informal Workers 
• Social Protection for Employment Community, SPEC 
• Infographic Series 

Additional resource: 

• Economic inclusion and Covid-19 response webinar by the World Bank Group, the Partnership for Economic Inclusion (PEI) and the Social Protection for Employment Community (SPEC) on socialprotection.org 

To find out about our latest podcast episodes, subscribe to our newsletter. 

This month, March, marks a year since COVID-19 swept over the globe, and triggered the first waves of closures and lockdowns in many countries. It has been a big year for social protection, as governments, international organisations and communities raced to extend safety nets to the many millions of people who lost work or became more vulnerable due to the pandemic.

In our first episode of the Social Protection Podcast, we look at the challenges and lessons of COVID-19 from a practitioner perspective. You’ll hear from four women leaders in the social protection community, who have spent the last year responding to economic, employment and health crises wrought by the pandemic. Featuring:

• Cecilia Mbaka, Secretary for Social Development for the Government of Kenya.
• Carmen Roca, WIEGO coordinator in Lima City, Peru.
• Sri Kusumastuti Rahayu, leader of the Social Protection Policy Team at the Secretariat for the National Team for Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Indonesia.
• Dr Hania Sholkamy, Associate Research Professor in the Center for Social Research at the American University in Cairo.

Plus! Our monthly round up of ‘Quick Wins’, highlighting news, achievements and research that have sparked our interest.

Quick Wins from Charlotte Bilo, from the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth:

“Don’t Let Another Crisis Go to Waste: The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Imperative for a Paradigm Shift”, by James Heintz, Silke Saab and Laura Turquet

“COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker” from UNDP and UNWomen.

Poverty Unpacked podcast, hosted by Keetie Roelen at the Institute of Development Studies.

• Episode #9: Social protection response to Covid-19
• Episode #4: Shifting the blame and shame of poverty

This is a teaser for our first episode which will launch on March 26. Subscribe now so you don't miss it! If you have discovered this podcast, you probably already know that the last year has been big for social protection. Worldwide, governments, international organisations and communities raced to extend safety nets to the many millions of people who lost work or became more vulnerable due to COVID-19. Many of you have been actively involved in that effort, and of course the pandemic has affected us all in different ways.

So, in this first episode, we bring you a retrospective on our collective year of COVID-19 - and some ideas for the future.

You will hear from four women leaders in the social protection community, who like you have spent the last year responding to economic, employment and health crises wrought by COVID-19.