Webinar: Social protection and social security

 Photo Credit: Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images Reportage

In keeping with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development  and the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, SDG 1.3 “Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable”, countries and development partners around the world have been been working together to promote Universal Social Protection systems and develop  innovative policies and strategies to help  improve their social security systems.

The Social Protection and Social Security webinar, jointly organized by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, IPC-IG and socialprotection.org and hosted on the https://socialprotection.org platform was the third webinar in the #USP2030 series. This webinar brought together experts in the field of social protection to discuss current and future challenges, risks, innovation and opportunities for low- and middle- income countries related to social security, in order to share key learnings, strategies and limitations from case studies from different places around the world.

The panelists explored specific examples in low- and middle-income countries that guided the discussion around key learnings, strategies and limitations to what has been implemented in different places around the world. 

WIEGO’s Director of Social Protection, Dr. Laura Alfers presented on social security, the informal sector and gender equality, exploring the linkages between social protection and informal workers. 

Her presentation sought to explore the following critical questions:

• What are the main challenges that informal workers, especially women informal workers, face related to access to services?
• “Formalisation of the informal sector” – How to expand social protection to the informal sector? How to ensure sustainability in the long run? What are the benefits and challenges? 
• Programme design and implementation – how to ensure that formalisation does not become a burden to the poor and vulnerable (generation of new exclusions, problems, costs, discrimination against women, foreigners, people with disabilities etc)?
• What are the main challenges regarding coverage?  What is the role of governments in expanding coverage (funding arrangements)?
• Contributory x non-contributory – extending the coverage to informal workers
• Is universal coverage sustainable? What are the main benefits, challenges and limitations regarding universal social protection and how they affect informal workers?
• Where are we at globally?  What have we learned? What do you need to improve?

Other Panellists: 

• Guillaume Filhon, Senior Social Security Technical Specialist, Project Manager, International Social Security Association (ISSA)
• Natalia Winder Rossi, Social Protection Team Leader – Senior Adviser, FAO

Moderator: 

• Luca Pellerano, Senior Social Protection Specialist for the Arab States, ILO

More Information

Learn more about WIEGO’s Social Protection Programme

Read Pillars of Social Protection

Visit the Universal Social Protection 2030 website