Turning the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity: what is next for social protect

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The global community of nations has long decided to ensure the Human Right of all people to social protection. Studies have shown that ensuring a basic level of social protection for all is affordable for most countries and definitely for the global community of nations. A solidarity-based Global Fund for Social Protection could support countries to design, implement and, in specific cases, co-finance national floors of social protection. This side event offered civil society and academic perspectives on the proposal of a Global Fund for Social Protection and gave room to discuss ways and means of turning this idea into reality.

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The seminar took a view on what is needed to scale up social protection systems to decrease inequality and meet the challenge from the economic crisis following Covid-19. It took a starting point in experiences from Europe on how different social protection schemes impact inequalities, linking to wider lessons from the latest decade of expansion of social protection in Asia and Africa with a specific example from Kenya showing the role of national governments and links to the role of international development agencies for supporting the vision of Universal Social Protection 2030.

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The side event aimed at debating different analysis and policy experiences on building coherence between social protection, agriculture and natural resource management sectors to reduce rural poverty and promote the economic inclusion of the poor. Evidence and the main debates around the impact on poverty reduction of such policy and programmatic approach will be presented, while different national experiences will be shared to discuss the opportunities and challenges that governments face in terms of fostering this coherence and implementing the subsequent programmes. The discussion was held in light of the challenges and opportunities that the COVID-19 response and recovery are posing, especially in terms of inclusivity and the need to balance economic recovery with environmental sustainability.

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The United Nations’ Joint SDG Fund is a new global pooled funding mechanism for transformative policy and strategic financing that accelerate progress towards the SDGs. The Fund’s portfolio on Integrated Social Protection for Leaving No One Behind invests USD 103 million over 2 years into 35 Joint Programmes in 39 countries for innovative policy solutions that prioritize the most vulnerable. The programmes are implemented by 600+ partners to facilitate multi-sectoral and transformative change. The Theories of Change of the programmes emphasize catalytic results in health care, education, social welfare services, childcare, employment, social cohesion, and pensions systems.

Given that the most vulnerable that are particularly affected by COVID-19 pandemic, the Fund’s investment into integrated social protection is more critical than ever. Amongst other innovations, the programmes use Adaptive or Shock-Responsive Social Protection (SRSP) to design systems that safeguard populations vulnerable to risks related to natural disasters and climate change - and increasingly public health crises. Besides “quick wins” produced by re-purposing 20% of the investment to respond to COVID-19, the portfolio is generating lessons learned on the use of SRSP to address multiple and reinforcing crises in the context of the systemic impact of COVID-19 upon the SDGs.

The session provided an overview of the approach to integrated social protection, specifically in those countries where SRSP is in the focus. It emphasized innovations triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic that demonstrate the strategic and catalytic role of integrated, cross-sectoral policies for enabling coherent and systemic transformations leading to the acceleration of the SDGs.

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#whatsnextforSP? In a rapidly changing world, innovation will be key to successfully deliver social protection for all. In complex, uncertain contexts, innovation and success are possible because of our failures. Yet, countries and organizations are often unwilling to recount those. During this side event, we shared and discussed cases where a social protection response to a crisis, or a humanitarian intervention linked with a national social protection system, hasn’t gone as smoothly as people might have wished. We considered what it takes for failure to be a stepping stone to success. In doing so, we intended to initiate a wider debate on how, as a global community of practice, we can get better at creating safe spaces to fail (and thus innovate) and share what we have learned in these journeys, and how to use this knowledge effectively towards expanding social protection in crisis contexts.

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Cash-transfers programs are expanding exponentially to respond to the economic losses of the COVID-19 pandemic, and many people will be receiving cash transfers for the first time in their lives. Now more than ever, it is crucial that programs are designed to achieve optimal outcomes with the limited resources available.

Behaviorally informed cash transfers can help people make the most of the transfers during this confusing and cognitively taxing environment. During this session, speakers shared details from their experience applying insights from behavioural science to the design and implementation of cash transfers programs and discuss their views on how research from behavioural science can be used to increase the impact of cash transfers programs during the pandemic and beyond.

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COVID-19 has quickly morphed from an unprecedented health crisis to a massive economic shock. Initial expectations were that its impacts on agri-food supply chains would predominantly be felt in post-farm downstream segments, mostly in urban settings. But these expectations have given way to the realisation that the rural sector will not be spared the effects of the pandemic.

Rural economies and households, in fact, are being hit hard by the disease and the containment measures adopted to prevent its spread. This can affect the wellbeing and food security of both rural and urban populations drastically. To better understand the magnitude of these impacts and help devise policies to mitigate them and support the recovery process, FAO and WFP have commissioned a set of simulations of the effects of the pandemic on rural economies, most in sub-Saharan Africa.

The findings will not only provide an evidence base to inform the design of policies aimed at putting rural economies back on their feet and building back better, but also provide the backdrop for a discussion on how countries are responding by stepping up social protection and other measures to stem the negative impacts of the present crisis.

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In this session, we first had a general look at the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and then explained certain aspects of this part of international law that are of particular relevance to social protection issues during the COVID-19 crisis. We then saw that the present crisis provides a special opportunity for the practical implementation of indigenous rights. The presentation was followed by time for debate.

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This session discussed “Lessons from the COVID-19 response for shock-responsive social protection in the
Caribbean” with a distinguished panel of government representatives from Anguilla, Dominica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. The Caribbean, already the most indebted region in the world, is highly vulnerable to large-scale shocks not only including economic crises and public health emergencies, but also natural disasters, such as hurricanes. This discussion therefore focused on: (1) opportunities to move from immediate responses to medium-term support to address the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19; and (2) plans for preparing social protection systems to respond to shocks in the future.