Foreword
Social protection lies at the heart of inclusive development and holds the key to unlocking a number of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 1: The end of poverty in all its forms, everywhere. It is also increasingly recognised as an essential human right and a prerequisite for sustainable societies. The importance of social protection is reflected in the large number of countries at all income levels that are establishing social protection programmes, often with the support of the international development community.
Abundant evidence of social protection’s positive impact exists, not only through a reduction in poverty and inequality but also through improved access to basic services, particularly health and education, that make such a difference to a country’s long-term development. However, these benefits do not materialise automatically. To harness their full potential, social protection programmes need to reflect a country’s needs and risks, both today and in the future. Individuals at every stage of their lives should be covered by a form of social protection appropriate to their situation, be it tax-financed transfers and social welfare, contributory social insurance schemes, or labour market programmes. These programmes need to provide adequate benefits as well as achieve broad and equitable coverage, and they need to be sustainable over the long term.
Moreover, social protection programmes need to work together, both with each other and with other public policies, to extend coverage, generate synergies and enhance value for money. Recognition is increasing on the importance of a systems approach to social protection, predicated upon coherence between programmes, co-ordination between institutions, shared administrative systems, and efficient allocation of financial resources based on robust monitoring and evaluation processes as well as long-term planning.
The Social Protection System Review is amongst a small number of tools for analysing how effective countries are in establishing a social protection system that responds to the needs of their people today and into the future. The toolkit presented here can be implemented in any country, at any income level, by any institution and is intended to generate policy recommendations actionable through national systems. Our experience in countries where this tool has been implemented thus far has been extremely positive, and we hope that this toolkit will prove instrumental in further promoting the critical impact of social protection.
Mario Pezzini
Director, OECD Development Centre and
Special Advisor to the OECD Secretary-General on Development