Social Protection Podcast

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 incl...

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 s...

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, uni...

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 thi...

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 ris...

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 protec...

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...

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 g...

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,...

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...

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...

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 prot...

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, outre...

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....

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 smallh...

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 inequalit...

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 resilien...

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...

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 tha...

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 gend...

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 oft...

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 ex...

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 Gentilin...

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...

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...