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» Basic Social Protection tool

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National social protection systems are a very powerful means of alleviating and preventing poverty and can help mitigate the adverse effects of chronic poverty. But how much does it cost to provide basic social protection benefit packages, and is it affordable?

The basic social protection tool is a costing model, developed by the ILO, which will estimate the cost and feasibility of providing a set of basic social protection interventions (implemented through social transfers in cash and in kind) :

Access to basic health care
Access to basic education
Basic universal pensions: old-age (for selected age groups) and disability benefits (at selected benefit level)
Child benefits, for orphans or for all children of selected age groups (at selected benefit level)
Targeted assistance to (selected percentage) of poor households (if applied, it excludes basic universal pensions and child benefit) at selected benefit level.

The model consists of two modules: a costing module and a distribution module.

The costing module estimates the costs of introducing basic social protection measures. The module is a simple and robust quantitative deterministic "if-then" model with long-term projections (30 years). Projections are based on interlinks between demographic parameters, macro-economic parameters (i.e. economic growth, productivity and inflation which are treated as exogenous variables) and social protection benefits. The model projects expenditure and revenues in the social and public sectors in form of extended budget scenarios based on exogenous assumptions for key parameters of the model. The model takes into account country specific information on demographic developments as well as macro-economic developments.
The distribution module estimates the extent of poverty reduction through the cash benefits under the selected social protection measures.

» Main Resources

The electronic basic social protection tool provides assistance in determining the cost of the basic social security benefit package in a user-friendly way. It can serve as an educative tool for people with no quantitative skills allowing them to use Excel. The electronic model is based on a methodology of ILO costing studies. It can be used by policy-makers and other stakeholders to produce a first rough assessment of the feasibility of basic social security programmes in a country. However, actual policy making has to be assisted with much more detailed costing and impact analysis.

There is a manual available which is meant to be a guide to help you to use the costing model. It provides detailed instructions, explanations of each of the items, and information on how to find the necessary data.

» Key Questions

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Can low-income countries afford cash transfers?
It is often assumed that low-income countries cannot afford social transfer programmes, but a ... More info

» Library

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Can low-income countries afford basic social security?

Social Security Policy Briefings. Paper 3
ILO, Social Security Department, International Labour Organization, 2008 More info...
Costing of basic social protection benefits for selected Asian countries. First results of a modelling exercise

Issues in Social Protection. Discussion Paper 17
S. Mizunoya, C. Behrendt, K. Pal, F. L�ger; ILO, Social Security Department, 2006 More info...
Social Security Department
ILO, Social Security Department, 2007 More info...