Etendre la protection sociale

Assist the most vulnerable affected by the crisis

Countries that have strong social protection systems have a valuable inbuilt mechanism to stabilize their economies address the social impact of the crisis and alleviate poverty. The Pact encourages countries to reinforce existing systems where appropriate or to put in place new measures to assist the most vulnerable while building the foundation for more effective systems.

Some of the Pact recommendations:

  • Introducing cash transfer schemes for the poor to meet their immediate needs and to alleviate poverty;
  • Building adequate social protection for all, drawing on a basic social protection floor including: access to health care, income security for the elderly and persons with disabilities, child benefits and income security combined with public employment guarantee schemes for the unemployed and working poor;
  • Extending the duration and coverage of unemployment benefits (hand in hand with relevant measures to create adequate work incentives recognizing the current realities of national labour markets);
  • Ensuring that the long-term unemployed stay connected to the labour market through, for example, skills development for employability;
  • Providing minimum benefit guarantees in countries where pension or health funds may no longer be adequately funded to ensure workers are adequately protected and considering how to better protect workers’ savings in future scheme design;
  • Providing adequate coverage for temporary and non-regular workers;
  • Reviewing and adapting minimum wages
  • Reinforcing existing social protection systems and building the foundation for effective systems in countries that lag behind in ensuring a social protection floor for all.