Post-2015 development agenda
Social protection can help fill gaps left by the Millennium Development Goals
A meeting of high-level ministers and ambassadors in New York has examined how social protection floors can combat inequality and promote inclusive growth in the post-2015 era.
NEW YORK – While the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) have been successful at reducing a large portion of extreme poverty in the world, as their deadline nears, many are left wondering how to respond to some of their more conspicuous shortcomings.
The success of the MDGs—often measured using global or national averages—has occurred alongside growing income inequality, happening both between and within countries. This is leading some to consider taking action that directly targets inequality through enhanced social protection policies in the new development framework, which will succeed the MDGs in 2015.
On 26 September, top-tier ministers and high-level officials from countries around the world gathered at UN headquarters in New York to discuss the role social protection floors can play to combat inequality, to help fill those gaps left by the MDGs, and to advance the post-2015 discussions.
The high-level roundtable, organized by the ILO with the permanent missions of Belgium and Brazil, featured interventions made by the ILO Director-General Guy Ryder, Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation, Jean-Pascal Labille and Brazilian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos.
Guy Ryder opened the discussions by emphasizing the inclusive nature of social protection floors and stated that universal access to social services and an extension of social protection to all must be central tenets of any post-2015 development framework. The unique and holistic approach offered by nationally-defined social protection floors is distinct from other, often piecemeal interventions.
“Our vision of social protection is not of a sparsely woven net,” said the Director-General, “but of a solid, rights-based social protection floor, which should be permanent, universal and adapted to specific countries’ conditions and constraints.” The key, he said, lies in the way in which social protection can address not only the symptoms of poverty and vulnerability but their underlying structural causes.
The ILO Director-General called for a rights-based approach to social protection to guide deliberations among different development actors, and stressed the importance of international cooperation on social protection initiatives, noting the work in this area of the Social Protection Interagency Cooperation Board (SPIAC-B), co-chaired by the ILO and the World Bank.
Jean-Pascal Labille, Minister of Development Cooperation of Belgium articulated some of the MDGs’ shortcomings and the ways in which well-designed social protection policies can be used to mitigate their impacts.
“The MDGs, while they provided a unique framework for mobilizing financial resources for fighting extreme poverty, failed to highlight inequalities,” Labille said. “Public social protection policies are one of the best and most effective ways to fight inequality … But today only 20 per cent of the population have access to adequate social protection.”
Noting that unexpected expenses like health care often send already vulnerable populations deeper into poverty and widen the gulf between rich and poor, the Minister stressed the pressing need for countries to invest the necessary financial resources in social protection to boost resilience within their economies and maintain a virtuous circle of broad-based, demand-led growth and employment.
Brazilian Vice Foreign Affairs Minister, Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos, also spoke, and highlighted the limitations of development models that depend on economic growth without also considering the distribution of gains from that growth within a society.
“Economic expansion and market forces cannot by themselves provide solutions to the challenges posed by inequality and poverty,” the Vice Minister said. “Only economic growth that is sustainable and inclusive can achieve this goal.”
The Vice Minister went on to discuss some of the progress made in Brazil in the area of social protection and called for universal access to health and education to be recognized as an instrument to break the cycle of poverty and to reduce inequality in the post-2015 era.
Officials from other countries, including Curaçao’s Prime Minster, Mr Ivar Asjes, Mozambique’s Minister of Women and Social Affairs, Ms Iolanda Cintura, as well as Mr Romula Paes from the Rio+ World Development Center in Brazil and Ms Izabel Ortiz from the Initiative for Policy Dialogue also spoke at the meeting.
The discussion came on the heels of the General Assembly’s special event to examine the efforts made towards achieving the MDGs, and to build on discussions about the post-2015 development agenda already underway at the UN.
The success of the MDGs—often measured using global or national averages—has occurred alongside growing income inequality, happening both between and within countries. This is leading some to consider taking action that directly targets inequality through enhanced social protection policies in the new development framework, which will succeed the MDGs in 2015.
On 26 September, top-tier ministers and high-level officials from countries around the world gathered at UN headquarters in New York to discuss the role social protection floors can play to combat inequality, to help fill those gaps left by the MDGs, and to advance the post-2015 discussions.
The high-level roundtable, organized by the ILO with the permanent missions of Belgium and Brazil, featured interventions made by the ILO Director-General Guy Ryder, Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation, Jean-Pascal Labille and Brazilian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos.
Guy Ryder opened the discussions by emphasizing the inclusive nature of social protection floors and stated that universal access to social services and an extension of social protection to all must be central tenets of any post-2015 development framework. The unique and holistic approach offered by nationally-defined social protection floors is distinct from other, often piecemeal interventions.
“Our vision of social protection is not of a sparsely woven net,” said the Director-General, “but of a solid, rights-based social protection floor, which should be permanent, universal and adapted to specific countries’ conditions and constraints.” The key, he said, lies in the way in which social protection can address not only the symptoms of poverty and vulnerability but their underlying structural causes.
The ILO Director-General called for a rights-based approach to social protection to guide deliberations among different development actors, and stressed the importance of international cooperation on social protection initiatives, noting the work in this area of the Social Protection Interagency Cooperation Board (SPIAC-B), co-chaired by the ILO and the World Bank.
Jean-Pascal Labille, Minister of Development Cooperation of Belgium articulated some of the MDGs’ shortcomings and the ways in which well-designed social protection policies can be used to mitigate their impacts.
“The MDGs, while they provided a unique framework for mobilizing financial resources for fighting extreme poverty, failed to highlight inequalities,” Labille said. “Public social protection policies are one of the best and most effective ways to fight inequality … But today only 20 per cent of the population have access to adequate social protection.”
Avec le Directeur général de l'OIT @GuyRyder pour parler de la lutte contre les inégalités #UNGA pic.twitter.com/Frzk62eveM
— Jean-Pascal Labille (@JPLabille) September 26, 2013
Noting that unexpected expenses like health care often send already vulnerable populations deeper into poverty and widen the gulf between rich and poor, the Minister stressed the pressing need for countries to invest the necessary financial resources in social protection to boost resilience within their economies and maintain a virtuous circle of broad-based, demand-led growth and employment.
Brazilian Vice Foreign Affairs Minister, Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos, also spoke, and highlighted the limitations of development models that depend on economic growth without also considering the distribution of gains from that growth within a society.
“Economic expansion and market forces cannot by themselves provide solutions to the challenges posed by inequality and poverty,” the Vice Minister said. “Only economic growth that is sustainable and inclusive can achieve this goal.”
The Vice Minister went on to discuss some of the progress made in Brazil in the area of social protection and called for universal access to health and education to be recognized as an instrument to break the cycle of poverty and to reduce inequality in the post-2015 era.
Officials from other countries, including Curaçao’s Prime Minster, Mr Ivar Asjes, Mozambique’s Minister of Women and Social Affairs, Ms Iolanda Cintura, as well as Mr Romula Paes from the Rio+ World Development Center in Brazil and Ms Izabel Ortiz from the Initiative for Policy Dialogue also spoke at the meeting.
The discussion came on the heels of the General Assembly’s special event to examine the efforts made towards achieving the MDGs, and to build on discussions about the post-2015 development agenda already underway at the UN.