Global Flagship Programme: Building social protection floors for all

Allowing millions of people to live in dignity

The human right to social security is still not a reality for more than 4 billion people who are left totally unprotected without access to any social protection benefit. Life without social protection means:
  • People cannot access the health care services they need
  • Children have to work to help their parents
  • Women have to go back to work shortly after delivering their babies
  • Frail older persons have to work until they die
  • Persons with disabilities have no income of their own
The ILO's Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All, launched in early 2016, supports the implementation of social protection systems including floors, guided by ILO's social security standards. During its first phase (2016-2020) it supported 21 countries in building sustainable and robust social protection systems and improved the social protection coverage for 25 million people. During its second phase (2021-2025) it is working across 50 priority countries, and aims to change the lives of 60 million of people. The Programme provides evidence on ILO's contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals on social protection, in particular target 1.3 and 3.8.

By 2025 the Flagship Programme aims to:
  • Improve legal coverage for 20 million people
  • Increase effective coverage for 30 million people
  • Improve benefit adequacy and comprehensiveness for 10 million people
To achieve its ambition, the Flagship Programme is built around three interlinked pillars:

Pillar 1: In-Country Support

The Programme supports 50 priority countries in building their national social protection systems and achieving Universal Social Protection, following a step-by-step approach moving from the development of strategies to the design or reform of schemes and eventually improving the operations of the schemes.

Pillar 2: Thematic support

Through the Technical Support Facility, ILO thematic experts support their colleagues in country to provide very specific expertise, helping strengthen the knowledge base and increase cross-country exchange and south-south learning.

Pillar 3: Strategic Partnerships

Strategic partnerships support pillar 1 and pillar 2 to multiply impact and promote a rights-based social protection approach in line with ILO standards.




Communication on the achievements of the Programme are systematically recorded in the Results Monitoring Tool. The tool gathers information on projects, activities, results and impact achieved, reports on key indicators including the application of international labour standards, and provides a narrative beyond the ILO and project reporting cycle.

Country
and thematic pages consolidate information on the social protection situation and ILO support at country/thematic level, showcase relevant knowledge resources and include funding opportunities.

For more detailed information on the Flagship Programme, visit our website.

Join the collaboration


Development partners
are important contributors, with their strong involvement crucial for achieving policy coherence at country level, and in creating a global coalition for social protection, such as USP2030. They participate in the annual meetings of the Flagship Programme and provide strategic guidance through its Global Tripartite Advisory Committee. Contributing to the Programme multiplies the impact of individual contributions and increases visibility.

The overall budget for implementing the Flagship Programme’s second phase is 160 million USD, of which 81 per cent will be allocated to in-country support, 15 per cent to cross-country policy advice and 4 per cent to the management of the Flagship programme.

Our resource gap is 70 million USD - potential partners can join the ILO today to help meet our goals and change the lives of millions of people.

For more information, email: socpro@ilo.org