ILO Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All: Report of the second phase (2021–25)

This report highlights the results and impact created during the second phase of the Flagship Programme. Across these five years, the Programme has contributed to measurable advances in policy design, financing strategies, institutional capacity and coverage extension. It has supported countries in guiding reform processes in line with international labour standards and strengthened social dialogue, and generated evidence to inform those discussions as well as global policy debates. Notably, the Flagship Programme has surpassed its initial ambitions in terms of policy change and impact, contributing to reforms that have improved social protection coverage for more than 84 million people, well beyond the original target of 60 million.

At its core, the Flagship Programme was conceived to support the building of social protection systems and, over the past five years, has succeeded in developing those systems to reach populations too long excluded from social protection, including workers in the informal economy, migrants and refugees, persons with disabilities, and people facing climate-related and other crises, with the aspiration of leaving no one behind.

The lessons captured in the report provide a strong foundation for the next phase of collective efforts to realize social justice and decent work through universal social protection and support countries in making further progress towards achieving the social protection Sustainable Development Goals.