ESS Paper Series No. 32

Analysis of the Viet Nam National Social Protection Strategy (2011-2020) in the context of social protection floors objectives. A rapid assessment.

The Viet Nam study was launched to support the implementation planning of the draft Social Protection Strategy (2011-2020) in Viet Nam. The ILO, on behalf of the UN CEB SPF Initiative, assessed the existing social protection system of Viet Nam and designed several alternative scenarios, using the Rapid Assessment Protocol (a costing tool developed by the ILO for the SPF Initiative based on previous experiences with the ILO-UNICEF costing tool) to estimate the costs of closing the social protection floor gaps. For each benefit the impact on poverty was estimated using a micro simulation at the household level. Taking into account some fiscal space considerations, the study estimates that the social protection floor gap could be gradually closed progressively over the next 10 to 15 years without a major increase of overall revenues compared to pre-crisis levels.