Building compacts for social protection

Abstract

This chapter has three main goals. First, it seeks to frame the concept of a social compact as a desirable horizon for the construction of universal social protection systems that will engender greater equality and narrow existing social divides. Approaches for achieving this objective have been proposed in a number of studies recently conducted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Second, it will review some of the observations and lessons learned from the analysis and monitoring of social protection systems and social policy reforms in countries of the region. The focus here is on an approach to social compacts that, rather than casting them as a “must” or as an optimum horizon, views them as a delimited sphere of action for building a consensus around the need to create universal social protection systems. Third, it will review reform processes in Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico and Uruguay as a means of illustrating the specific challenges and opportunities associated with efforts to broaden social protection coverage in Latin America.