National Social Protection Systems Research Articles

Realigning Social Protection Across the Nexus: Reflections from Protracted Crises in the Arab Region

Humanitarian emergencies are increasingly protracted and characterised by multiple compounding crises. International social security standards provide a roadmap for building national social protection systems. In the Arab States region, the International Labour Organization has been critically assessing how to apply these standards across the humanitarian, development, and peace nexus when countries face protracted crises. This article presents case studies in four countries: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It addresses questions on how to strengthen humanitarian–development transitions using international standards, where entry points exist or challenges remain, and how these transitions may contribute to strengthening peace through social cohesion.

Social Protection, Informality, and Social Reproduction: A Schematic Analytical Framework for Latin America

The lack of social protection coverage for informal workers is an enduring problem in Latin American countries, to which governments have responded by expanding different forms of social assistance. This solution has been insufficient, however, and it is also criticized for deepening the fragmentation of social protection systems. In this article, I adopt an alternative view to analyze such matters, based on the Theory of Social Reproduction and a schematic representation of National Systems of Social Protection from the French Regulation school. I adapt the schematic representation to portray a typology of systems of social reproduction with informality, which makes up an analytical framework to understand the interaction between informality and social protection. Based on it, I argue that social protection fragmentation and the pervasiveness of informality are both stabilizing social responses in the context of an increased commodification of social reproduction in Latin America. Therefore, these problems should be better addressed through institutional and structural transformations towards decommodification that push capital to internalize the costs of social reproduction.

Unlocking climate finance for social protection: an analysis of the Green Climate Fund

ABSTRACT Social protection has gained increasing attention in global climate policy due to its potential to contribute to low-carbon, just and climate-resilient development. Unlocking climate finance for social protection is critical to realize this potential. Multilateral climate funds established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) can play a particularly important role by financing social sectors where private investments are not attractive. Yet, there is a distinct policy and research gap in understanding the potential and limitations of the UNFCCC financial mechanisms to support social protection in low- and middle-income countries. Taking as a case study the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which is the largest multilateral fund under the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC, we seek to address this gap. First, the study introduces a framework for analysis of the ways climate finance engages with social protection by looking into a comprehensive set of formal social services and transfers provided by the state to individuals, households, and on a collective basis. Second, the study identifies a continuum of entry points for integrating social protection into the GCF’s project portfolio and offers a holistic perspective by capturing climate change mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage. We find that social protection can be instrumental in the design and implementation of GCF projects. In addition, our analysis reveals that the GCF has the potential to support projects that create enabling conditions for integrating climate change considerations into national social protection systems, and that aim at piloting or establishing long-term social protection mechanisms with climate change objectives.

Turning climate justice into practice? Channeling loss and damage funding through national social protection systems in climate‐vulnerable countries

AbstractDespite the last‐minute breakthrough agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference COP27 to provide funding for climate‐related loss and damage for vulnerable countries, distribution mechanisms and funding sources remain up for debate. With rapid‐onset climate impacts intensifying and slow‐onset impacts further manifesting, loss and damage from climate change is already occurring. Thus, quick, effective, and transparent distribution of upcoming funds is necessary. Currently, only a tiny fraction of existing sources of climate finance reaches affected communities, commonly marked by high levels of poverty and low levels of adaptive capacity. Similarly, donor‐based global humanitarian aid and development systems are buckling under the weight of increasing demand. As increasing climate impacts threaten to reverse development gains of the last decades, climate‐sensitive social protection has received increasing attention for its potential to address climate impacts and to strengthen the adaptive capacity and resilience of climate‐vulnerable populations. This review article explores the prospects of channeling Loss and Damage funding through existing national social protection systems and highlights how this approach can efficiently contribute to safeguarding development gains, including previously overlooked aspects such as noneconomic loss and damage (NELD), while also dismantling soft adaptation barriers and thus fostering climate resilience in the long term. Although we identify barriers, including gaps in coverage of social protection systems both between and within countries, we argue that channeling some L&D funding through social protection systems aligns with core human rights and climate justice agendas, as well as the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities.This article is categorized under: Integrated Assessment of Climate Change > Assessing Climate Change in the Context of Other Issues Policy and Governance > International Policy Framework Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Values‐Based Approach to Vulnerability and Adaptation

FAMILY-TYPE CHILDREN’S HOME IN THE SYSTEM OF SOCIAL PROTECTION OF CHILDHOOD RIGHTS

The article reveals the role of the family-type orphanage in the system of social protection of childhood rights.The author summarized the theoretical aspects in the field of childhood protection and characterized the practical experience of the state and public sector of social protection regarding the creation of family forms of education. In particular, family-type children’s homes as an alternative form of family education.Practice has proven that the priority forms of placement of orphans and children deprived of parental care are family forms, in particular. The national system of social protection is based on Ukrainian and foreign experience in the field of childhood protection in general and placement of orphans and children deprived of parental care in particular. These issues are the task of the state and public sector of social protection in the field of childhood protection. Creation of family forms of education is a primary issue of public structures whose activities are aimed at social protection of childhood. Among others, the Foundation of the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska.Organization and operation of family-type children’s homes is not new in Ukraine. We have experience in creating such alternative forms of family care. However, in modern realities, in the conditions of Russian military aggression and related socio-economic and socio-political challenges, the issues of social protection of children and providing them with opportunities for full-fledged development and family comfort remain relevant.Among the promising directions of theoretical and practical developments in the field of development of family forms of upbringing in general and family-type children’s homes in particular, we single out the following: preparation of new families and their psychological support, overcoming the challenges faced by displaced families, the role of the community in supporting families, support for children with special needs and their families, preparation for the return of children from abroad, etc. The identified issues are the subject of further research with the aim of implementation in modern practice, formation and implementation of state policy in the field of social orphanhood prevention and childhood protection.

The national system of social protection as a component of the system of public services of the Republic of Moldova

The national system of social protection as a component of the system of public services of the Republic of Moldova

Do governments account for gender when designing their social protection systems? Findings from an analysis of national social protection strategies

AbstractThe negative impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on women's employment, care responsibilities, and access to services have motivated an unprecedented level of advocacy around strengthening national social protection systems from a gender perspective. Yet very little empirical evidence exists about what a gender‐responsive social protection system entails in practice. This paper addresses this gap through a comparative analysis of 52 national social protection strategies from primarily low‐and middle‐income countries. To analyse the gender responsiveness of these strategies, we developed an analytical framework based on international human rights standards and social policy, gender and development literature. Through presentation of the framework and our findings, this paper makes several contributions to scholarship and practice. First, our framework―the first of its kind―offers a novel conceptual and methodological contribution by enabling a systematic, comparative assessment of national approaches to social protection from a gender perspective. Second, the framework enables the systematisation of empirical evidence on the degree to which gender is integrated into social protection systems. By applying it to national social protection strategies, we identify which gendered risks and vulnerabilities are most commonly acknowledged and addressed in countries' efforts to create gender‐responsive social protection systems. We also highlight a concerning gap between rhetoric and response when it comes to gender equality in the strategic plans that governments lay out for these systems. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic cross‐country assessment of such documents. We conclude with future directions for research and practice, including the gap between recognition and action.

The role of mutuals and community‐based insurance in social health protection systems: International experience on delegated functions

AbstractThe institutional architecture for the provision of social health protection varies across countries, as do the actors and organizations involved. In some countries, mutual benefit societies and community‐based health insurance organizations (CBHI) play a role in this area. In the 1990s, these were promoted particularly as a means of extending social security coverage, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. In the current context, the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, as well as renewed political will to realize universal coverage, has led to a questioning of the role of mutuals/CBHI. However, the literature on the roles they play in national social security systems remains limited. For this scoping review, 49 documents were analysed, covering 18 countries worldwide, focused on the delegation of functions to mutuals/CBHI in national social health protection systems. The results reveal the dynamics of the delegation of functions within social protection systems over time and their implementation processes. These provide areas for reflection that can inform policy processes.

Lessons from the World Banks Early Social Protection Responses to COVID-19: A Rapid Review

Introduction: While global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been subject to intense empirical scrutiny, the role of particular actors as part of government responses has been less documented. Objective: This article fills such a gap by reviewing the World Banks social protection responses to the early stages of the pandemic.Materials and methods: It does so by presenting results from portfolio data, anonymized surveys, and key informant interviews within the organization. Results: Taken together, these sources point to an unprecedented operational scale-up by the organization as it strived to support countries dealing with widespread needs and pervasive uncertainty. Yet questions remain on whether such significant response would lead to game-changing reforms in the configuration of national social protection systems.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYSTEM OF SOCIAL PROTECTION IN UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF EUROPEAN CHOICE

The article studies basic principles in the functioning of national social protection systems, including the problems and their causes, offers an analysis of their pragmatic applications over the period from 2015 to 2020 and performs a comparison of the calculated euro-denominated social expenditure per person and total social expenditure indicators for Ukraine and several European countries selected to represent the four regions of the EU. Based on the results of performed analysis, it was found that the level of social protection development in Ukraine is lagging far behind all the EU countries, including the least performing ones. Taking into consideration the European experience and Ukraine’s countryspecific features, the authors provide substantiation for the main components of the national social protection model. The developed model includes the current and strategic directions of its development, the interactions between its elements, and the financial resources. The model also takes into account the impact of the factors of external environment, as well as Ukraine’s orientation towards proEuropean development objectives.

Новітня політика соціальної якості ЄС: корисний досвід для повоєнного відновлення України

It is substantiated the relevance of adaptation to the conditions of post-war socio-economic reconstruction of Ukraine of modern approaches of social quality policy of the European Union, historically based on the principles of social peace, social equality and justice, social well-being and quality of life of the population. It is shown the expediency of such adaptation in connection with the formation of a clear demand for a stable post-war life in security, welfare and social justice in the Ukrainian society, which suffers from the full-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022. It is described a new conceptual approach in the construction of national systems of social protection and social insurance, providing for the formation of social pillars necessary for the security of national economies in post-crisis recovery. It is described the content and features of the main approaches of the latest EU policy aimed at improving the parameters of social quality in the development of the member states, aiming to achieve three priority social objectives of the European Union for the period until 2030. It is characterized current institutional components of the current EU development such as the European Pillar of Social Rights, Social Economy Action Plan, Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021–2030, the Skills Partnership for the Digital Ecosystem, the Directive on the Adequate Minimum Wage in the EU, etc. in the context of social quality assurance. Characteristic contemporary approaches to improving the social component of the state anti-crisis policy are described. Taking into account contemporary European practices of intensifying social dynamics and proposals of international institutions for post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, recommendations for specific measures of domestic public policy aimed at ensuring social quality of life in the post-war period were developed.

Towards privatized social and employment protections in the platform economy? Evidence from the UK courier sector

Platform capitalism has facilitated the widespread replacement of employment contracts with contracts for services. These offer significantly fewer social and employment protections for the independent contractors engaged. What does this mean for the future of national social and employment protection (SEPs) systems? We show how the question of platform workers’ employment status – and therefore access to SEPs – remain unresolved under UK law. Drawing on socio-legal theory, we demonstrate why digital labor platforms represent a challenge to existing modes of employment law and labor market regulation. In the absence of immediate legal ‘fixes’, some unions and firms are innovating new ‘privatized social protection systems’. A ‘Self-Employed Plus’ (SE+) agreement in the UK parcel courier sector developed between Hermes, a UK-based courier service, and the GMB union represents an important example of such attempts being made to bridge the current regulatory void. We critically analyze the agreement and draw lessons for platform governance theory. We demonstrate that privatized SE+ provisions potentially offer significant benefits for platforms by reducing regulatory oversight, boosting productivity, and enhancing managerial control over platform complementors. At the same time, while they risk undermining national SEP systems and degrading worker protections, they also offer a window of opportunity for trade unions to gain a foothold in the platform economy.

СУЧАСНИЙ СТАН ТА ОСНОВНІ ПРОБЛЕМИ ФІНАНСОВОГО ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ СОЦІАЛЬНОГО ЗАХИСТУ НАСЕЛЕННЯ В УКРАЇНІ

The article examines in detail the current system of financial support for the social sphere in Ukraine. It is established that state Social Security in conjunction with social insurance is the basis of most modern national social protection systems in the world, and the presence of a balanced state social protection system is a necessary condition for ensuring the stable functioning of modern society. The assessment of the state and dynamics of expenditures on social protection and Social Security in Ukraine was carried out. It is determined that the desocialization of the budget is an extremely dangerous phenomenon, since, due to an unjustified reduction in social benefits and benefits, there is a threat of causing a significant deterioration in the socio-economic situation of the population, which in the future can have a very negative impact on the economic development of the country as a whole. At the same time, haphazardness and duplication of types of social benefits and benefits is absolutely unacceptable. It is established that the current trend of reducing social spending in Ukraine is mainly due to the optimization of the number and size of Social Services, which are increasingly personalized in nature. The main problems of financial support of the social sphere in modern realities are outlined. It is established that broad powers for social protection of the population of Ukraine are very often not provided with appropriate amounts of funds from established sources of funding, which, given the trend of increasing centralization of budget funds, negatively affects both the level and completeness of financing of social expenditures on the ground. It is argued that one of the main problems of financial support for social protection of the population at the local level is the imperfection of inter-budgetary relations in the context of the completeness of financing the powers assigned to local authorities regarding various types of social payments and programs. Promising areas for improving the existing social security system and the necessary conditions for proper functioning of the social protection system mechanism in Ukraine are highlighted. It is proved that a significant improvement in the financial provision of social protection at the local level is almost impossible without significantly strengthening the financial base and increasing the financial independence of local budgets. The necessity of consistent changes in the system of organizing the provision and financing of state social assistance is justified, taking into account the crisis of state financial resources, the negative demographic and economic situation both in Ukraine and in the world as a whole.

Citizens' expectations about social protection in multilevel governance: The interplay between national and supranational institutions

AbstractTwo contrasting perspectives can be identified in the current literature on the relationship between European integration and the welfare state. On the one hand, the race to the bottom thesis presumes that welfare spending will be reduced to the lowest common denominator. On the other hand, the upward convergence thesis suggests that European integration supports and strengthens the capacities of national welfare states. This suggests that the consequences of European integration for national social protection systems are ambiguous. The current study contributes to this debate, by investigating the relationship between European integration and the welfare state from the perspective of public opinion. Do European citizens envision a race to the bottom or an upward convergence in social protection, and why so? Analysing data from the European Social Survey in 18 EU countries, the article reveals that the material benefits brought by national and supranational institutions, jointly shape citizens' expectations about the EU–welfare nexus, although in opposite directions. Generous national welfare provision fuels expectations that European integration fosters a race to the bottom for social protection levels, while higher receipts from EU Structural Fund programs and individual trust in EU institutions raise expectations of the EU as a catalyst of upward convergence in social standards. The implications of these findings for social policymaking in multilevel governance regimes are discussed.

Політика відновлення зайнятості в постпандемічний період: міжнародний контекст

The shocking consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the need to ensure the resilience of societies in the face of new epidemiological challenges. An integral element of the resilience system is the efficiency, balance and sustainability of national labor markets and the employment sector as a whole, which has had a devastating effect on the “coronavirus”. The purpose of the study is to identify global post-pandemic destructions in the field of employment, determine the main ways and factors of its recovery, as well as the resource potential of international management structures necessary to accelerate this process. Used statistical and analytical approaches, as well as methods of systemic, comparative and graphical analysis. Analyzed modern international approaches to the formation of employment recovery policy aimed at overcoming the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the world of work, public welfare and social justice. The resource potential of new UN and ILO initiatives to stabilize employment and accelerate the pace of its recovery on a global scale has been revealed. The key factors of the global dynamics of employment recovery have been identified, including: anti-malignant vaccination; fiscal stimulus; labor productivity; work migration; the level of development of national social protection systems and labor market institutions, digitalization, as well as involvement of countries in integration processes. The results of the study prove that in the formation of modern state policy aimed at accelerating the post-pandemic recovery of the economy and society, the key factors of employment recovery, as well as the corresponding strategic initiatives of international institutions, should be taken into account.

Promoting Sustainable Goals in Nigeria through the Kaleidoscope of the Social Protection Floor Initiative

Improving national social protection systems is a major task for all governments. This they can do through an effective implementation of the sustainable goals also called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The main purpose of social protection is to reduce poverty, economic shocks and vulnerability. This article examines the extent Nigeria has gone to in order to promote sustainable goals through the Social Protection Floor Initiative. The article also delves into the justiciability of socio-economic rights in Nigeria and in other jurisdictions like UK, India and South Africa which are commonwealth countries like Nigeria. It further recommends ways by which Nigeria can, through the Social Protection Floor Initiative, fulfil its obligations towards the attainment of the SDGs. A major conclusion of this article is that the Social Protection Floor Initiative is an important means for the government to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and an important aspect of this is ensuring the enforcement of socio-economic rights. Without implementing the Social Protection Floor Initiative, the Sustainable Development Goals mantra will be restricted just to TVs in Nigerian homes without any corresponding impact on the masses.

Shielding free movement? Reciprocity in welfare institutions and opposition to EU labour immigration

ABSTRACT Public attitudes towards the free movement of workers in the European Union vary substantially between countries and individuals. This paper adds to the small but growing research literature on this issue by analysing the role of national welfare institutions. We investigate the relationship between the degree of ‘institutional reciprocity’ in national systems of social protection and attitudes to EU labour immigration across 12 European countries. We do not find evidence of an effect of institutional reciprocity on opposition to EU labour immigration among the public at large. However, institutional reciprocity appears to matter for economically vulnerable groups. We identify an interaction effect indicating that higher degrees of institutional reciprocity in national social protection systems, and in unemployment insurance systems specifically, are associated with lower levels of opposition to EU labour immigration among unemployed people. Hence, reciprocity in welfare state institutions appears to shield free movement from opposition, at least among vulnerable groups.

European social protection standards

The article addresses European social protection standards from the perspective of the existence of several models of national social protection systems throughout the European Union and the need to develop general principles for all European countries in order to ensure the well-being of citizens. Thus, on the basis of the development of those standards, the balance between the interests of society in general and the rights of the individual were respected, taking into account economic development and levels of social protection. As a result, the European social model has been created which provides a high level of social protection and covers activities vital to social cohesion, being structured by a series of legal rules.

Urban-Sensitive Social Protection: How Universalized Social Protection Can Reduce Urban Vulnerabilities Post COVID-19

Experience with urban social protection programmes is relatively limited in the Global South. Extensions or duplicates of rural social assistance programmes do not reflect the distinct vulnerabilities of the urban poor, who face higher living costs and more precarious employment, and are not reached by social insurance schemes that are designed for formally employed workers. Neither the Sustainable Development Goals nor the New Urban Agenda reflect a specific focus on urban social protection. COVID-19 has exposed this major gap in coverage, given the disproportionate impact of lockdowns on the livelihoods of the urban poor. To ‘build back better’ post COVID-19, we propose rights-based national social protection systems with two components: categorical social assistance for non-working vulnerable groups (children, older persons, persons with disability) and universal social insurance for all working adults (formal, informal or self-employed), financed out of general revenues rather than mandatory contributions by employees and employers. These ideas are explored in the case of South Africa, which has comprehensive social assistance but inadequate social insurance for urban informal workers.

Obolevanje i umiranje od malignih tumora u Srbiji i Evropi - komparativna analiza

After cardiovascular diseases, malignant tumours are the second leading cause of death across Europe. Given that Europe has a quarter of all cancer cases and less than 10% of the world's population, it is obvious that cancer poses a huge burden in the entire European region. A comparative analysis of the incidence of malignant tumours in Serbia and European countries in 2018 showed that men in Serbia most often suffered from malignant tumours of the prostate, lungs and bronchus, colon and rectum, while in women, malignant tumours were most often localized in the breast, lungs and bronchus, colon and rectum. Women in Europe most often suffered from malignant tumours of the breast, colon and rectum, and lungs and bronchus, while they most often died from the same tumours as the women in our country. Compared to the inhabitants of the European region, the population of Serbia has a higher incidence of morbidity and mortality from all leading cancers; exceptions can be observed in the structure of new patients with malignant prostate tumours, women with newly discovered breast cancers and men who died from liver cancer. For the majority of malignancy sites, the risk of cancer in Serbia is estimated as "moderate", and "low" for malignant prostate tumours. However, the observed increase in incidence for the most common malignancies could, in the next two decades, bring Serbian citizens into the ranks of European countries with a high risk of disease. Throughout Europe, the burden of cancer puts pressure on national health and social protection systems, state budgets and affects productivity and economic growth. National campaigns for health promotion and prevention of risk factors that are responsible for the occurrence of the most common malignant tumours and other non-communicable diseases, early detection and implementation of screening programs for malignant tumours, are the basis of the cancer control strategy, both in the old continent as a whole, and in Serbia.