Crocodiles and CROCO dials: How the metrics of Coverage, Rate, Ownership, Continuity and Opportunity demonstrate the superiority of life-course social protection
23/09/2020
By Nicholas Freeland I have just read a paper[1] on social protection in Africa with which I profoundly disagree. It has a good main title – “Beware of the Crocodile” – but it goes steadily downhill from there. Even the sub-title is misleading: “Quantitative Evidence on How Universal Old Age Grants...
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The perils of linking social protection to financial inclusion
By Sarina Kidd, Development Pathways The purpose of financial inclusion is to incorporate individuals into the formal financial sector, by providing them with affordable financial products and services to meet their needs. Social protection programmes are often considered to be excellent entry points for financial inclusion, especially when recipients are provided with a payment instrument, linked,...
21/08/2020
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Women’s rights should shape universal social protection as a COVID-19 response
By Roosje Saalbrink, Womankind Worldwide “It is high time for our governments to do away with gender-blind policies that provide women with neither protection, nor equality, nor recognition for their essential contributions to the health and economic welfare of our region.” – SIHA-net It is striking to me how quickly the narrative changed, from being...
05/08/2020
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Africa’s rapidly ageing population is in need of social protection, yet it continues to be largely overlooked
Our blogger, Madeleine Cretney, is a Social Policy Officer at Development Pathways. Africa may currently be the youngest continent in the world, but the growth of its older population this century will outstrip that of any other region. According to a 2019 UN report on population ageing, the continent will see a three-fold increase in the number...
08/07/2020
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Black Lives Matter – in social protection and international development
Our blogger, Stephen Kidd, is a Senior Social Policy Specialist at Development Pathways. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has highlighted the systemic racism that is deeply embedded within the attitudes and institutions of rich nations. While the immediate focus has been on police brutality, institutional discrimination permeates both public...
25/06/2020
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Grasping a more equal future — understanding age and gender in social protection
Our guest blogger, Dr. Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed, is a Gender and Development Manager (Research) for the Gender-Responsive and Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP) research programme at UNICEF Office of Research—Innocenti. Zahrah works in the area of gender and women’s economic empowerment, the care economy, and social protection. As we hurtle towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals deadline, governments are accelerating investments in both social protection and gender equality. This presents an...
24/06/2020
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Are we drifting away from a human rights approach to development?
Our blogger, Abdul Alim, is Regional Social Policy Advisor for UNICEF South Asia. Abdul is committed to Human Rights, Equity and human development as an end in itself. As an expert working in international development for over two decades, I was recently rudely shocked when during a conference call I noticed...
10/06/2020
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The case for universal social protection is more self-evident than ever
Our blogger, Shahra Razavi, is the director of the Social Protection Department at the International Labour Organization (ILO). This blog was originally written for the Social Protection Department at the ILO, you can read the original blog here. The idea that societies can be secure by relying on individualised market-based provision for those who can afford...
02/06/2020
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Economic recovery begins with children (and older people, and people with disabilities): The urge for universal lifecycle cash transfers as a response to COVID-19
This blog was originally written for socialprotection.org and can be found here. Our guest blogger, Louise Moreira Daniels, is Chief of Social Policy at UNICEF Sri Lanka. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a perfect storm of crises in countries around the world: exports have fallen dramatically; some specific sectors, like the tourism industry,...
15/05/2020
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The global ravages of NOFUD-28
Our blogger, Nicholas Freeland, is an independent consultant in social protection and a Senior Associate of Development Pathways. Nicholas is a frequent contributor of blogs and papers for Development Pathways. COVID-19 is dangerous. But it is nowhere near as dangerous as having No Food to Eat (NOFUD-28). In the five months...
13/05/2020
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