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...
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...
Webinar reflections: “Building back better” for older people in Asia
Last week, HelpAge International Asia Pacific Regional Office, with support from the Asian Development Bank, hosted a webinar titled: ‘“Building back better” in post-pandemic Asia: Back to the future for older people?’. As a...
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...
Basic income: a BIG disappointment
By Nicholas Freeland Anyone who has come across any of my earlier blogs probably knows that I have a marginal preference for inclusive life-course approaches to social protection! I have always assumed, therefore, that when eventually the conditions were right for universal basic income, I would be an avid supporter...
A line in the sand – how a human rights definition of poverty can push the fight to the next level
By Lucilla Bertolli Philip Alston will be missed in his role as United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty, both for his razor-sharp look at mainstream development policies and for his constant reminders of their shortfalls. During his tenure, Alston effectively bridged the universal human rights framework with social and...
Social Protection – Paving the Way Towards a Happier post-COVID-19 World?
We have now passed the one-year anniversary of a global pandemic that has killed over 2,5 million people, and continues to devastate families, upend governments, crush economies, and tear through the social sector. While the newly released World Happiness report addresses well-being during COVID-19, it is important to take a reflective look at the state of global happiness pre-pandemic.
Children on the frontline of the COVID and climate crisis: The urgent need to protect children from poverty with universal child benefits
By Yolande Wright We have many long-acknowledged duties to our children – to provide them with the best possible start in life and the hope for a bright future. In 2019, the World Bank estimated that nearly 60 per cent of children born today will be, at best, only half...
ITUC report reveals the economic benefits of social protection
A new report released by the International Trade Union Confederation demonstrates that increased investment in social protection yields positive economic returns.
The vaccine against poverty, inequality and insecurity needs a stronger prescription
The COVID crisis is an opportunity to make the recognition of the role of social protection more permanent, and there is an almost unique opportunity to achieve this.