How to Finance Inclusive Social Protection

A guide to financing social protection developed by UNESCAP to support policymakers and practitioners in Asia and the Pacific in their efforts to strengthen social protection. Development Pathways contributed to the policy guide, the fourth and final part of a series, which examines ways to finance social protection and outlines options for securing increased investment through government revenues.

The guide explores a range of options for mobilising resources to close gaps in basic, tax-financed social protection coverage with investments of 1-2% of a country’s GDP, including increasing taxation revenues, reallocating low-impact expenditure such as fuel subsidies, and tapping into fiscal and central bank foreign exchange reserves and borrowing where this has minimal impact on their fiscal situation. It also refers to how, while tax-financed schemes are vital to help those most in need, these can be complemented with contributory schemes.

The e-learning guides are featured in a UNESCAP online Social Protection ‘Toolbox’ to support countries to understand the role of social protection in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and to assist them to build knowledge and capacity.