100 years of social protection
ILO’s 100 years of social protection: The road to universal social protection systems and floors is a compendium of 100 inspiring country stories about building social protection systems and floors. It includes stories about the historical development of social protection in countries, showing that building social protection systems is a progressive process that relies on national dialogue. It shows how international social security standards and the development of comprehensive legal frameworks can contribute to creating coherent social security systems that leave no one behind. It highlights that national ownership – enhanced through dialogue and the creation of a culture for social protection – is key to developing sustainable social protection systems and floors. It provides practical examples of how countries have significantly extended coverage, or even achieved universal coverage, through cash transfers for children, maternity benefits, unemployment benefits, employment injury insurance, old-age and disability pensions and universal health protection. It also provides practical solutions to the challenges of creating fiscal space for social protection and of reaching workers in the informal economy, rural workers, migrants, victims of climate-related events and workers in new forms of employment. This first volume of 50 cases will be followed by a second volume of 50 more cases, all published during the year of the ILO Centenary.
This compendium should be useful to social protection experts, policy-makers and advocates who wish to make a significant contribution to the 2030 Agenda by building social protection systems, including floors, with a view to achieving universal social protection. Many of the authors of these country stories are policy-makers and technical experts who have participated in the development of such national systems and floors. All of them were driven by the same vision – that of a world where the right to social protection should be a reality for all – and a sense of duty to build a better world for future generations, a world with social protection.
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