European Commission Communication on Social Protection in EU Development Cooperation Brussels, 3rd December 2012

1. Why is social protection important? Persistent poverty and increasing vulnerability. i. The Agenda for Change: inclusive sustainable growth for human development; focus on sectors which build the foundations of growth and help ensure it is inclusive, notably social protection, health and education. ii. Recent trend of growth without equity, as countries graduate. iii. Poverty associated with marginalisation, exacerbated by the crisis.

Social Protection in Support of Inclusive Development In general, increased equity and access to basic services in support of poverty reduction But no one size fits all [tailor-made solutions]

SP in EU Development Cooperation Council Conclusions 11068/07 EP Resolution 2011/2047

The purpose of the communication: '…to explain the role of SP in underpinning inclusive and sustainable development and the role of EU dev. Cooperation in supporting the strengthening of social protection policies and systems.'

2. What is social protection and what can it do? Social protection may be broadly defined therefore as policies and actions that: enhance the capacity of all people, but notably poor and vulnerable groups, to escape from poverty, or avoid falling into poverty, and better manage risks and shocks and aim at providing a higher level of social security through income security and access to essential services (in particular, health and education) throughout active and inactive periods and periods of need throughout the life-cycle.

How Social Protection supports inclusive development Increases access to public services Enables risk management Promotes income stability Reduces inequality (social compact/cohesion) Provides intergenerational equity

3. SP in The European Union SP at the heart of EU social model The problems EU faces today (and solutions - Europe 2020)

4. Social Protection in Developing Economies In MICs the challenges are to broaden coverage and to improve efficiency. In LICs funding and institutional capacity are the main constraints.

The common challenge: sustainable financing, extending coverage, building capacity. Renewed commitment by the international community: the Social Protection Floors Initiative

5. The future direction of EU Development Cooperation in support of social protection. “The goal of EU development cooperation in supporting SP is to improve equity and efficiency in provision, while supporting inclusion and social cohesion.” In chapter 5 we provide a principled policy basis for future EU action, which can be seen to correspond to the horizontal and vertical axes of the SP floors – we will support horizontal expansion of SP to include all, especially the poorest and most vulnerable and we will support the progressive improvement of systems.

ii) Supporting national policies and programmes i) Placing social protection at the centre of dialogue on national development strategies ii) Supporting national policies and programmes iii) Revenue reform for fiscal space iv) Capacity building for strong institutions v) EU Added value in technical cooperation vi) Support for job creation and employment vii) Bring in civil society and the private sector viii) Support for transformative social protection and social justice ix) Gender in social protection Statement of how our future programming can support the strengthening of social protection.

6. Development cooperation Programming and modalities. SP may be a focal sector or a dimension in other sector programmes. All aid modalities are relevant. Budget Support can be particularly appropriate. 7. Differentiated development partnerships LICs/ MICs. Role of Social Protection in addressing persistent poverty in graduating/emerging economies makes it essential to maintain its place in policy/political dialogue in countries that will no longer have bilateral programmes.

8. Coordinated EU action. Increased coordination at field level – joint action in support of nationally owned policies, including social protection floors. 9. Improved coherence among EU policies. - Ensuring consistency with all other relevant EU policies: for example on Trade and Migration. - Strengthening cooperation with Member States

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm

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Thematic Groups on Capacity4dev.eu Brussels, 3rd December 2012

Capacity4dev.eu: http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu DG DEVCO's collaborative and knowledge sharing platform Growing online community for development practitioners Aims to support the quality of aid and its impact

Capacity4dev Groups: http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu/groups The place where most of the collaboration and knowledge / information exchange happens Engage the wider development community to exchange on specific issues

Public Group on Employment and Social Protection

Disability and Development Network