Promoting social protection for all through innovation and partnerships

Context

Social protection is a human right and key to sustainable and inclusive economic and social development. Anybody can be exposed to illness, unemployment, natural disasters or other risks in the course of their lives, yet over half of the world’s population still have little or no access to any form of social protection. In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the intensifying climate crisis and mounting food insecurity have drawn unprecedented attention to the importance of Universal Social Protection (USP), which is enshrined as Target 1.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Germany was a pioneer in developing social protection and is a major partner today in promoting USP in its partner countries and worldwide.

Objective

Selected countries are implementing innovative approaches to social protection.

Approach

SPIL takes a three-pronged approach:

1. It furthers the development and dissemination of the digital public good openIMIS. This benefits more than 10 million people in seven countries in managing their health insurance, employment injury insurance, cash transfers or voucher schemes. The GIZ-hosted Coordination Desk supports the openIMIS initiative by promoting the use, continuous development and further integration of the software into other digital systems.
    
2. With coordination offices on three continents, SPIL facilitates cross-border knowledge exchange and learning on Adaptive Social Protection (ASP) to make social protection systems more resilient to large-scale shocks and crises. High-level, collaborative public events foster global knowledge exchange, organise specialist workshops to expand the conceptual boundaries of ASP and provide tailored advice to operationalise ASP at country level.
    
3. In collaboration with the World Bank, SPIL provides technical assistance to improve social protection systems in selected countries, including Rwanda and Uzbekistan. It supports national and local governments in planning, steering and implementing social protection systems, including by developing effective digital architectures.

Last update: January 2023