Context
Social protection is a human right. It is also key to sustainable and inclusive economic and social development for individuals, communities and countries. Anybody can be exposed to illness, unemployment, natural disasters or other risks in the course of their life. And yet over half of the world’s population still have little or no access to any form of social protection. Attaining universal social protection (USP) by the year 2030 has been enshrined as Target 1.3 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The COVID-19 pandemic, with its health, economic, and social consequences, has drawn unprecedented global attention to the importance of USP.
Germany was a pioneer in developing social protection in the late 19th century. Today it plays a major role in promoting USP in its partner countries and worldwide, as well as in the Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection ‘USP2030’, of which it is a founding member. During the present ‘Decade of Implementation’ of the SDGs, Germany is focussing on two of the greatest current challenges to attaining USP:
1) enhancing the efficiency of social protection programmes including the digitalisation of information management and,
2) going beyond emergency relief in disaster-stricken regions to foster sustainable resilience through adaptive social protection (ASP).
Objective
Selected countries are implementing innovative approaches to social protection.