Our expertise
- Gender
- Conflict
- Social Exclusion
- Social Protection
- Governance, Voice and Accountability
- Access to basic services
- Corporate Social Responsiblity
At the cutting edge>>Support to White Paper: Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future
SDDirect provided facilitating support to DFID's Social Protection Team recently during consultations for DFID's eagerly awaited new White Paper, Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future. The consultations brought together key DFID staff, academic and NGO partners to discuss social protection ideas at the cutting edge of the International Development Agenda.
In addition to the various public consultations held around the country, two meetings facilitated by SDDirect brought together key DFID staff, academic and NGO partners to discuss, in particular, the social protection ideas at the cutting edge of the International Development Agenda. Participants included DFID Senior Management and policy staff as well as representatives from leading academic institutions and think-tanks as well as International NGOs and others.
The White Paper aims to help build social protection systems to get help to 50 million people in over 20 countries over the next three years.
Following presentations by DFID's White Paper and Social Protection Teams, participants split into groups to discuss the key conceptual, political, strategic and economic issues around some of the latest social protection thinking - including the 'social protection floor'. This is a UN inter-agency proposal for a new deal in the global crisis - basic social security for all, providing a minimum standard below which no one should be allowed to fall, wherever they live in the world.
Discussions focused on the opportunity created by the current economic downturn to build protection of the poorest people from the long term, irreversible damage which often results from crises. Participants also discussed opportunities to 'build-back-better' - ensuring that the systems put in place now to protect the poorest are appropriate in the future once the crisis is over. The need to ensure a stronger role in these processes for civil society and governments from developing countries was also highlighted as well as the need to promote greater learning and sharing of approaches between developing countries themselves.
Valuable and robust insights were provided by participants, helping to inform DFID's social protection work and commitments later outlined in the White Paper.
The recently published White Paper highlights DFID's social protection focus over the next three years. These include a commitment to support improved social protection programmes in places at risk of malnutrition or food shortages. It aims to help build social protection systems to get help to 50 million people in over 20 countries over the next three years and working to ensure that social protection systems are in place to help the millions of vulnerable people who cannot produce or buy enough food to feed themselves and their families; also breaking the cycle of poverty across generations through access to quality basic services; 50 percent of future direct support for basic services (which still include social protection as outlined in the previous White Paper); working with the UN on monitoring the impact of the crisis on the poor and with the World Bank on a crisis response facility with an emphasis on long term social protection; use of new technologies to bring financial services to the poor, which might support the transfer of social payments for the very poor and vulnerable people.