Social protection

Social protection encompasses a wide range of policies and activities in different areas that are geared towards the exercise of economic, social and cultural rights in the labour market, and in relation to nutrition, health systems, pensions and care provision, as well as seeking to ensure decent levels of income. A key to evaluating social protection systems is to determine if they contribute to furthering economic, social and cultural rights and how they respond to the dynamics of risks and their social distribution: in other words, whether protection systems diversify risk, and whether they widen or narrow the gaps between income, individual risk and desired levels of protection. From this perspective, as part of its research work and the technical assistance it provides to countries in the region, the Social Development Division analyses and evaluates social protection and makes policy proposals aimed at building coordinated and inclusive systems grounded in citizens’ rights.