Chapter 7: Social Protection

Social protection is “an integrated set of policies and programs designed to provide income security and support to all people across the life cycle, with particular attention to the poor and the vulnerable.” It has been an important element of intergovernmental policy discourse at the United Nations aimed at finding an appropriate response to major challenges of poverty, vulnerability and exclusion that many countries are striving to address.

Approached from different perspectives, social protection has been endorsed by specialists as a desirable form of social transfer aimed at protecting purchasing power and access to social services of families and individuals in the face of various life contingencies. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 at the United Nations General Assembly highlight social protection as an effective instrument for achieving several key goals of the 2030 Agenda, particularly reducing and preventing poverty (SDGs 1.3).