ABND: A good practices guide

The social protection floor (SPF) is a basic set of social security guarantees that should be extended to all. Following the adoption of the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), by the International Labour Conference (ILC) at its 101st Session in June 2012, “creating and extending social protection floors” became an Area of Critical Importance (ACI) for the International Labour Organization (ILO).

In the East and South-East Asia and the Pacific, the establishment of social protection floors has increasingly been recognized by ILO member States as an efficient approach to combating poverty, inequality, and exclusion and as a key element of national development strategies. The level of engagement on social protection among ILO member States has increased significantly as evidenced by the number of Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCPs) and United Nations (UN)/government development frameworks that prioritize the development of social protection and the provision of basic social security guarantees. The ILO has taken a leading role in promoting social protection floors and supporting member States in designing and implementing their national social protection strategies.

The design and establishment of social protection floors is a new area of work for the Organization, requiring the development and testing of new methodologies and tools to aid in the assessment of social protection situations, provide compelling and evidence-based recommendations to governments, ensure the sustainability of financing, and support the development of innovative implementation strategies and mechanisms in accordance with national circumstances.

This guide is a unique resource package that aims to provide the necessary knowledge and expertise for conducting assessment based national dialogue (ABND) exercises, which are the first steps towards the implementation of nationally defined social protection floors. Designed by practitioners for practitioners, it is based on real country cases and experiences. Its standardized and systematic approach can serve several purposes, including self-learning, delivering trainings or conducting full-fledged ABND exercises at the national level. It will be enriched in future with new experiences. It is structured along the lines of the ABND approach and includes hands-on exercises to allow users to gain practical knowledge and understanding.

Assessment based national dialogue: A good practices guide is available online