The SPF team in Thailand

The Social Protection Floor Joint Team in Thailand was created in March 2010. It includes the ILO (chair), United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office (UNRCO), UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, UNESCO, UNDP, UN WOMEN and the World Bank. The main objective of the SPF Joint Team is to contribute to building a holistic and coherent national social protection system, closing the coverage gaps and reducing inequalities.

Since its inception, the SPF Joint Team has been a useful and efficient coordination and knowledge sharing mechanism, building capacities on social protection within the UN system in Thailand, among government agencies, workers’ and employers’ representatives and the civil society; promoting with one voice the progressive development of a more comprehensive social protection floor in Thailand; sharing Thailand’s experience through videos and publication, and sharing with Thai counterparts important milestones achieved at the global level.

The SPF Joint Team is one of the UNRCO’s joint task teams, and was given the responsibility to prepare the social protection chapter of the United Nations Partnership Agreement Framework (UNPAF) 2012-16. The matrix not only indicates each agency’s own programme of activities in response to the needs of the national counterparts, but also tries to identify what the UN system as a whole can provide in response to these needs.

From June 2011 to May 2013, the SPF Joint Team engaged line ministries, UN agencies, social partners, civil society organizations, academia and other relevant stakeholders to assess the social protection situation in Thailand, identify policy gaps and implementation issues, and draw appropriate policy recommendations for the achievement of a comprehensive social protection floor in Thailand. The report “Social protection assessment based national dialogue: Towards a nationally defined social protection floor in Thailand” was launched by the Royal Thai Government (RTG) and the Joint Team in May 2013. Please see box No. 10 for more information.

The SPF Joint Team has also helped to write two social protection floor success stories, on the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) and the universal, tax-financed 500 baht Pension Scheme (published in a joint ILO-UNDP publication “Sharing innovative experiences: Successful social protection floors experiences”).

It participated in the organisation and facilitation of a Development Cooperation Seminar on “Social Protection: Towards Universal Coverage in Thailand”, hosted in November 2010 by UNRCO and the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) which resulted in a number of policy recommendations for the design of a welfare society in Thailand by 2017.

The team contributed to the organization of a number of consultative meetings and training workshops on social protection which progressively shaped a shared vision of the social protection situation, policy gaps and implementation issues, as well as increased the technical capacities of national counterparts (e.g. on costing social protection floors benefits). 

The highlights: 

• Consultative meeting on Social Protection Floor in Thailand, 10 Aug. 2011,

• Costing SPF Coverage Gaps in Thailand: Methodology and First Results Workshop, 30 Nov. 2011

• Civil Society Forum on Social Protection Floor in Thailand, 23 Feb. 2012,

• Assessment Based National Dialogue Workshop: “Final Results and Recommendations to the Government”, 16 Mar. 2012

• Hands-on Training Course on “How to Cost, Finance and Monitor Social Protection Schemes” from 15 to 17 May 2012

• Training course on "Social Protection: Assessment, Costing and Beyond" organized by ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team (DWT) Bangkok, in close collaboration with the Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University, from 15 to 19 Oct 2012.

• The UN-Royal Thai Joint Team on Social Protection launched the Social Protection Assessment Based National Dialogue report, encompassing the social protection situation in Thailand, the identification of policy gaps and implementation issues and the proposal of appropriate policy recommendations for the achievement of a comprehensive social protection floor in Thailand,15 May 2013. 

• In collaboration with the Royal Thai government and the GIP-SPSI (France – public interest group for international health and social protection), the SPF Joint Team has started the design and implementation of a Long Term Care system for the elderly in Thailand, in 2013. 

The team has raised awareness on the social protection situation through the development of a 26 minutes video on Building a Social Protection Floor in Thailand and a public service announcement (PSA) Why is Social Protection Imprortant to me? which was broadcasted on a number of Thai TVs such as True vision,  Channel 11, and MCOT. It also developed an education tool Let's learn about social protection which aims to raise awareness and increase knowledge on social protection for children in the 10-12 years age group.

The UN Social Protection Floor Joint Team in Thailand is an example of effective inter-agency collaboration. Each agency brings its own expertise and puts forward the needs and expectations of its national counterparts. At the same time, the social protection agenda is coordinated through continuous communication, regular meetings, and the design and implementation of joint projects and activities. This long-term cooperation enhances the coherence and the relevance of interventions. In terms of advocacy, working as one team is an efficient option: the UN SPF Joint Team is increasingly recognized as the UN voice on social protection in the country and is the basis for partnerships with the Royal Thai Government on social protection.

This workspace aims at sharing the SPF Join Team experience in Thailand. It also allows member of the team to  share working documents, discuss issues raised during meetings, etc.