Social Protection

Building social protection floors
and comprehensive social security systems

Participants in the Social Protection Floor Initiative

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with the support of:

  • The Social Protection Floor Initiative will be owned by national stakeholders, including governments (ministries of labour, health, finance, agriculture,...), social partners and national NGO's
  • UN agencies (such as ILO, WHO, FAO, IMF, OHCHR, UN Regional Commissions, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNDESA, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNHABITAT, UNHCR, UNODC, UNRWA, WFP, WMO) other international organizations such as the World Bank and Regional Development Banks, and bilateral donors and international NGO's.

 The ILO and WHO are the lead agencies for the SPF Initiative, but they will collaborate with all the different stakeholders (the SPF Initiative transcends the mandate of any individual agency).

It is important to bring together all the existing knowledge of the different UN agencies engaged in Social Protection activities. The cooperating agencies will share information about their Social Protection related activities in different countries that are useful for the development of the SPF. On the pages below (organized per organization) you can find the following information:

  • Education, Training and Capacity Building activities
  • National, regional and global conferences for sharing of experiences and cross-border knowledge sharing
  • Tools, manuals, guidelines
  • Websites, Internet platforms or links
  • Databases/statistics
  • Publications, Policy Briefs, Country Case Studies, Best practices, especially regarding country assessment of existing national social protection systems

More information about the participating agencies:

  1.  ILO: Governments, employers' and workers' organizations considered that the highest priority should be given to "policies and initiatives that bring social security to those who are not covered by existing systems". At the International Labour Conference in June 2001, they asked the ILO to launch a Global Campaign on Social Security and Coverage for All.

    Since its creation in 1919, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has actively promoted policies and provided assistance to countries to supply adequate levels of social protection to all members of society. Access to an adequate level of social protection is recognized in the Declaration of Philadelphia on the aims and purposes of the ILO, in subsequent ILO declarations and in a number of International labour standards as a basic right of all individuals. Furthermore, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights recognize the right to social security for everyone. The Social Security Department, with its long experience in the field of technical cooperation activities, research and policy development on issues dealing with social security, provides ILO member States with tools and assistance to achieve and maintain for its peoples this right.
  2. WHO:  WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system.
  3. UNICEF:
  4. UNDESA:
  5. UNDP:
  6. World Bank: