Inter-Agency Social Protection Assessment Tools

A series of Inter-Agency Social Protection Assessment (ISPA) tools are being developed at the request of the Social Protection Inter-Agency Coordination Board (SPIAC-B) through a multi-actor working group with the objective of establishing a unified set of definitions, assessment tools and outcome metrics to enable a country to assess its social protection system, identify potential social protection policies and reforms options and analyse trends over time. The tools build on the expertise from the different agencies and will serve to help countries working with bilateral and multilateral organizations in the effective development or revision and implementation of national social protection strategies in coordination with other social and economic development objectives.

Currently, the ILO is collaborating in multi-actor SPIAC-B technical working groups to develop three different Social Protection Assessment tools.

Each tool is comprised of:

  • A “What Matters” guidance note laying out the conceptual foundation for the assessment;
  • A related standardized questionnaire which serves as a data collection tool;
  • A field protocol which lays out the proposed processes to be followed before, during and after the assessment;
  • A country report outline that will present the results of the assessment.

The CODI tool provides a broad, overall assessment of the policies, programs and administrative arrangements in relation to national objectives and international principles and standards (to be pilot-tested).

CODI has been designed:

  • to map the policies, legal framework, schemes and programs of the social protection system in a given country, including adopted national objectives of the system;
  • to analyse social protection system performance against national social protection objectives and against international principles and standards;
  • to serve as an evidence base for country dialogue on how to strengthen a social protection system and identify policy options, taking into account local conditions.

CODI assesses the performance of social protection systems through the policy and regulatory framework (module 1), program design and implementation (module 2) and evaluates the overall system performance against a standardized set of performance criteria (module 3). The instrument is still under revision and has not yet been pilot-tested.

The public works tool has been developed and tested in El Salvador and Liberia and it is currently under revision.

Public Work programs have progressively become a key component of many social protection systems. The tool assesses key issues in the design and implementation of public work programs through eight modules including: conceptual planning, eligibility and targeting, nature of benefit, timing and duration of the program; asset creation and services; institutional arrangements; monitoring & evaluation and accountability; harmonization and integration with other programs; skills and employability; and conditions of work and labour practices. The instrument has been piloted in El Salvador and Liberia and it is currently under revision.

A tool assessing systems for the identification of beneficiaries has been developed and tested in Peru and Djibouti and it is currently under revision.

Identification systems are an integral part of the design and implementation of Social Protection policies. Through this tool, assessment is made of how inclusive, robust and integrated, identification systems are.