About the workshop

The workshop Social Protection Floor Rapid Assessment, costing and design: from tools and methodology to practical implementation was organized from November 15 -19, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The objectives were as followed:

OBJ1. Better understand the Social protection floor approach and exchange with others on country situations, national social protection floor strategies & initiatives to extend social protection

In the different countries represented in the workshop the social protection situation is diverse, although all countries are committed to the establishment of social protection measures for the poor and the vulnerable. The workshop aimed to foster exchanges between participants and extract good lessons / best practice examples.

OBJ 2. Understand the main steps for the establishment of a SPF in a country:

Awareness raising --> creation of national SPF taskforces & SPF UN Team --> assessment of the initial situation, including stocktaking and mapping, analysis and identification of priority areas for intervention --> identification of policy options, design and costing --> fiscal space analysis --> communication, coordination, piloting --> legislation --> implementation --> monitoring, evaluation including a cost benefit analysis

OBJ3. Have an overview of the different ILO quantitative tools and how the tools that will be presented during the training (assessment & costing) fit into the broader spectrum of existing tools (SSI, Assessment, Costing of SPF, SPER & Social budget, GESS)

OBJ4. Understand the rapid assessment process, methodology, toolkit and the basic calculations behind the assessment, practice some of these calculations

The assessment is not only about describing the situation: covered population, benefit levels, quality and level of services. It is also about developing a critical view of the present situation, identifying the good practices, the weak points, the priority needs, the potentials and constraints. This will provide a baseline against which progress in the country can be measured over time to see if SPF policy measures introduced after the assessment are moving the country into the right direction.

The assessment is also a political tool. It will identify obvious areas for government interventions, and should therefore "feed" a national dialogue on these priorities. Areas of intervention are diverse and may include: the development or scaling up of social protection components, the improvement of coordination, the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation mechanism, etc.

OBJ5. Explain how you plan to use the assessment methodology and toolkit in your country, after the training

Through this training, the objective was also to gain technical expertise on the design and costing of social protection floor components, by using and understanding a calculation tool developed jointly by the ILO and UNICEF. How to use the tool? What can the tool do? (what cannot it do?)

OBJ6. Understand the ILO-UNICEF costing tool, and start using it with country data, Explain how you plan to use the costing tool in your country, after the training, given the development process of the social protection floor.

OBJ7. Think / exchange on other issues that arise when Designing & piloting the SPF implementation: coordination, monitoring and evaluation, delivery mechanisms, linkages with ALMPs, etc.

OBJ8. Consolidate all the knowledge and reflexion gained during the training in a "road map" or action plan on the next steps that will be proposed to the government and followed by the ILO and other UN agencies supporting the implementation of the SPF

These "road maps" or action plans may include the following activities:

Conduct of the Assessment + national dialogue (or provincial dialogue) on the priority social protection programmes to be implemented first
Costing & design of these programmes
Establishment of a coordination mechanism between stakeholders
Establishment of a monitoring and evaluation system to monitor the progress of the implementation of the social protection programmes and evaluation of their impact at households' level (on vulnerabilities) and at provincial level (cost-benefit analysis)
Design of mechanisms that will ensure a proper delivery of social services (or establishment of measures to improve the present delivery of existing social services & social protection schemes)
Piloting of schemes and/or scaling up of schemes
Development of linkages between central organisations and local organisations, etc.

The participants will leave the training with:

Practical knowledge on how to conduct an Assessment
Practical knowledge on SPF Design & costing
Clear SPF plans developed per country / province (including some of the steps mentioned previously)
Understanding on how to work with ILO and other UN agencies on the implementation of these plans