The Indispensability of Social Protection and the Costs of Inaction

Social protection is a set of policies and programmes designed to reduce and prevent poverty and vulnerability over a lifetime and has consistently proved to be an indispensable policy tool for realising multiple human rights. It ensures that people can navigate everyday life challenges with equanimity and economic security and equips societies to deal with crises. In his keynote address to the IIEA, ILO Director-General Gilbert Houngbo outlines how social protection is a precondition for achieving inclusive and sustainable development and is an engine of development itself. He discusses how the ILO’s strategy for building social protection systems, guided by international labour standards, can ensure that all countries build and maintain systems such as access to essential health care and to basic income security. He explores how pursuing the objective of universal social protection is both an ethical and rational choice and one that paves the way for social justice for all. Despite laudable progress made in expanding social protection in recent years, today, some 4 billion people are totally unprotected due to significant underinvestment. While closing this 'financing gap' is a challenge, it is not unsurmountable.

About the Speaker:

Gilbert F. Houngbo was elected by the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) as its 11th Director-General, the first African to hold the position. Prior to this, Mr Houngbo was the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He previously served as Deputy Director-General for Field Operations and Partnerships at the ILO. A former Prime Minister of Togo, he also held several posts at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and as Director of Finance at the International Bank of Mali. Mr Houngbo is also Chair of UN-Water and Chair of the Board of the Natural Resource Governance Institute.