Introduction
Social protection systems have played a key role in mitigating the unprecedented health, economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid reaction and implementation of an unprecedented number of emergency non-contributory social protection measures to guarantee a level of consumption and well-being in the most vulnerable households in the region demonstrates this. Between March 2020 and December 2022, there are 506 measures announced by 33 countries in the region. The expansion or implementation of pre-existing and new measures has made it possible to achieve quite high total coverage of the population that, due to the active search for potential recipients, incorporates populations previously invisible by social information records (informal workers, migrants and young people). , among others).
The trajectory of these measures has been diverse and while some have come close to an emergency basic income, in other cases, they have been specific and short-term measures. It should be noted that some of these measures remain in force to date despite the improvement in the epidemiological indicators of the pandemic and are increasingly being considered as part of the social protection matrices of the countries and in response to the increase in the price of food and rising inflation.
The rapid and effective adoption of cash and in-kind transfers, as well as increasing the amounts and coverage of existing transfers, played a key role in mitigating increases in poverty. Likewise, they have contributed to the discussion on the possibility of deploying income guarantees as a permanent policy of universal social protection systems, also highlighting the debate on a universal basic income. Although the proposal comes from previous decades, the context of the COVID-19 pandemic renews its discussion given the need to have instruments that contain the impacts of the crisis and permanently ensure the income and well-being of people regardless of their situation. socioeconomic status and their stage in the life cycle. This debate coexists with other options that can also be implemented to protect income levels in a short-term (in the face of a crisis) or stable manner. Taken as a whole, these options imply a radical change in the prevailing welfare regimes in the region so that they move from targeted mechanisms towards universality and sufficiency, with concern for the financial sustainability of present social protection. Likewise, they also imply facing the structural challenges – of inequality, vulnerability and informality – and emerging ones – associated, among others, with the great technological, labor market and demographic transformations and the climate crisis.
Although the crises generated by the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the structural weaknesses faced by social protection systems and their challenges in terms of operation and coverage, they also opened up opportunities to rethink social protection systems and consider protection instruments for income. This is especially important at a time when crises overlap, including an unstable global scenario and the increase in food prices, and it is essential to have pre-established instruments to deal with emergencies, crises and disasters. It is therefore urgent to consolidate universal, comprehensive, sustainable and resilient social protection systems, from a rights, gender and life cycle approach. These social protection systems must be consolidated in such a way that they make it possible not only to eradicate poverty, but also to decisively reduce inequalities and guarantee the exercise of people’s social rights, being the basis for the construction of a new social, fiscal and intergenerational pact in the region.
Among other areas, this implies deepening the discussion on the lessons learned from the social protection measures adopted to face the pandemic, analyzing the feasibility of options to universalize social protection systems and evaluating instruments that make it possible to guarantee adequate income levels in the face of multiple crisis and permanently. Faced with a risk structure in the process of change, it is also essential to strengthen the articulation between contributory and non-contributory social protection policies, and between these policies and those of a sectoral nature and those of labor inclusion. This will make it possible to advance towards sustainable development with equality and towards fully democratic societies, with higher levels of social cohesion and stability to face the challenges of the current context.
The role of cooperation and dialogue between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe is key to promoting exchange and advancing in the implementation of best practices to build universal, comprehensive and sustainable social protection systems, making it possible to identify common challenges in this matter on the basis of evidence and promote the social, economic and political viability of the necessary reforms within the framework of a welfare state.
objectives
This event is inserted in the framework of the Projects “Social protection and vulnerability: universal social protection systems in Latin America” of the Facility for Development in Transition, financed by the European Union and the ECLAC-BMZ/giz Project “Transformative Reactivation : Overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean”. This event contributes to the preparatory work for the Fifth Meeting of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The event has as main objectives:
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Promote an ideal space to present the main findings of the investigations and documents generated within the framework of projects aimed at strengthening universal social protection systems in the face of crises within the framework of a welfare state.
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Generate a favorable environment for the exchange of experiences, instruments and perspectives in social protection and discuss innovative proposals for the construction of universal systems and instruments aimed at guaranteeing income levels.
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Promote interregional dialogue and exchange, particularly between countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe, on the lessons learned to face the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities to move towards universal social protection systems.
Methodology
The session will take place in a round table format in which the lessons for social protection systems will be addressed from the responses during the pandemic, the challenges for the universality and sustainability of social protection systems in the current context and the construction of key instruments that aim at this objective, based on findings contained in documents generated within the framework of the projects. It will be followed by comments from specialists based on comparative research in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe on these issues. This session will be open to the external public.