e-GCSPF #42 – Civil Society Call for a Global Fund for Social Protection - September 2020

In view of the global harm from the COVID-19 pandemic, with food insecurity, poverty and loss of livelihoods rising globally, it is essential that national social protection floors are made available to all people – through nation and international solidarity. While recognising that the foremost responsibility for social protection lies at country level, the pandemic puts a spotlight on the need for international solidarity. What is needed is the creation of a solidarity based Global Fund for Social Protection to support countries design, implement and, in specific cases, finance national floors of social protection. It is the adequate multilateral initiative needed to respond to Covid-19 and to build a better future.

The GCSPF is calling on the world’s governments support low-income countries to expand and improve their social protection systems through the establishment of a Global Fund for Social Protection.
This Fund will enable low-income countries to implement national social protection systems that ensure income protection for all by providing temporary co-financing and facilitating access to technical support. Read more

Sharan Burrow (General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, ITUC), Prof. Olivier De Schutter (UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights), Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmena (Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), Presiding Bishop Dr. Shoo (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania – ELCT), Joycia Thorat (Project Officer of the Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action) and Dr. Tavengwa M Nhongo (Director of the Africa Platform for Social Protection - APSP) guide us through different aspects of this new Global Fund explaining why we need the Fund and how it would work.

In expressing her support for the Call, Sharan Burrow, the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) stressed the importance of social protection in protecting people from the impacts of this crisis and the next: “Covid-19 has exposed the global scandal of a world without social protection for all. 70% of the world’s people have no or inadequate social protection, no income protection, no guaranteed access to health, no child protection and many other vital areas that ensure people are resilient against global shocks. Unions and civil society groups are calling for a Global Social Protection Fund for the poorest and most vulnerable of people. Join us, make the call for a Global Social Protection Fund!” Watch the video
Sharan Burrow addressed the High-Level Event on “Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond” on May 28 and she expressed that “today 70 per cent of the world’s people cannot count on the security of social protection. We need a global mechanism – GFSP – to help countries most in need to sustain and expand protection in times of crises and to build resilience.” Watch the video

Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, emphasized that “many poor countries are small and have a poorly diversified economy and they may be experiencing shocks, economic shocks, a loss of export revenues, a sudden increase of import bills, climatic shocks, droughts and floods, or indeed epidemics, as we have seen most recently. And these countries may be wary about committing to provide their populations with the support they need in the form of standing rights-based Social Protection Floors that people may claim as entitlements. So we need to support these countries by providing them the ability to be insured in times of crisis, to make sure that the Social Protection Floors they establish shall be affordable, even in times of crisis. There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come, and I strongly believe that that is the case for the Global Fund for Social Protection.” Watch the video

Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmena, Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, reaffirms that “In 2012 we called on states to establish a Global Fund for Social Protection. Today, this goal is more important than ever. Despite being a basic human right, it is estimated that only 29 per cent of the world population enjoy access to comprehensive rights-based social security coverage. I welcome this new initiative by CSO to put the Global Fund again at the center of our call for social justice and for the pursuit of the 2030 Human Development Agenda.” Watch the video

Presiding Bishop Dr. Shoo (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania – ELCT) emphasized that this pandemic reminds us that “we have a moral obligation to ensure that during great disasters and challenges no one is left behind. It is time for the global human community to consider establishing a Global Fund for Social Security to which will ensure that even the most vulnerable, not only during pandemic like this, or natural disasters times, but even in their day-to-day lives have access to healthcare.” Watch the video

Joycia Thorat (Project Officer, Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action) tells us that “millions of people have lost their jobs and livelihood in India and around the globe due to the pandemic situation. It is very critical to have a Social Protection Fund to support the people who have lost their jobs, who are working in the unorganized sector, who are working as daily wage earners, as agricultural laborers, as housemaids. And mostly women are getting affected due to this Covid situation. It is important that we protect all of them through the Social Protection Fund, so we can have another world, where everybody can live equally, safe and in dignity.” Watch the video

Dr. Tavengwa M Nhongo, Director of the Africa Platform for Social Protection (APSP), expressed that “the Global Fund for Social Protection is a solidarity fund that will ensure the development and delivery of universal social protection programmes by all nations, to all citizens and for the common good of all.” Watch the video