In this episode, we will tackle the elephant in the room when it comes to discussions around universal approaches to social protection: financing.
While high- and middle-income countries are in a better position to increase the share of domestic resources allocated to social protection, either through taxation, social contributions, etc., a considerable number of countries lack the means for domestic financing. This is why international financing mechanisms are increasingly being called for, most notably in the form of a global fund for social protection.
But what shape should such a fund take? What are the lessons available to date? How to address the coverage gaps in social protection given differences in fiscal space? And finally, how did the COVID-19 pandemic influence those trends in social protection financing?
These and other questions are addressed by our guests in this episode:
Charles Lwanga-Ntale, Independent Consultant
Helmut Schwarzer, Head of Public Finance, Actuarial and Statistics Unit of the Social Protection Department at the International Labour Organization
Marcus Manuel, Independent Consultant

Plus, to contribute to our monthly segment of ‘Quick Wins’ which highlights news, achievements, and research that have shaped recent developments and sparked our interest, we heard from:
Dr. Zina Nimeh, Associate Professor of Public Policy at UNU-MERIT and Maastricht

Links from the episode:
A/HRC/47/36: Global fund for social protection: international solidarity in the service of poverty eradication - Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
Blog series: Global Financing
A Global Fund for Social Protection to promote policy and fiscal space to make the right to social protection a reality for all