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F O R E W O R D

A transformative new global development agenda was adopted by UN Member States at the General Assembly in September 2015 in New York. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a shared global framework - universally applicable to both rich and poor countries alike - that seeks to reconcile the social, economic and environmental dimensions of development in the interest of human dignity. As such, Agenda 2030 sets out to tackle persistent challenges of ending extreme poverty and hunger, reducing inequality, achieving gender equality, educating all children and improving global health, while simultaneously addressing deep-rooted environmental issues, such as water scarcity, biodiversity loss, deforestation, rapid urbanization and a changing climate.

A defining feature of this new agenda is its determination to leave no one behind - an ethos adopted due to widespread concern over growing inequalities which, in their multiple dimensions, have often left people excluded from development gains. Poor and marginalized groups are particularly vulnerable to various shocks throughout life cycles, whether they stem from social, environmental and/or economic factors. These fluctuations subject millions of people each year to greater risk of sinking below the poverty line or remaining trapped in cycles of poverty for generations. Strengthening social policies and social policy frameworks, including those anchored in social protection, can offer powerful tools for the fight against poverty and inequality, and play a fundamental role in creating more inclusive and sustainable pathways. However, it is critical that these tools adequately integrate the multiple vulnerabilities of citizens – including those posed by environmental degradation – since many of the world’s poor continue to depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. Despite the realization that social protection plays a fundamental role in increasing citizen resilience and unleashing positive spin-offs in health, decent work, food and income security, among other areas, an estimated 80 percent of the global population has little or no access to comprehensive social protection. It is against this backdrop that Agenda

2030 has integrated social protection into Goal 1 on poverty, while calling for the implementation of nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all by 2030.

The following flagship report focusing on Social Protection for Sustainable Development (SP4SD) serves as a companion policy analysis for national and global advocacy on inclusive, equitable and sustainable development. It looks at the role that social protection can play in this effort, which can be instrumental, coordinating, enabling and resilience-building. The report highlights the impressive gains in human development and poverty eradication achieved through the world-renowned Brazilian social protection scheme and explores the conceptual and practical mechanics of its functioning to provide insights for the design and adoption of social protection schemes in Africa and beyond. Compiling the excellent contributions that informed the April 2015 Dakar Seminar hosted by the UNDP World Centre for Sustainable Development (RIO+ Centre), in collaboration with the UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa, the African Union Commission, the Government of Senegal, the Government of Brazil and the Lula Institute, the report positions social protection in the context of delivering with and for the poor, while building new foundations for sustainable human development. The report counts mainly on voices from the South and explores prospects for furthering development-driven South-South cooperation, with a focus on Brazil and Africa.

Now more than ever, the challenges faced by governments and development partners are complex and interlinked. Climate change, rapid urbanization and the degradation of the natural environment are putting more people at risk of poverty, disease outbreaks and natural disasters. While the vital policy links between poverty reduction and natural resource management have often been overlooked, there is growing recognition that integrated social protection systems can effectively contribute to all dimensions of sustainable development. Some countries have introduced measures that combine elements of conditional cash transfers and payment for

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ecosystem services schemes to advance objectives of poverty reduction and sustainable natural resource management concurrently, thereby reducing vulnerabilities in both the immediate and long term. In Africa, countries such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho and Mauritius have adopted social protection policies and programmes, including targeted school feeding and cash transfers, to improve the lives of their most vulnerable citizens. Yet, so far, only 20 percent of the continent’s poorest people have access to resources that help them cope when shocks hit or provide opportunities to climb out of poverty. UNDP has been an active proponent of comprehensive social protection systems, with a US$100 million portfolio of social protection projects underway in over 50 countries in 2014.

The role of social protection as an effective tool for sustainable development is reaffirmed in Agenda 2030 and explicitly cited as a target under Goals 1 and 10 (poverty and inequality

respectively), with inevitable linkages across the goals on health, employment, labour laws and unpaid care work, among others.

The present report “Strengthening Social Protection for Sustainable Development: Dialogues between Africa and Brazil” is a primer for action. It promotes the adoption of integrated and comprehensive social protection policies and programmes that are not only designed as technical solutions to address the shortcomings of current development models. These models produce multiple vulnerabilities for a range of citizens who either do not benefit equally from their country’s progress or who, throughout their life cycle, face moments of risk and need for protection. Instead, the programmes promoted here are driven by conviction and a non-partisan political vision owned by the state, based on the recognition of human rights and accepted as a cornerstone of citizen-state relations, otherwise known as the social contract.

Magdy Martínez-Solimán, Assistant Administrator and Director

UNDP Bureau for Policy and Programme Support

Abdoulaye Mar Dieye,Assistant Administrator and Director

UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa