1. Introduction

Governments had increasingly recognized social protection as a key policy instrument to build a more productive, protected and healthy population in Asia and the Pacific. In 2020, ESCAP member States endorsed the regional Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection (Action Plan), which served as a shared vision, strategy and platform for promoting partnership and peer learning and identifying needs for capacity development. The Action Plan set out 12 national actions that underpinned the achievement of more inclusive and comprehensive social protection systems, ranging from upholding the right to social protection in legislative and regulatory frameworks, to ensuring a more effective design, coordination and delivery of social protection schemes.

To support member States in the implementation of the regional Action Plan, ESCAP had been mandated to facilitate peer learning as well as take stock of the readiness of countries to implement the Action Plan and achieve more inclusive and comprehensive social protection systems. Pilot stocktaking initiatives had been conducted in six countries across Asia and the Pacific (Cambodia, Georgia, Maldives, Mongolia, the Philippines and Türkiye) to share national experiences and pathways towards this vision and in 2024 ESCAP this work was expanded to Fiji, Nepal and Thailand. 

Social protection systems were also confronted by an increasingly volatile risk scape in Asia and the Pacific. As they were being increasingly called on to deliver support during crisis and shock situations, there was a need to review how to identify and measure new vulnerabilities to different types of shocks and how these could be incorporated into social protection schemes. With increasing attention towards adaptive and shock-responsive social protection systems, policymakers would need to define how to address preparedness, early warning systems, post-crises rehabilitation as well as financing mechanisms to respond to climate change-related shocks and build climate resilience. 

Social protection also played an important role in building people’s resilience in the context of slow onset events, such as sea level rise, increasing temperatures, and land and forest degradation. In the shift towards a carbon neutral economy, social protection could help smoothen people’s transition and facilitate mitigation and adaptation measures. In addition to climate-specific social protection measures, robust social protection floors would be needed to ensure people were resilient across the lifecycle. 

It was important to consider these emerging issues within the social protection framework in Thailand, and thus ESCAP, jointly with the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council and in close collaboration with RCO, Thailand, had prepared a report to address these emerging issues, as well as the overall situation of social protection. A national consultation was conducted with stakeholders from relevant ministries and stakeholders to discuss and review the findings of the report and agree on proposed recommendations. The consultation also engaged participants in groupwork discussions on climate change and social protection, bringing together stakeholders from both climate change and social protection sectors, to identify entry points to strengthen their interlinkages. 

In the afternoon, a closed meeting was held to discuss preparations for a 3-year project on “Building capacity to deliver social protection systems that would foster resilience to climate change and strengthen peace and development in Asia and the Pacific” with NESDC and relevant stakeholders.

2. Objectives of National Consultation

The objectives of the National Consultation were to:

• Share initiatives and ambitions of Government of Thailand to achieve more inclusive and comprehensive social protection systems for all, including in the context of changing climate. 
• Initiate a national dialogue on climate change and social protection with relevant stakeholders.
• Identify key progress and challenges of Government of Thailand to implement the Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection.
• Discuss the findings and recommendations of the draft report.

3.Participants

Participants were key stakeholders in relevant ministries, UN agencies, funds and programmes, development partners and other stakeholders.

4. Format

Representatives from government and stakeholders were invited to share their views on ways to strengthen the social protection system in Thailand through groupwork and plenary discussion, as inputs to the report and its recommendations.