ESCAP holds a National Consultation and Expert Group Meeting on social protection in the Philippines
On 12 December 2022, ESCAP conducted a one-day event on social protection in the Philippines. The event was convened in collaboration with DSWD, NEDA and the UNRCO.
The morning session discussed the draft report on the Philippines’ Readiness to Implement the Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection in Asia and the Pacific and gathered some 50 participants from key Departments, the national Sub-Committee on Social Protection, as well as key international entities and civil society organisations. Participants discussed the realization of universal social protection and debated the proposed recommendations to implement the 12 national actions in the Action Plan. The consultation served as an important forum to lay out government directions on social protection as it launches the upcoming Philippines National Development Plan 2023-2028, as well as its accompanying National Social Protection Plan.
In the afternoon, ESCAP conducted an Expert Group Meeting on its SPOT Social Protection Simulator. The Meeting helped strengthen capacity to identify the impact of non-contributory social protection benefits on key development outcomes such as poverty, inequality and consumption and the cost of these interventions. Participants also provided feedback on the functionality of the tool, as well as their user experience, and highlighted its usefulness to strengthen advocacy and the evidence base on social protection.
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1. Introduction
ESCAP held a one-day event on social protection in the Philippines on Monday, 12 December 2022. The event comprised:
a) National Consultation on Readiness to Implement Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection: Philippines
b) Expert Group Meeting on SPOT Social Protection Simulator
National Consultation on Readiness to Implement Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection: Philippines
Governments have 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 serves as a shared vision, strategy and platform for promoting partnership and peer learning and identifying needs for capacity development. The Action Plan sets out 12 national actions that underpin 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 this first ever regional Action Plan, ESCAP has been mandated to develop a regional platform 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 are being conducted in four countries across Asia and the Pacific, (Cambodia, Maldives, Mongolia and the Philippines) to share national experiences and pathways towards this vision.
The first part of the stocktaking consists of a brief report that showcases the Philippines’s policies for promoting social protection and its overall readiness to implement the national actions of the Action Plan. A second part of the stocktaking exercise involves a national consultation with selected participants from the Ministries in the Philippines that work on social protection. The purpose of the consultation is to discuss and validate the findings of the draft stocktaking report on the Philippines, including its recommendations for achieving the objectives of the Action Plan.
Expert Group Meeting on SPOT Social Protection Simulator
ESCAP has developed a microsimulation model, the SPOT Simulator, that enables users to examine the impact of different design features of non-contributory schemes on poverty, consumption, inequality and cost. Drawing on Household Income and Expenditure Surveys, the Simulator calculates the impact of providing non-contributory child, disability and old age benefits on development outcomes at the household and population level. Presented in a user-friendly manner, it aims to make data around social protection policy options more accessible for policy makers at the touch of a button.
The SPOT Simulator is a tool to support countries in building stronger, more inclusive and comprehensive social protection systems in Asia and the Pacific. It is a key part of the regional Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection (Action Plan), which serves as a shared vision, strategy and platform for promoting partnership and peer learning and identifying needs for capacity development. The Action Plan sets out 12 national actions that underpin 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.
An Expert Group Meeting was conducted in the Philippines to share the SPOT Simulator and obtain feedback on its functions and relevance to supporting policy making on social protection.
2. Objectives
National Consultation on Readiness to Implement Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection: Philippines
The objectives of the National Consultation are to:
- Share initiatives and commitments of Government of the Philippines to achieve more inclusive and comprehensive social protection systems for all.
- Identify key progress and challenges of Government of the Philippines to implement the Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection.
- Identify possibilities for the Government of the Philippines to incorporate the implementation of the Action Plan into the Philippine Development Plan
- Discuss the findings and recommendations of the draft report.
Expert Group Meeting on SPOT Social Protection Simulator
The objectives of the Expert Group Meeting are to:
- Present and explain the functions of the SPOT Simulator:
- Examining impact of social protection benefits on poverty
- Examining impact of social protection benefits on consumption
- Examining impact of social protection benefits on inequality
- Examining impact of social protection benefits on cost
- Obtain feedback on Simulator and ways to enhance its visibility and use by Governments.
3. Participants
Participants were key stakeholders in relevant line ministries and development partners.
4. Format
National Consultation on Readiness to Implement Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection: Philippines
Featured speakers from government and stakeholders were invited to share their views on ways to strengthen the social protection system in Philippines, as inputs to the report and its recommendations.
Expert Group Meeting on SPOT Social Protection Simulator
Participants were requested to bring their own laptops to access the SPOT Social Protection Simulator online during the session. Participants were guided through the tool and invited to provide inputs and feedback on the tool’s functionality through a moderated session.