Various stakeholders got together to support the Government of Nepal’s vision of becoming a more prosperous nation with social protection for all

Kathmandu, September 18-19: "Poverty in South Asia is significantly declining, but we have pockets of poverty and hard to reach people," said Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Minister of Finance, at the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Resilient Social Protection for an Inclusive Future, which took place in Kathmandu on September 18-19.

Convened by the Government of Nepal together with GIZ, ILO, UK Aid, UNDP, UNICEF, the World Bank and Social Science Baha, it was the first time that such a conference had taken place. The purpose of the meet was to support the Government of Nepal, and its relevant ministries, to deliver in its vision of a prosperous nation with social protection for all, with a focus on the next generation and the most vulnerable.

Social protection programs, such as social assistance, child and family benefits, social insurance, and labour market programmes, have become an increasingly important part of the government’s efforts to address poverty and inequalities, build human capital and increase the population’s resilience to disasters and shocks.

Minister Khatiwada added that social protection had played a significant role in reducing poverty in Nepal in the past two decades. “The poverty rate declined by one per cent each year, despite armed conflict and political instability,” he stated. However, the South Asian region remains below the global average both in coverage as well as expenditure when it comes to social protection. The other speakers pointed out the difficulties in accessing social protection programmes, and the inequality of opportunities that maintain social inequities. Towards this end, Nepal has been moving forward in its efforts to improve its existing programmes so that there is an equality of opportunities, along with secured human rights.

Elke Wisch, UNICEF Representative to Nepal, stated that the provision of social protection safety nets had resulted in a significant impact on the lives of children. She cited examples such as the decline in the deaths of children under the age of five, the reduction in children who are stunted and the increase in birth registration over the past few decades.  “As various social protection schemes are being rolled out and expanded, we recognize that with this progress comes opportunities to further strengthen and integrate systems to ensure that social protection is speedier, more flexible and more efficient," she said.

One of the most important results that was shared was that of Nepal’s Child Grant programme, which has not only been protecting the future of children, but has also been reducing the entrenched gender disparity.  Speakers at the conference brought evidence of the positive impacts of investing in child grants, including the full development of cognitive capabilities, nutrition security and school attendance.

The event brought to light the challenges of social protection in the country, and emphasized that social protection needed to be a central strategy within planning and budgetary decisions.

The discourse was bold and ambitious, and profiled the challenge of political resistance, the importance of credible programmes to survive political upheavals and the relevance of a social security tax. The alliance now needs to take these ideas forward.

There was also a parallel session on social inclusion, where talks revolved around issues of caste and persons with disabilities. Also in the parallel session on shock responsive social protection, the stakeholders discussed on the importance of  data for well coordination among different levels during the time of emergencies a and necessity of multiple vulnerability assessment and capacity building of emergency response actors.

After the policy dialogues and sessions ended, ministries and government officials got together to agree on an action plan for social protection. Following up on the conference’s debates, the ministries under the leadership of the National Planning Commission established key priorities for Nepal’s social protection going forward.

• drafting of a social protection framework and strategy
• assign an institution to lead the formulation of social protection policies, clarify roles and coordinate programs
• the creation of an integrated social registry, with demographic, social and economic data, as well as ensuring its update and monitoring;
• the need to expand coverage of specific programs to vulnerable groups, particularly child grants and disability allowances;
• the need to link social protection with key services and make them more effective and scalable for disaster response;
• the need to invest in productive employment and social security;