Elena Gaia UNICEF Regional Office CEECIS

1. Elena Gaia • UNICEF Regional Office CEECIS • Third CARRA Inter-agency Conference, Almaty, 15 April 2011 The role of Social Protection systemsin Central Asia for addressing povertyand vulnerability to risks

2. Outline • Social Protection – what and why? • Linking SP, DRR, food security and energy • SP systems in Central Asia • Priorities for coordination • Conclusions For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

3. What is Social Protection? The set of public and private policies and programmes aimed at reducing, managing and overcoming the economic and social vulnerabilities of children, women and families, in order to ensure their access to a decent standard of living and essential services and to opportunities, livelihoods and jobs For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

4. An integrated set of interventions • Social Transfers (cash and in kind, social insurance and assistance) • Economic and social access to services • Social care & support services • Legislation, regulation and policies to ensure equity and non-discrimination To be complemented by: • Investments in supply of quality and affordable services • Labour market policies and generation of decent employment opportunities For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

5. Why do we need Social Protection in Central Asia (1) • Living standards have been improving over last decade, but global crisis has halted trends • However, even before the crisis, growth patterns not equitable: large groups of population remain highly vulnerable to shocks due to low family incomes (working poor, women, families with children, with disabled members,HH in rural areas) For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

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7. Why do we need Social Protection in Central Asia (2) Structural vulnerabilities • poverty and inequities in access to services, energy and water & sanitation • malnutrition • high out-of-pocket expenditures for health Compounded by external shocks • global economic and financial crisis • volatility of food and energy prices • proneness to natural disasters For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

8. SP can contribute to preventing and addressing compound risks For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

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10. Implications for SP reform in Central Asia Volatility of food and energy prices, exposure to natural disasters and volatility of coping mechanisms such as remittances call for SP programmes to become more flexible, adaptable to changing circumstances, include contingency plansand easily scalable to respond to crises – can UN and donors help? For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

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12. Reality check: Social Protection systems in Central Asia • High aspirations and self-perceptions: poverty concepts and measurements remain highly controversial • Attitudes towards causes of and solutions to poverty: the deserving the poor, avoiding dependency • Legacies and rigidities of previous systems: old privileges and benefits that do not reflect current needs assessments • Fiscal limitations are a serious constraint in Taj & Kyr, less so in the other three countries For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

13. Fiscal balance as percentage of GDP 2006-2011 15 10 5 2006 2007 percent of GDP 2008 0 2009 2010 2011 -5 -10 -15 Kazakhstan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

14. Low expenditure on social assistance, worsening with crisis • (Taj 0.4% GDP in 2008) • Targeted cash benefits do not reach most needed, huge • errors of exclusion • In Kyrg, Monthly Benefit (MB) targeted at poor families with children, • covers only 18% of poorest quintile • Level of SA benefits is not enough to make a difference, • pensions perform better • Value of MB in Kyrg is 7% of total HH consumption • But more research is needed into impact and cost-effectiveness of different types of interventions as well as costing of alternative models For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

15. Way forward in SP reform (1) • Consolidate fragmented systems, balancing cash with services and employment • Protect spending on SP and make it a central government budget item • Replace privileges and benefits based on merit to free up resources (including strategy to balance opposition of ‘losers’) For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

16. Way forward in SP reform (2) • Adjust targeting to dynamic nature of poverty: in CA context difficult to perform the sophisticated PMT targeting methods in a timely and cost-effective manner; consider using specific demo or geo characteristics • Increase outreach to marginalized HH and areas, information campaigns, reducing documentation requirements • Include contingency plans for emergency For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

17. Priority areas for coordination? • Evidence-based policy and data collection: asking the right questions and disseminating the results • Common strategising for the right entry points in each context to advocate for reforms of social protection that include DRR • In the two low income countries, contribute to funding of schemes to expand coverage, increase levels of benefits (and supply of services) and support M&E • however, the most vulnerable and marginalized may still remain excluded, more so during emergencies – can UN and donors work together to help systems walk that extra mile? For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

18. Conclusions • Approaches to SP may be different, but key common concerns bring us together: poverty, malnutrition, water-related diseases, vulnerability to shocks • With improved designs, better management and more funding SP systems in Central Asia can significantly contribute to addressing those concerns – role of UN and donors in capacity building, generating evidence, sharing best practices and ensuring DRR is incorporated into strategies • The integrated nature of SP interventions is a unique opportunity to bring together the spectrum of experience and resources across UN and donors For every child Health, Education, Equality, Protection ADVANCE HUMANITY

19. Thank you! Questions? egaia@unicef.org