9 June 2023
10:00–12:30

Beirut time

Expert Group Meeting

Eighth meeting of the Group of Experts on Social Protection Reform

Location

UN House, Beirut, Lebanon

Contact information

Eighth meeting of the Group of Experts on Social Protection Reform

The Group of Experts on Social Protection Reform (GESPR) in the Arab region is organizing its eighth meeting following the conclusion of the second Arab Forum on Equality and the 14th session of the Committee on Social Development.

The meeting is aimed at addressing key policy reform options to extend social insurance coverage to the “missing middle”, i.e., those who are not eligible for social assistance benefits and are not in formal salaried employment. It is also an opportunity to familiarize GESPR members with the latest tools developed by ESCWA to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of social assistance programmes, as well as to present a forward-looking modality and scope of work to achieve more inclusive and integrated outcomes.

Outcome document

Meeting outcome

The Members of the Expert Group on Social Protection Reform (EGSPR) acknowledged the need of having other entities participate in the discussion of the group depending on the topic of the meeting and the context of each country. The members further suggested that such entities may be invited in collaboration with the EGSPR focal points on a case-by-case basis until a consensus is reached regarding the expansion of the membership.

The members of the EGSPR appreciated the good examples and success stories from the Arab region and Latin America that were shared during the meeting. They agreed that the meeting opened new windows for peer exchange and cooperation and some members consider it as a good opportunity to plan for further bilateral collaboration.

It was agreed that the upcoming meeting will dedicate special sessions for member countries to showcase their experience in social protection reform and explore areas of enhancement with other members.

The Sultanate of Oman offered to host the upcoming 9th meeting of EGSPR towards the end of 2023.

Discussion

Extending social insurance to informal and irregular workers: the 8th meeting of the Expert Group on Social Protection Reform in the Arab Region

1. ESCWA presented two tools for member countries to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of social protection programmes:

One optimization toolbox with key programme design parameters to enhance the effectiveness and/or efficiency of programme performance.
Social Protection Program – Rapid Assessment Framework (SPP-RAF) which enables beneficiary profiling for tailored social policy interventions and identification of inclusion and exclusion errors, with example of Tunisia.
The members of GESPR discussed the applicability of the two tools, and identified potential challenges of utilizing these tools, such as availability of data and setting appropriate weights of different indicators in the formula.

2. ESCWA presented innovative approaches for expanding social insurance coverage to informal/irregular workers:

- Monotax, which is a good practice and possible solution to the issue above, was presented with practical input of experiences from Uruguay (Monotributo) and Morocco (Contribution Professionnelle Unique).
- The members of GESPR expressed interest in learning more about this tool and inquired about technical details of different model in two diverse contexts.

3. Lastly, ESCWA initiated an open discussion on the scope and modality of work for GESPR

The members discussed ways to improve engagement and interaction of exchanging experiences in social protection reform. They acknowledged the need to introduce more diverse perspectives into the group by having other co-governing entities in social protection participate on an as-needed basis.

Initiatives: Reforming social protection systems