Despite significant development gains in recent decades, developing countries still face considerable challenges in regards to the fight against poverty and hunger. Redistributive cash transfer programmes have emerged as vital for the pursuit of poverty reduction and eradication; however,...

In 2020, the extensive consequences of the COVID-19 crisis placed social protection even more squarely at the centre of attention. As the health, economic and social impacts of COVID-19 echoed all over the world, social protection programmes were urgently developed, adapted, or extended to...

Since its inception in Bangladesh in 2002, the Graduation Approach has received much attention, including in mainstream media outlets. Beyond this positive media acclaim, momentum has gathered behind graduation as an important social policy instrument. There has been a proliferation in the...

Despite significant progress in the reduction of extreme poverty in recent years, millions of children are still poor or vulnerable to poverty. There is growing consensus that poverty comprises more dimensions than just monetary. Social protection policies can help address the multifaceted...

When countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) achieved their independence, formal social protection schemes established by former colonial powers were, to varying degrees, assimilated or mimicked by the State, particularly pension systems for government and formal-sector workers....

Social protection has become prominent in the global development agenda over recent decades, with social protection systems now being included as a target under Sustainable Development Goal 1: "End poverty in all its forms everywhere". In developing countries, these policies have played an...

The COVID-19 crisis has had a huge impact on the world of social protection. The pandemic has alerted national governments and the international community to the urgency of accelerating progress in building and expanding social protection systems and programmes to leave no one behind. From 5 to...

This special 50th issue of Policy in Focus provides examples of countries that have digitalised their social protection systems to varying degrees. Its 12 articles provide a glimpse on different building blocks of digital architecture, such as national unique ID systems, tools for registration...