Taking the pulse of Social Protection in the Arab world: Insights and priorities ahead from the World Social Protection Report 2024-26

The world has surpassed the important milestone of having more than a half of the population (52.4 per cent) for the first time covered with at least one social protection benefit. Nevertheless, as many as 3.8 billion people around the globe remain without access to any social protection. Social protection coverage gaps are particularly striking in the Arab region, where only about one third of people living in the region have access to any form of social protection. In spite of commitments to the strengthening of social protection systems, including through the regional Ministerial Declaration on the Future of Social Protection in after COVID-19 and a number of important reforms underway, progress with the extension of social protection to all across the region appears to be stagnant. This is related to the nature of social protection systems and labour markets in the region, the composition and levels of social protection financing, and the impact of protracted humanitarian crises.

The session will explore and interrogate the latest results from the ILO’s World Social Protection Report 2024-2026, discuss the structural factors that shape the social protection landscape in the region, and propose reflections on outstanding challenges and emerging opportunities.

A subsequent episode in early 2025 will put more dedicated emphasis on the thematic focus of the last World Social Protection Report: “Social Protection for Climate Action: Exploring Pathways to a Just Transition in the Arab Region”.

Agenda

Moderator:  Marialaura Ena, Social Protection Consultant, Arab States, ILO

13:00 – 13:05 | Opening and Welcome

• Shahra Razavi, Director, Social Protection Department, ILO

13:15 – 13:25 |Setting the Stage

• Luca Pellerano, Regional Senior Social Protection Specialist, ILO
• Discussant: Ghada Barsoum, Professor and Director of Master of Public Policy, American University in Cairo

13:25 – 13:55 | Panel discussion

• Marco Schaefer, Senior Social Protection Officer/Chief of Social Protection Section, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
• Ugo Gentilini, Global Lead for Social Assistance, World Bank 
• Farah Al Shami, Senior Fellow and the Social Protection Program Director, Arab Reform Initiative
• Magid Fathallah, Regional Coordinator, International Social Security Association

13:55 – 14:25 | Q&A

14:25 – 14:30 | Closing Remarks

• Hashim Zaidi, Regional Social Protection Specialist, UNICEF (on behalf of the Issue-based Coalition on Social Protection) 

This episode is part of the webinar series "Arab Social Protection Compass: Towards Integrated Approaches for Universal Social Protection", organised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and technical support of socialprotection.org. The initiative intends to put a spotlight on reforms and programmes geared towards fostering integration within social protection across the region and beyond, while contributing to stir discussion at the national level. Throughout the series, speakers will delve into both the theoretical underpinnings and practical implementations of specific reforms, aiming to inspire a broad audience of practitioners to replicate or scale up similar interventions.