ABSTRACT
Introduction The chapters in this book demonstrate a renewed and growing importance given to social protection as a human right and as a precondition for economic and social development. The ILO Recommendation No. 202 on the implementation of national floors of social protection (SPF ) was adopted in 2012 by 185 ILO member states. Social protection floors guarantee universal access to health services and income security through the life cycle for children, unemployed and poor, older and disabled persons. Internationally, there are rights-based national social protection floors or measures of it that have been successfully implemented in many countries. The case studies in this book serve to present diverse social protection initiatives, and share successful and emerging experiences among stakeholders on promising practices and areas for future development. Building critical knowledge and innovative practices in social protection is of interest to social workers and students who are seeking to develop a new understanding and to implement actions in support of the right to social protection. Social protection floors contribute to the realization of the human right to social security and to social services, founded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other international legal instruments. There is an urgent need to work toward the goal of establishing social protection floors, and the future role of social workers in this process. In the literature reviewed in this book there is growing evidence that social protection floors are ambitious but feasible, affordable and effective in the reduction of extreme poverty. The post-2015 global development agenda incorporates social protection as a key component to reduce inequalities, to eradicate extreme poverty, and to support a number of sustainable development goals such as promoting gender equality, decent work, climate adaptation and universal health coverage.
