ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter discusses the central concepts in current thinking about social protection and the approaches taken by different actors within the development community in defining its content and boundaries. This chapter compares the approaches to social protection emanating from the World Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in order to clarify some of these differences. It offers a somewhat different approach to social protection in terms of both philosophy and focus. Labour market vulnerability is analysed in terms of conditions of work and identity of workers, all of which limit the poverty-reducing potential of labour markets. The primary goal of ILO's 'decent work for all' strategy is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. It is also evident that there are common elements to the social protection agenda at the international level, typified in the approaches of the World Bank and the ILO.
