Sevilla - Financing social protection and the work of the UN Global Accelerator underpinned the discussions on Day 1 of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development in Sevilla, Spain.
“Need to treat social protection as a foundational investment and decent work as the engine of sustainable financing...Compromiso de Sevilla gives a clear, pragmatic benchmark in extending social protection coverage, and the real test lies in national ownership, institutional capacity, and international solidarity,” stated Gilbert F Houngbo, ILO Director General.
The ILO Director General echoed the mission of the Global Accelerator for Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions at the first multistakeholder roundtable of the FFD4. The roundtable brought together Heads of State and Government, Ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs, and Heads of Multilateral Banks to discuss how to raise and manage public revenue more effectively to support national sustainable development strategies.
The ILO and the Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection (#USP2030) announced two Sevilla Platform for Action initiatives, during which the Global Accelerator was also highlighted.
Ilkhom Norkulov, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, Uzbekistan, spotlighted the Global Accelerator when mentioning how countries are making progress on the SDGs. “Uzbekistan has been a GA pathfinder country since 2023 and has developed a roadmap with four pillars. Reducing informality is a key pillar that is helping identify vulnerable populations, enabling targeted policies, promoting financial inclusion, and increasing the tax base.”
Maropene Ramokgopa, Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Chairperson of the G20 Development Working Group, South Africa, called financing for social protection an investment in human capital, especially when it comes to a just transition. “We need to secure social protection floors to further economic development, progress and prosperity. A just transition needs to include reskilling and securing the most vulnerable, otherwise it will be a failure.”
Wellington Dias, Minister of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger of Brazil spoke about the country’s prioritization of social protection and decent jobs in their development agenda. “We need to elevate the floor of the vulnerable people with social protection and also promote small entrepreneurs who will further create decent jobs and improve the income security, to alleviate poverty,” he noted in his remarks.
The ILO and USP2030 hosted the "From Pledge to Practice: Mobilizing resources to finance social protection coverage extension in a challenging context” SPA event, which also garnered support for the Global Accelerator and the linking of social protection and decent jobs. Mónica Colomer, Spain's Ambassador at Large for Financing for Development, highlighted Spain's support for the Global Accelerator's M-GA initiative, which is helping fund activities in the Pathfinder Countries to achieve decent jobs and social protection coverage.
Debora Freira, Deputy Secretary for Fiscal Policy, Ministry of Finance, Brazil, spoke about Brazil’s reprioritisation of spending to strengthen the social protection systems at the same event. “By ensuring the fiscal sustainability of social protection systems, they can be adapted to the contemporary demands like those related to the care economy, especially in the face of the climate emergency.”