immediate priority would be to ensure the sustainability of
economic recovery....Progress must be protected in an era of
increased economic insecurity arising from global economic
instability, volatile food prices, natural disasters and health
epidemics. This requires universal social protection and measures to
support the most vulnerable communities.” Responding to this
call, Isabel Ortiz, Gaspar Fajth, Jennifer Yablonski and Amjad Rabi,
in “Social Protection: Accelerating the MDGs with Equity,” point out
how MDG progress is measured in terms of national averages but
these statistical averages often disguise that progress has not
accrued to those at the bottom - arguably those who need it most.
They show how social protection is essential to accelerate MDGs
with equity by facilitating access to essential services and decent
living standards. Specifically, they present evidence that social
protection contributes to MDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6^1 - with stronger
impacts for disadvantaged children.
Crises often oblige policy-makers to rethink development models.
Ortiz et al. point out that the 1929 financial crash led to a New Deal
in which social protection systems were used as a powerful tool to
raise living standards and domestic demand in many countries.
Likewise, the current crisis is an opportunity to rethink
development. Social protection has been a major component of
fiscal stimulus plans in the first phase of the crisis (2008-09); on
average, an estimated 25% of fiscal stimuli were invested in social
protection measures in both developing and higher income
countries—though progress is currently threatened by fiscal
consolidation processes. The UN has called for a social protection
floor, below which nobody should fall, to provide a minimum set of
social services and transfers for all. In the aftermath of the global
(^1) MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger; MDG 2: Achieve Universal
Primary Education; MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women;
MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality; MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health; MDG 6:
Combat HIV/Aids, Malaria and Other Diseases.