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SECTION 1 2 3
TIME TO ACT
8) IMPLEMENT A UNIVERSAL SOCIAL
PROTECTION FLOOR
Social protection is central not only to reducing economic inequality, but also
as a way to make society more caring and egalitarian, and to address horizontal
inequalities. For the very poorest and most vulnerable there must be a universal
and permanent safety net that is there for them in the worst times.
Governments and international institutions should agree to:
• Provide universal child and elderly care services, to reduce the burden of
unpaid care work on women and complement social protection systems;
• Provide basic income security for children, the elderly and those who are
unemployed or unable to earn a decent living, through universal child
benefits, unemployment benefits and pensions;
• Ensure the provision of gender-sensitive social protection mechanisms
to provide a safety net for women, in ways that provide an additional means
of control over household spending.
9) TARGET DEVELOPMENT FINANCE TOWARDS
REDUCING INEQUALITY AND POVERTY, AND
STRENGTHENING THE COMPACT BETWEEN
CITIZENS AND THEIR GOVERNMENT
Finance for development has the potential to reduce inequality when it is welltargeted;
when it complements government spending on public services, such
as healthcare, education and social protection. It can also help strengthen
the government–citizen compact, improve public accountability and support
citizen efforts to hold their government to account.
Donor governments and international institutions should
agree to:
• Increase investment in long-term, predictable development finance,
supporting governments to provide universal free public services for
all citizens;
• Invest in strengthening public administrations to raise more domestic
revenue, through progressive taxation for redistributive spending;
• Measure programmes on how well they strengthen democratic participation
and the voice of people to challenge economic and social inequalities (such
as gender and ethnicity).
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