Growing a Better Future - Oxfam International

2. Expand social protectionAt the height of the 2008 food price spike, manydeveloping country governments – faced with spirallinghunger and discontent – reached for policy options thatonly made the problem worse. Forty-six developingcountries used economy-wide subsidies or price controlsto try to contain food prices – responses that can reducethe incentives for food producers to increase output, orplace crippling burdens on government budgets. 128Social protection programmes tailored to the specificnational context can target resources to the mostvulnerable people, which are likely to include women andrural producers more generally. In the most sophisticatedcases, like Brazil’s very successful Fome Zero (ZeroHunger) programme, different approaches are blendedinto a massive across-the-board push to reduce hunger.Ultimately, governments should aim to establishuniversal programmes, which tend to be more efficientand by definition protect more people.Today only 20 per cent of the world’s people enjoyaccess to social protection of any kind – a scandalousgap, yet an improvement upon the situation only a fewyears ago, largely due to the expansion of provision inChina and Brazil. 129 Even in these cases, the measuresoften lack permanence. The big gaps are in low-incomecountries, where social protection tends to be donor-ledpilot programmes rather than nationally ownedapproaches.Predictable funding from aid donors, in the form of directbudgetary support, would allow governments toimplement national programmes. Technical support mayalso be necessary but, critically, approaches must fitspecific national circumstances, as there are fewoff-the-shelf solutions.Without leadership from within government, no amountof donor support will deliver effective social protection.All too often, politicians shy away from ambitiousprogrammes for fear of long-term fiscal commitments(ignoring the broader economic benefits that will bedelivered) or worry that they will simply createdependency (which is not supported by the evidence). 130A shared goal, for governments and internationalinstitutions, should be universal access to a basic levelof social protection sufficient to realise fundamentaleconomic and social rights, including the right to food.The UN Social Protection Floor Initiative 131 provides aperfect platform around which to coalesce.‘The crèche has been a huge benefit tothe people of this community. It allowswomen to look for part-time work and isproviding a really good start to theirchildren’s education. The children alsoget free, nutritious meals, which is agodsend for parents who areunemployed and who struggle toprovide regular meals for their family.’Eline Carla Machado, Head of the Vila IrmaDulce Crèche, BrazilAbove: Roni, Marta, and Denilson eating their free lunchat the Vila Irma Dulce Creche, Brazil. The communitylobbied for the school, the teachers, and the free lunchesfor the children. (Brazil, 2004)Growing a Better FutureChapter 3: The new prosperity49