Closing the Social Protection Gap: The Potential Contribution of Social Assistance

Social assistance programs are valuable instruments that can help the marginalized cope with or even escape poverty. They can effectively ensure basic income security for impoverished children, adults, and the elderly. However, more needs to be done to ensure their wider coverage and adequacy, especially in the Asia Pacific Region, where many countries still need to raise budget allocations for social protection systems.

ADB, Social Protection, and the SDGs: Emerging Challenges in Asia and the Pacific

ADB Strategy 2030 envisions a prosperous, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient Asia. To realize this vision, developing member-countries (DMC) need to build their capacity to provide adequate social protection. ADB currently supports governments in developing systems and programs that will expand their social protection coverage and help them achieve SDGs.

Ayako Inagaki

Ayako Inagaki is the Director of ADB's South East Asia Department, Human and Social Development Division. She leads the planning, implementation, and supervision of ADB's lending and non-lending operations in the social sectors, that includes education and skills development, health, and social protection. Ms. Inagaki is also the Chair of ADB's Health Sector Group where she guides the preparation and implementation of the health sector group work plan which sets out priorities and targets based on ADB's Operational Plan for Health 2015-2020.

The Food Stamp Program: A Secret History of the First Targeted Benefit in Mongolia

Back in 2008, Mongolia suffered from the highest inflation rate in Asia, reaching up to 30%. This led to lower food quality, especially for women and limited funds for education and health needs. The government, through ADB assistance, established a food stamp program to help the poor buy critical food items. This presentation shares how this program was succesfully implemented and how it helped ease the burden of those affected by the crisis.

Yohei Takahashi

Yohei Takahashi is Deputy Director of the General Affairs Division and Office for Dementia Policy, Health and Welfare Bureau for the Elderly of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan. He focuses on policymaking and works on the longterm care insurance system of Japan. Mr. Takahashi is also engaged in conducting dementia policy and measures international collaboration to promote dementiafriendly communities in a global context. 

ICT Challenges and Opportunities for Social Protection Delivery in Nepal

In Nepal, several obstacles hinder investments on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for social protection. Data, for one, is still scare. Moreover, IT personal and expertise are also still at a weak level. To overcome these obstacles, capacity-training is needed at the country-level. Nepal also needs to upgrade its connectivity and hardware components.

The Potential Contribution of Contributory Social Protection (Pensions and other Social Insurance Cash Benefits Schemes) to the Closure of the Protection Gap in Asia

Social insurance provides income security and replaces income lost from old age, incapacity or disability, and sickness. Achieving social insurance coverage for all employed may be difficult for some countries, especially those beset with governance problems. However, if we are to effectively eliminate poverty among the working poor, temporarily employed, the elderly, and handicapped, extending coverage of social insurance schemes should be part of national strategies.

Social Protection Policies in Asia: Challenges and Solutions

Social protection helps lift people out of poverty and enhances access to basic social services. It also builds human capital while increasing access to formal employment, incomes, and savings. In Asia, social protection programs in East Timor, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Krygyz Republic, and South Korea share common challenges that hinder people from enjoying their benefits. These include difficulty in targeting beneficiaries, inconsistent policies, and lack of funding.This presentation proposes several recommendation to address these difficulties.