GENEVA (ILO News) – The ILO’s Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All has contributed to major improvements in social protection coverage, adequacy, and comprehensiveness, resulting in more than 55 million people having access to benefit worldwide during the second phase of the programme, which ran from 2021 until 2025.

The Flagship Programme’s annual Development Partners meeting took place on Thursday in Geneva and was attended by 55 representatives of governments, workers and employers' organizations, and over 1400 joining in online. The participants shared significant progress in building robust social protection systems and extending social protection. They also acknowledged the ILO’s pivotal role as well as strategic partnerships in helping them to achieve universal social protection.

Illustrative image (ILO)

The Flagship programme, which is currently in its second phase, aims to support countries to extend social protection coverage and improve the adequacy and comprehensiveness of benefits. 

“For the first time, in our World Social Protection Report published in September 2024, 52.4 percent of people globally are covered by at least one branch of social protection. This sends us two messages: the first, our joint efforts are paying off. We are seeing the power of social protection to protect lives, incomes and jobs. … The second one is that we still have a lot of hard work ahead of us to achieve universal social protection for the 3.8 billion not protected today. So, we must redouble our efforts to push further towards universal protection for all and the ILO Global Flagship Programme can help propel us towards this goal,” explained Mia Seppo, ILO Assistant Director-General for Jobs and Social Protection, during her opening remarks.

Since its creation in 2016, the Flagship programme has played a pivotal role in turning social protection into a reality through better chances of retiring with dignity, accessing vital healthcare, and helping workers to provide for their families during times of crisis.

The ILO Flagship programme supports the achievement of SDG 1.3 and 3.8 through projects in 50 priority countries, as well as on “cross-country” policy advice in 16 thematic areas, highlighting how sound, comprehensive and sustainable social protection systems can address issues ranging from ageing populations, informality, access to health care, climate change, fragility and facilitate just transitions. 

“In recent years, an intensive awareness-raising campaign for the social insurance scheme for independent workers, conducted with the technical and financial support of the ILO and the World Bank, has reached 1 million workers who are now enrolled in the social security institution. This success demonstrates the effectiveness of public policies and the commitment of development partners to achieving universal social protection”, highlighted Adama Kamara, Minister, Ministry of Employment and Social Protection from Côte d’Ivoire, during the high-level opening session.

During its second phase, the programme supported 149 institutional changes across the countries where it operates, far exceeding its ambition of 80 changes. These include the adoption of new social protection laws, the implementation or reform of schemes, and the improvement of operational arrangements. These stronger social protection systems resulted in improved coverage, adequacy, and comprehensiveness for more than 55 million people, well within reach of the original target of 60 million, with one year remaining in the current phase of the Flagship Programme. 

The participants also reflected on the future of the Flagship programme and the design of its upcoming Phase III (2026–2030), which is going to be critical in this final stretch of the 2030 Agenda and the advancement towards SDG target 1.3. Indeed, now more than ever, the Flagship programme is needed to continually enable progress under other complementary multilateral initiatives, such as the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions and the Global Coalition for Social Justice.

“When we look ahead to phase III, Luxembourg remains committed to working alongside the ILO and development partners to expand the ILO Global Flagship Programme’s impacts. Social protection is not just a safety net; it is an investment in stable, inclusive and resilient societies. By joining forces, we can accelerate progress towards universal social protection, ensuring that no one is left behind,” said Marc Bichler, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the United Nations Office at Geneva.