Policymakers and donors are increasingly viewing social protection as an important tool for poverty reduction. However, up until now discussion has focused on the definitions and objectives of social protection. Very little information is available on the quantitative aspects beyond broad estimates of its costs.
This project is part of the Asian Development Bank’s efforts to address this research gap by quantifying social protection activities throughout Asia by creating a social protection index (SPI) using four summary indicators. The initial focus was on six countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam) and the SPI is now being ‘rolled’ out to 23 more countries in Asia and the Pacific.
The Social Protection Index and the information used in its computation can make a valuable contribution to the establishment, support and sustainability of social protection policies and programmes. It will raise awareness of social protection through the very process of obtaining information needed to calculate the SPI and the subsequent dissemination of results. It provides the basis for rigorous diagnostic evaluations of a country’s social protection provision as well as enabling international comparison and monitoring by individual countries over time. However, currently the SPI has only been developed for six countries. For the SPI’s value as a tool of social protection policy formulation to be realised it is vital that it is calculated for more countries.
To assist in this process a handbook providing guidance on the data collection and analysis needed to produce the SPI has been prepared (Halcrow China Ltd, 2005). The Board of the Asian Development Bank has recently approved a follow-on study to replicate the SPI in another 23 Asian and Pacific countries. Once this work has been completed, increasing international interest in social protection as a tool for poverty reduction will be complemented by a thorough quantitative underpinning of social protection activities in Asia.