Socioeconomic Transformation Requires Local Innovations, Tackling Informal Labour, Speakers Stress as Social Development Commission Continues Session

Socioeconomic Transformation Requires Local Innovations, Tackling Informal Labour, Speakers Stress as Social Development Commission Continues Session

Today, as the Commission for Social Development discussed priorities for transformative social development - as well as local innovations to realize them - much of the dialogue centred on the need to address informal labour.

The Commission's annual session opened on 2 February and will run through 10 February at UN Headquarters in New York. (Daily coverage available here.) Delegations are meeting to discuss implementing commitments made during the two World Summits for Social Development held to date - the first in Copenhagen in 1995 and the second in Doha 30 years later. These are contained in, respectively, the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action and the Doha Political Declaration.

In the morning, the Commission held an interactive dialogue with senior UN officials titled "United for inclusion: Leveraging the United Nations system for transformative social development". Divided into two segments, the first focused on priorities for transformative social development.

On that, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), underlined the need to address the "three main development traps" in which countries of his region are snared. He described them as: low capacity to grow and transform; high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion; and weak institutional capacities and ineffective governance. "These traps are interrelated and mutually reinforcing", he said, adding that inequality in the region is "profoundly rooted" in the first trap.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, he said, social-protection systems are mostly financed by taxes on the formal economy; however, low growth capacity means that labour markets do not generate enough formal jobs. Productive development and social-protection policies, then, are "essential to generate decent work", he stressed. Relatedly, he recalled that regional countries requested ECLAC to prepare material that would allow the region's voice to be heard at the Second World Summit for Social Development. "This was done and translated into a number of key messages - including on the need to invest at least 1.5 to 2.5 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) in social protection," he reported.

Call for Policies that Protect Workers and Communities

Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), also underscored the importance of strengthening universal, rights-based social protection and public services. "Informal workers, migrants, women and persons with disabilities are still unprotected," she observed. Further, she emphasized the need to support just and inclusive transitions amidst climate change and economic disruption. "We need policies that protect workers and communities and expand adaptative social protection," she added.

Stronger UN cooperation will amplify these efforts, and she called for building fairer economic governance and expanding fiscal space. While many Governments are attempting to deliver ambitious social commitments, she pointed out that they face "tight fiscal constrictions and debt burdens". Additionally, many countries must contend with illicit financial flows and a global tax architecture that disadvantages the Global South. Without adequate fiscal space, transformative social development is impossible. Further, such development requires "aligned policies, political will and renewed cooperation", she said.

The morning's second segment delved into how the UN system can lead the pursuit of inclusive and integrated policy solutions.

Social Development and Health Equity Go Hand in Hand

"Social development and health equity are inseparable," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). However, nearly half of humanity lacks income protection and more than 2 billion people face financial hardship when they seek care. "These are not only health failures," he stressed - "they are failures of social development". Further, he pointed out that health and care work - largely performed by women - remains "chronically undervalued", and that underinvestment in this area shifts essential services into the unpaid realm.

He therefore underlined the need for universal health coverage to provide financial protection against the "out-of-pocket costs of sickness", and for social protection that replaces lost income due to illness. "These two systems are twin engines of sustainable development", he stressed, and they must be designed and financed together. Integrated policies are key, as health systems must be linked with clean water and sanitation, adequate nutrition, safe housing and social protection. "These connections determine whether people can live healthy and secure lives," he said.

Ending Female Poverty through Gender Equality

On inclusion, Shoko Ishikawa, Deputy Director of the Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), said that 9.2 per cent of women and girls in the world - some 376 million - live in extreme poverty. "Female extreme poverty has barely moved from almost 10 per cent since 2020," she added. Further, women and girls spend over 2.5 times more hours per day on unpaid care work than men. "We do not even recognize it as work," she observed. As a result, 708 million women and girls sit outside the global labour force, and some 2 billion women and girls lack any form of social protection - in part due to their employment status.

"Gender equality is the key to social development", she underscored, and this requires valuing care work as skilled, essential labour and the most valuable of public goods. "It is about making decent work available to all, equally," she added. Ensuring universal social protection and financing services that deliver is also critical, and she emphasized: "It is about unlocking - finally - that reservoir of energies and talents the world needs, countries need and communities need to meet our shared ambitions."

Decent Work as Driver of Poverty Reduction, Economic Growth

In the afternoon, the Commission held a multi-stakeholder forum on "Partnerships that Deliver: How to Scale-Up Good Practices at the Local Level to End Poverty, Create Jobs and Build Inclusive Societies". Again divided into two segments, the first examined local innovations that reduce poverty and support livelihoods.

"We are adhering to the concept of people-centred development," said Mo Rong, Think-tank Chief Expert at the Chinese Academy of Labour and Social Security at China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. China currently has 969 million working-age people, and he noted that his Government believes that employment is "the most basic component of people's well-being". As a result, it has strengthened its "employment-first" policy over the years, and he said that addressing employment and ensuring well-being through development is both a "major mission" and a "key governance strategy".

To illustrate, he detailed Government efforts to achieve "common prosperity" in the mountainous areas of Zhejiang province, including by subsidizing "job co-ops", "prosperity workshops" and "welfare jobs" - the latter allowing the most vulnerable people to find employment. These initiatives facilitate people's societal integration, as well as inclusive development, and he also spotlighted a pilot programme launched by the Government in that same province that offered 3 million people new forms of labour protection in 2023.

Displaced People Need Dignity, Not Charity

For her part, Olena Ivankiv, Adjunct Professor at the Ukraine Catholic University Business School, said that the biggest challenge is not a lack of resources - rather, it is a lack of cooperation. "In Ukraine, the war shapes our reality, but it doesn't define our ability to act with resilience," she emphasized, adding that displaced people need dignity, not charity. "They want to be useful and, after years of losing their homes and their roots, they want to belong again," she emphasized. Citing her university's prior work, she recalled how many local small businesses in Ukraine were operating in isolation, "unable to connect their needs with the people around them".

She said that, for this reason, businesses - and all stakeholders - should be able to participate in co-creating solutions. In that context, she recalled how her university became a bridge between local communities, local businesses and local authorities. "Education cannot remain detached with realities on the ground and must be used to solve local challenges," she said, adding: "Engaged universities are one of the most sustainable forums of impact." Education, she stressed, turns policy into practice.

Partnerships, Financial Models that Fuel Social Betterment

The afternoon's second segment centred on partnerships and financing models that enable scale-up.

Nihal Janset Güven, Family and Social Services Expert in Türkiye's Ministry of Family and Social Services, spotlighted her Government's integrated service-delivery model. Local service units operate across the country, reaching over 4.5 million households annually with services and cash assistance. Further, she detailed "family-support centres", which focus on enhancing women's social and economic participation, and "social-solidarity centres", which promote social integration in high-migration areas. Finally, the national home-care programme ensures that individuals can live with dignity in their own houses while receiving care. "Türkiye's social-protection model demonstrates how integrated, inclusive and locally grounded policies can achieve national impact," she said.

Meanwhile, Amy Niang, Associate Professor of Political Science at the Africa Institute, said that transformative social policies must be able to redistribute resources and protect against economic shocks. Drawing on political-economy research covering eight African countries, she noted that social protection remains politically fragile despite expanded coverage. She stressed the importance of ensuring that constitutional rights are translated and codified into enforceable rights on the ground. "Most African programmes remain executive decrees rather than legislated rights," she said. Mechanisms must be embedded in electoral incentives, and she added: "Citizens must be able to punish or reward Governments based on social-policy improvements."

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* The 7^th Meeting was not covered.

Complete Live Blog coverage of today's meeting can be found here.