When: 15.04. – 17.04.2015
Where: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) in Bonn, Germany.
The programme „Global Alliances for Social Protection“ of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), and the International Center for Sustainable Development / Internationales Zentrum für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (IZNE) at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences are convening an international workshop on “Measuring the social, economic and political effects of social protection: How to overcome the challenges?” from 15-17 April 2015 at the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) in Bonn, Germany.
The Workshop is meant to provide a platform for academics, policy-makers, and experts from public and private entities to (i) discuss the challenges of measuring the effects of social protection, and (ii) learn how others have dealt with – and possibly overcome – them. It will be held in English and Spanish with simultaneous translation.
Setting the scene:
World-wide, social protection is increasingly seen as a key issue not only for the well-being of people but also for the social, economic and political development of countries. Social protection systems are meant to provide a minimum standard of living for everyone and to reduce multidimensional poverty and inequality. In addition, they prevent shocks that are due to risks such as sickness, unemployment, or age, which can push people into poverty. In this way, social protection systems can also encourage people to invest their savings in capital assets or human capital instead of hording them for the case that a risk occurs. As a consequence, they promote investment and growth among low income people. Finally, social protection schemes alleviate citizens’ concerns about the future, thereby contributing to social inclusion, social cohesion and the stability of state and society. On the practical side, the establishment of an internationally unified and standardised set of definitions, as well as assessment tools and outcome metrics for social protection are underway. The Inter-Agency Social Protection Assessment (ISPA) shall be mentioned, besides other processes that aim at measuring and evaluating social protection systems.
Objective:
Although increasing empirical evidence is available, many open questions concerning the multidimensional effects of social protection policies remain. However, extending the evidence base on the effects of social protection is compounded by many methodological, technical, financial and political obstacles. For example:
- Identifying (proxy) indicators for measuring the different effects.
- Analytical approaches for differentiating between short- and long-term effects.
- Designing research projects that allow to compare the effects of social protection systems in different parts of the world.
- Isolating the effects of social protection systems from the effects of other policies, understanding the interaction between social protection and other policies and measuring the efficiency of social protection compared to alternative social policies.
- Identifying appropriate research techniques (e.g. qualitative versus quantitative approaches, micro versus macro level data etc.).
- Designing surveys in a way that interviewees give reliable answers.
- Raising funds for larger surveys.
- Timely delivery of results: Rigorous scientific analysis requires reliable and often comprehensive data. But the collection, compilation and analysis of data requires time that policy makers often do not have for their taking decisions.
- Dealing with limits set to the scope and contents of research by rigid legal and political framework conditions.
- Establishing effective communication channels between researchers and practitioners to enable continuous mutual feedback loops.
In order to shed light on those obstacles, we call upon all researchers and practitioners who have a) made attempts to test the social, economic or political effects of any kind of social protection scheme, b) struggle in their efforts with methodological, financial, organisational or political challenges, and c) found ways to overcome these challenges (or not) to send an abstract (300-500 words) of a scholarly written paper on their experience and observations until 20 December 2014 to the following e-mail address: sp-effects@giz.de
The social protection scheme under research may be a social insurance, social assistance, micro-insurance, cash or food for work, cash or food education or any other kind of social protection scheme. And the testing of its effects may have been any kind of quantitative or qualitative evaluation – provided that it has been based on a sound and meaningful research methodology.
The decision of acceptance will be taken by a team of referees by the end of January 2015. Authors from low and middle income countries are particularly encouraged to submit their papers. Limited budget is available to cover travel and accommodation costs of presenters coming from low income countries.
More informationWhen: 15.04. – 17.04.2015
Where: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) in Bonn, Germany.
The programme „Global Alliances for Social Protection“ of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), and the International Center for Sustainable Development / Internationales Zentrum für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (IZNE) at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences are convening an international workshop on “Measuring the social, economic and political effects of social protection: How to overcome the challenges?” from 15-17 April 2015 at the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) in Bonn, Germany.
The Workshop is meant to provide a platform for academics, policy-makers, and experts from public and private entities to (i) discuss the challenges of measuring the effects of social protection, and (ii) learn how others have dealt with – and possibly overcome – them. It will be held in English and Spanish with simultaneous translation.
Setting the scene:
World-wide, social protection is increasingly seen as a key issue not only for the well-being of people but also for the social, economic and political development of countries. Social protection systems are meant to provide a minimum standard of living for everyone and to reduce multidimensional poverty and inequality. In addition, they prevent shocks that are due to risks such as sickness, unemployment, or age, which can push people into poverty. In this way, social protection systems can also encourage people to invest their savings in capital assets or human capital instead of hording them for the case that a risk occurs. As a consequence, they promote investment and growth among low income people. Finally, social protection schemes alleviate citizens’ concerns about the future, thereby contributing to social inclusion, social cohesion and the stability of state and society. On the practical side, the establishment of an internationally unified and standardised set of definitions, as well as assessment tools and outcome metrics for social protection are underway. The Inter-Agency Social Protection Assessment (ISPA) shall be mentioned, besides other processes that aim at measuring and evaluating social protection systems.
Objective:
Although increasing empirical evidence is available, many open questions concerning the multidimensional effects of social protection policies remain. However, extending the evidence base on the effects of social protection is compounded by many methodological, technical, financial and political obstacles. For example:
- Identifying (proxy) indicators for measuring the different effects.
- Analytical approaches for differentiating between short- and long-term effects.
- Designing research projects that allow to compare the effects of social protection systems in different parts of the world.
- Isolating the effects of social protection systems from the effects of other policies, understanding the interaction between social protection and other policies and measuring the efficiency of social protection compared to alternative social policies.
- Identifying appropriate research techniques (e.g. qualitative versus quantitative approaches, micro versus macro level data etc.).
- Designing surveys in a way that interviewees give reliable answers.
- Raising funds for larger surveys.
- Timely delivery of results: Rigorous scientific analysis requires reliable and often comprehensive data. But the collection, compilation and analysis of data requires time that policy makers often do not have for their taking decisions.
- Dealing with limits set to the scope and contents of research by rigid legal and political framework conditions.
- Establishing effective communication channels between researchers and practitioners to enable continuous mutual feedback loops.
In order to shed light on those obstacles, we call upon all researchers and practitioners who have a) made attempts to test the social, economic or political effects of any kind of social protection scheme, b) struggle in their efforts with methodological, financial, organisational or political challenges, and c) found ways to overcome these challenges (or not) to send an abstract (300-500 words) of a scholarly written paper on their experience and observations until 20 December 2014 to the following e-mail address: sp-effects@giz.de
The social protection scheme under research may be a social insurance, social assistance, micro-insurance, cash or food for work, cash or food education or any other kind of social protection scheme. And the testing of its effects may have been any kind of quantitative or qualitative evaluation – provided that it has been based on a sound and meaningful research methodology.
The decision of acceptance will be taken by a team of referees by the end of January 2015. Authors from low and middle income countries are particularly encouraged to submit their papers. Limited budget is available to cover travel and accommodation costs of presenters coming from low income countries.