Better monitoring of social protection in Africa

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets out to ensure “that no one will be left behind” (United Nations, 2016a). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) followed on from the Millennium Development Goals (MDG); Goal 1 calls for an end to poverty in all its forms everywhere; it also aims to ensure social protection for the poor and vulnerable, increased access to basic services and support to people harmed by climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters. All States declared their endeavors to first reach those who are furthest behind. The starting point is to first identify the most disadvantaged population groups, and define how and to what extent they are disadvantaged. This requires accurate information broken down by age, sex, place of residence and other relevant group socioeconomic characteristics. In order to increase the effectiveness of social protection investments, quality, accessible, timely and reliable disaggregated data will be critical for monitoring progress to ensure that no one is left behind