The Rise of Social Protection in the Global South: The Role of Foreign Aid

Sammanfattning

Social protection systems have expanded markedly in low- and middle-income countries in the last two decades. At the same time over half the world’s population is estimated to lack access to social protection. These systems are especially important in financial and other crises, something that become apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently in connection with the global food crisis that followed on Russia's attack on Ukraine.

This report investigates if, and indeed finds that, international foreign aid has contributed positively to the recent development of social protection systems in low- and middle-income countries, mainly driven by support from multilaterals. Building the fiscal capacity of countries is, according to the authors, probably the most effective way to secure the long-term sustainability of these systems.

Regarding Swedish aid to social protection the report concludes that “in terms of absolute volumes, it has oscillated considerably over the longer term, first peaking at around 1 per cent of total aid in the mid-1990s, then falling in the early 2000s to about 0.6 per cent before increasing again from 2015 – a trajectory reflected in the pronounced ups and downs … with no obvious trends.”