Social Protection Week 15-17 Feb 2022 | High-Level Conference: Social Protection Throughout the Life Cycle

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Your Excellency Dr. Aun Pornmoniroth, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance

Esteemed government delegates

Distinguished colleagues of Development Partners and UN System

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen

It is a privilege to join you this morning to open the Social Protection Week, which is a part of the UN Joint SDG Fund support to the Royal Government of Cambodia. This is a timely opportunity to collectively reflect on the achievements and progress made over the past years, as well as challenges and opportunities moving forward.

The first point of the order is to convey our congratulations. On behalf of the United Nations system, I commend the Royal Government of Cambodia for the remarkable progress in expanding social protection coverage in recent years. Since the launch of the National Social Protection Policy Framework in 2016, social assistance and social security schemes have significantly expanded to ensure that not only the most vulnerable, but more Cambodians who are at risk of falling into poverty, are better protected.

The United Nations has consistently considered the Covid-19 pandemic crisis as an opportunity for transformation.

We have seen transformation at speed and scale previously not thought possible in the social protection measures put in place by the Royal Government to mitigate the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The cash transfer program for poor and vulnerable benefited about 700,000 households comprising nearly 2.8 million people. The NSSF system was also swiftly deployed to implement the scheme of wage subsidies for suspended workers in the garment and tourism sectors. These measures have demonstrated greater capacity of the Royal Government as duty bearers to save lives and livelihoods, and most importantly ensure rights to social protection for all Cambodians.

Beyond protecting people from spiralling into poverty, social protection measures also averted a sharper economic contraction. In collaboration with the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the UN’s economic modelling showed that social protection programmes helped reduce poverty by about 3.4 percentage points and save GDP growth by nearly 1 percentage point. Social protection measures have also improved social cohesion and built trust in public institutions, which are critical in forging an inclusive, resilient and prosperous economy and society. Social protection accelerates progress towards the achievement of the Cambodia Sustainable Development Goals (CSDGs).

Despite the successes, our work on social protection is just starting. While the pandemic continues to surge around the world, it has already shown how deeply-rooted inequality can devastate even the more affluent economies, particularly those without access to health care and social safety nets. As a society, we are only as strong as the weakest link.

Which leads me to the pose the questions -- how do we sustain efforts to provide social protection  to cover all segments of the population, especially the vulnerable groups at risk of being deprived or left behind.

How can different stakeholders: private sector, development partners and civil society collaborate to support efforts by the Royal Government to sustain expanded social protection coverage as an integral part in building back better from the pandemic?

How can social protection be embedded in national economic and social development priorities, integrate sectoral policies, and coordinate with relevant line ministries in a whole of government, whole of system approach? How can social protection increase resource allocation effectiveness? The UN recognizes how social protection is included as one of the priorities in the “Strategic Framework and Programs for Economic Recovery 2021-2023.” Social protection builds resilience and will need to be part of the broader efforts to finance development priorities.

While the UN development system is committed and ready to continue our support to sustain expanded coverage of the social protection system, we are fully aware of the challenges of financing and fiscal space constraints.

Hand-in-hand with the Royal Government, the UN system is exploring options for expanding fiscal space and mobilizing additional financing for development.  We will need to put our head together to innovate and expand options. Some of these options include:

One, reforming fiscal policy to be more progressive, including increasing taxes on tobacco, alcohol and gambling;

Two, developing secure pathways for debt financing; and

Three, mobilizing green financing including REDD+ and global climate fund, which can free up the fiscal space for social protection, among others.

Specifically for social protection, promoting the formalization of economic activity and jobs is imperative to both expand the base for government revenues and to strengthen the social contract between the state and people as well.

The UN’s work with the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the “Integrated National Financing Framework” includes developing the Financing Strategy for SDGs, supporting the government’s plan to issue Khmer Riel sovereign bonds, and linking national budget with CSDGs (or budget tagging), among many others.

Last year, as part of the UN initiative ‘Financing for the Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond’, the UN Secretary-General has announced the creation of a ‘Global Accelerator’ to help ensure global financing to create 400 million jobs and extend social protection to 4 billion people globally who are currently without coverage. At the initial stage, the Accelerator will be implemented in a selected number of low- and middle-income countries (so-called “pathfinders”), which have considerable potential to amplify investments in social protection and decent jobs. With a strong commitment towards expanding social protection, Cambodia would be an excellent candidate to be one of the “pathfinder countries.”

I conclude by conveying the message that political leadership and commitment to development innovation will be key in unlocking sustained financing for social protection as a cornerstone for ensuring resilience and  building forward better and ensure that no one is left behind in the pandemic recovery. The UN supports you in this endeavour.

Together, we are stronger!

Thank you.