Dr Ganga Tilakaratna Contributes to UNESCAP’s 75th Anniversary Publication

31 May 2022

Dr Ganga Tilakaratna, Research Fellow and Head of Poverty and Social Welfare Policy Research at the IPS has penned a chapter on social protection for a publication released to mark the 75^th anniversary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). In the book entitled Shaping the Future of Regional Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific, experts from the region and beyond offer their takes on how member states can build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic and foster a greener, healthier and more sustainable Asia-Pacific.

In her chapter, Dr Tilakaratna notes that despite various social protection programmes in place, less than half of the population in the Asia-Pacific region are covered by at least one social protection scheme. Dr Tilakaratna asserts that a key impediment to broadening social protection is adequate financing. Addressing this requires recognising social protection as an integral part of the country’s development plan and increasing budgetary allocations to social protection, which depends on political will and commitment.

Click HERE to download the UNESCAP book.