About ISPA

Around the world, Governments are recognizing the importance of social protection systems in fighting poverty, securing the well-being of the population and in fostering economic and social development. Yet, many countries are only starting to build coherent social protection systems and significant coverage gaps exist: it is estimated that three out of four people around the world do not have access to sufficient social protection.

Countries wanting to strengthen their social protection systems often seek technical advice on how to design and implement social protection policies. However, advice on social protection is often fragmented and contradictory across the international community. In 2012, the Social Protection Cooperation Board (SPIAC-B) was created and embarked in the development of ISPA tools in response to the need for more harmonized, coherent and coordinated approaches both at international and national levels. The tools aim to assess and improve social protection systems, programmes and delivery mechanisms.

ISPA tools

• support countries in building coherent social protection systems and delivery structures that respond to the needs of the population,
• ensure complementarity between SP interventions and coordination across sectors,
• provide a platform for collaboration across agencies
• help craft a common vision for SP systems

ISPA tools have been developed by the world’s leading social protection specialists from more than 20 international organizations and development partners, with strong partnership from Governments. Each tool has gone through a rigorous development and approval process for this purpose.

ISPA tools are applied in countries around the world, facilitating dialogue and enablingsd countries to learn from each other. All the ISPA tools that are free and publicly available and can be downloaded on this site.