Universal Social Protection in Latin America and the Caribbean. Selected texts 2006-2019

Abstract

Social protection is the first axis of the Regional Agenda for Inclusive Social Development, which was recently adopted at the third session of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Mexico City in October 2019. This Agenda, through which the countries aim to make progress with the implementation of the social dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, acknowledges the progress the region has made since the turn of the century, when most of the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean —at different times, according to their national realities— abandoned the residual approach to social policy, increased their social investment and strengthened their social protection systems. The works collected in this publication contribute to a better understanding of the scope and limitations of social protection policies and programmes in the region and offer the reader access to the vast corpus of knowledge ECLAC has produced on the topic of social protection between 2006 and 2019, covering everything from conceptual considerations to the emerging challenges and current debates and proposals for social protection policy in Latin America and the Caribbean.