Global Development Institute 64d ago

Lecture with Matthew Greenslade, Economist and former employee of the UK Department for International Development Matthew Greenslade describes the damage being done by the World Bank's insistence on pursuing a poverty-targeted approach to social protection (social security, or the benefit system) in lower income countries. Matthew describes why the World Bank does what it does and describes successes in the global fight for a more universal approach which is led by governments and supported by the UN and NGOs, a fight we can all support. Poverty targeting has intuitive appeal but is error-strewn and can cause social unrest, setting back the development of universal social protection systems for years. Nearly half of the world’s population does not have access to social protection, leaving them vulnerable to life events and crises such as pandemics and climate-related events, and making it harder for nations to develop and make a successful transition to low-carbon growth.