Beijing, November 9, 2015 – Around 250 policymakers
from 75 countries are gathering in Beijing for the 2015 South-South
Learning Forum on “Emerging Social Protection Systems in an Urbanizing
World”. The week-long Forum, which was officially opened today by
Chinese State Counselor Wang Yong and World Bank Group Vice President
Keith Hansen, is a landmark, pioneering event to discuss, share and
learn from emerging knowledge and practical innovations on social
protection in urban areas.
Urbanization poses both opportunities and challenges for central and
local governments around the globe. China embodies a perfect location to
learn from the design and implementation of comprehensive social
protection systems for urban dwellers, especially from the experience of
its Dibao urban social safety nets program.
“As the largest developing country with 1.3 billion people, China
has developed...
a social protection system tailored to our specific
conditions and focused on results. This system is based on minimum
living guarantee, support for the extremely poor, assistance for people
affected by disaster, medical assistance, education assistance, housing,
employment and temporary assistance, complemented by participation of
social forces. This has formed a huge, solid and effective social
safety net covering over 70 million poor people,” says Li Liguo, Chinese
Minister of Civil Affairs.
“This forum will provide a platform to share experience and expand
multilateral dialogue. I am confident that it will help countries take
more effective actions and contribute to the development of
country-tailored and sustainable social protection policies and systems
to guarantee and improve the basic living standards for the people in
developing countries,” he adds.
“Around 54 percent of the world’s population now lives in urban
areas. Every single day, more than 180,000 people urbanize globally.
Simply put, much of our future depends on whether cities thrive or sink.
This event aims to share our collective knowledge on how to
operationalize safety nets in urban settings. We also stand to gain from
China’s stellar experience in bringing more than 600 million people out
of poverty over three decades and the experience with its urban social
safety nets program –the Dibao,” says Keith Hansen, World Bank Group’s
Vice President for Human Development.
“With poverty reduction as the primary goal, a strong and diversified
financing mechanism for the development of the social protection system
is the only way to common development, as well as the obligation of
public finance,” said Yu Weiping, Vice Minister of Finance of China.
“Under the New Normal of slower economic growth and accelerating
urbanization, China’s Ministry of Finance will, based on our national
conditions, continue to learn from international experience, do our best
to ensure financing for social protection, and improve funding
efficiency and effectiveness. We will work with other developing
countries and international organizations to achieve our vision of
eradicating poverty and common development.”
The event is co-hosted by the World Bank Group and the Government of
China, particularly through the support of the Ministry of Civil
Affairs, Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China, and
Beijing Municipal Government. The Forum was also made possible through
the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, as well as the RSR (Rapid
Social Response) Program which in turn is supported by the Russian
Federation, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom and Australia.
The Forum’s agenda is designed to promote knowledge sharing through a
range of learning methods: on one hand, plenary presentations will
explore issues around urban institutional and financing arrangements,
operational issues, and ways to connect social safety nets to urban
labor markets, basic social services, and urban development agendas.
Ministers, government officials and practitioners from five continents
will participate actively throughout the event.
Participants will also have the opportunity to engage and learn from
each other during interactive roundtable discussions, including allowing
to build networks for continued collaboration beyond the Forum.
Structured lessons-learned sessions towards the end of the Forum will
give participants the opportunity to reflect on the week’s content and
discuss ideas and priorities.
In addition to that, the event also includes a one-day field trip
visit to various locations in Beijing Municipality to witness China’s
urban Dibao and other social assistance programs in action.
