The Event 'New Frontiers on Social Protection in a Changing World: Towards a Vision for Shared Progress in Asia Pacific' was a collaborative effort by @UNICEF & @UNDP, alongside @UNESCAP & other UN agencies. Held on Feb 19 as part of the Eleventh Asia Pac

The Event ‘New Frontiers on Social Protection in a Changing Word: Towards a Vision for a Shared Progress in Asia Pacific’ was organized by the Issue-Based Coalition on Inclusive Economic Growth and Recovery Co-chaired by UNICEF and UNDP in partnership with ESCAP and other UN agencies on 19th February as an Associated Event to the Eleventh Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development convened in Bangkok from 20-23 February 2024.

Joining the Session on ‘Financing to Scale Social Protection’ as a Panelist, the Director General of the Sustainable Development Council (DG/SDC) shared her views on the options for optimizing public financing for social protection as well as on the potential for innovative financing mechanisms to be mobilized for social protection financing and the opportunities and challenges innovative financing instruments present in this area.

During her presentation, the DG/SDC highlighted the current initiatives of the SDC to crowd-in private investment to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the backdrop of constrained fiscal space in Sri Lanka. These include the collaborative efforts of SDC, the Ceylon Chambers of Commerce and the Sri Lanka Bank’s Association to explore innovative sustainable finance solutions including setting up a Country-level Blended Finance Facility/ Platform and the potential to develop domestic impact bond framework.

Key challenges in such collaborative sustainable finance initiatives, highlighted by the DG/SDC is in aligning the interests of the various stakeholders and the identification of and funneling in pipeline of projects for blended finance facility, translating high-level policy and ambitions to commercial investments on the ground.

The Session was moderated by Andrea Rossi, Regional Advisor, Social Policy and Economic Analysis, UNICEF Regional Office for East Asia and Pacific and included senior government representatives from Indonesia and Philippines.