Support for neighbouring governments
P4SP supports governments in Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste to establish or strengthen their existing social protection systems.
The Australian Government, as well as governments across the Pacific island countries, increasingly recognise that social protection plays a critical role in supporting community and economic wellbeing, and helping build resilience to disasters and shocks such as cyclones, earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic.
P4SP provides tailored support to strengthen national social protection systems through:
- Short- or long-term advisors who work alongside partner governments to build and strengthen inclusive and sustainable social protection systems
- Specialist on-call technical assistance from our network of over 70 global experts spanning:
- Social protection policy (including integration with disability, ageing populations, children, social services, health and nutrition, livelihoods and labour markets, climate change and humanitarian responses)
- Financing and fiscal management for social protection
- Governance and strengthening institutional capacity
- Social protection operations (including Management Information Systems, financial inclusion and payments)
- Economic analysis, modelling and undertaking simulations
- Ensuring gender equality, disability and social inclusion are considered and promoted in social protection policies and programs
- The role of social protection in relation to climate change o Monitoring and evaluation of social protection programs and policies.
- Research and analysis to help improve understanding of social protection in the region
- Training, learning and networking opportunities, in-country and across the region
- Partnerships, advocacy and policy dialogue with partner governments, civil society organisations and other development partners
- Supporting the piloting of new initiatives and helping procure and implement solutions to improve the delivery of social protection programs.
How to access P4SP support
Learn more about how P4SP can support governments in the region to establish and strengthen social protection systems by contacting admin@P4SP.org.
Examples of Australia's support for social protection in the Pacific and Timor-Leste
Australia, through the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has a longstanding commitment to reducing poverty and enhancing stability and prosperity in our region, and is already supporting national social protection systems in a number of countries. For example, in the Pacific and Timor-Leste, Australia has:
- Provided budget support to governments of Fiji and Tonga as part of our support for COVID-19 response and recovery, to provide expanded cash assistance to citizens and reduce household stress through school fee relief
- Supported pilots of innovative social protection programs, including Oxfam's Unblocked Cash program in Vanuatu and a new government-led child nutrition social protection program in Papua New Guinea, in partnership with the World Bank
- Supported partner governments and humanitarian organisations to make emergency payments to help people affected by natural disasters, for example after Tropical Cyclone Harold in Fiji and Tropical Cyclone Gita in Tonga.
- Through the Kiribati Ministry of Women, Youth, Sport and Social Affairs (MWYSSA), P4SP has been engaged to support the development of a Social Protection Unit and provide technical support in the effective and efficient delivering of Kiribati’s social protections schemes.
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