This toolkit focuses on best practices for social protection advocacy. Its fundamental starting point is the assertion that social protection is a human right. Social protection is defined as a set of policies to help women, men and children reach or maintain an adequate standard of living and good health. Building social protection systems (including social protection floors) is at the forefront of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, because these systems reduce and prevent poverty while also levelling out inequalities.
The Asian Roundtable on Social Protection (AROSP) was established more than 10 years ago. For the past several years, AROSP members have contributed to many achievements on the way toward transformative social protection to change structural poverty by addressing fiscal policies and power imbalances. This grassroots modalities collection is drawn from their stories, focusing on the success that organizations have had in advocating for social protection policy in Asia.
This manual reflects the result of several trainings, workshops, and conversations in the past three years of grassroots organisers in Asia with whom Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC) have worked together to learn how the grassroots workers understand the concept of social protection and evaluate the social protection programmes in their countries. More importantly, the participatory processes that served as the foundation of this manual helped in the formulation of a grassroots perspective on social protection as well as the grassroots workers’ social protection demands.
A group of labour leaders and activists from seven Asian countries gathered to share experiences regarding “Strengthening Freedom of Association in Asia: Strategies and Mechanisms”, co-hosted by Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC) and the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR). Aggressive union-busting and violent repression of organizing have been among the chief problems faced by Asian labour organizations when they organize workers in defense of their labour rights – with gross impunity even in cases where such rights are clearly constitutiona