Inclusive Social Protection in Latin America : A Comprehensive, Rights-Based Approach

Social protection has become one of the pillars of social development strategies. But, lacking a consistent standard for social protection, the issue has been approached in different ways and from different analytical and policy dimensions. This document examines the principal ongoing discussions regarding social protection and conditional cash transfer programmes, looks at the role assigned to them and weighs the conceptual elements, the needs and the challenges to be addressed in order to consolidate comprehensive social protection systems. These systems should provide universal coverage. Their funding should be grounded in solidarity. And, above all, the citizens' rights that they establish should be egalitarian. The entire citizenry becomes the subject of protection policies, and social policies come to be viewed as a whole that encompasses the complementary — not contradictory — principles of targeting as an instrument and universality as a goal