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ESCAP has developed a microsimulation model, the SPOT Simulator, that enables users to examine the impact of different design features of non-contributory schemes on poverty, consumption, inequality and cost. Drawing on Household Income and Expenditure Surveys, the Simulator calculates the impact of providing non-contributory child, disability, maternity and old age benefits on development outcomes at the household and population level. Presented in a user-friendly manner, it aims to make data around social protection policy options more accessible for policy makers.

ESCAP convened a regional meeting “Accelerating Implementation of the Regional Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection” on 7 October 2024 to bring together partner countries1 involved in national stocktaking exercises on social protection as part of the Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection in Asia and the Pacific.

Governments have increasingly recognized social protection as a key policy instrument to build a more productive, protected and healthy population in Asia and the Pacific. In 2020, ESCAP member States endorsed the regional Action Plan to Strengthen Regional Cooperation on Social Protection (Action Plan), which serves as a shared vision, strategy and platform for promoting partnership and peer learning and identifying needs for capacity development.

ESCAP has developed a microsimulation model, the SPOT Simulator, that enables users to examine the impact of different design features of non-contributory schemes on poverty, consumption, inequality and cost. Drawing on Household Income and Expenditure Surveys, the Simulator calculates the impact of providing non-contributory child, disability, maternity and old age benefits on development outcomes at the household and population level.