Experts' workshop on gender-responsive and age-sensitive social protection

Despite the importance of both gender and age in order to achieve social change, there is little evidence on how social protection systems and programmes can be more gender-responsive, as well as sensitive to different age groups’ specific risks and vulnerabilities.

To identify and address these gaps in our knowledge, 35 experts from the fields of academia, practice, and programming gathered at UNICEF’s Office of Research in Florence on the 6th of May for an experts’ workshop on gender-responsive and age-sensitive social protection.

The event discussed the evidence base on gender, adolescence and social protection, and create linkages between evidence, policy and programming actors. A series of draft think pieces by key experts in the fields of gender and social protection, commissioned by UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, was also presented at the workshop.

Panel discussions explored:

• How a life course lens is critical for effective and efficient social protection systems, including for adolescents;
• How social protection programmes and strategies have – or have not – considered gender dynamics in their design and implementation;
• Design and implementation considerations in gender-responsive social protection;
• Social protection in the context of humanitarian, climate change, and complex crises.

This experts’ workshop is part of the DFID-funded programme on gender-responsive age-sensitive social protection. The GRASSP think piece series, which discusses the intersection of these three important areas, was be published on the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti website in in early 2020.