Brussels, Dec. 7, GNA - The European Development Report (ERD), a programme which seeks to create an European perspective on some development challenges, on Tuesday advocated for the inclusion of social protection policies in governments' development planning. A social protection policy is a specific set of actions or plans to help make the vulnerable and the poor in society to have a better life through the establishment of insurance schemes such as the health insurance policy.

The ERD pointed out that social protection was not only a right but an instrument that could support the progress of countries towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals in 2015. Ms Giorgia Giovannetti, ERD Lead Author at a technical briefing before the official launch of the report, said social protection issues had gained a lot of attention on the international agenda and that stemmed from the growing recognition that social protection policy was a crucial part of the development puzzle.

The launch of the ERD is part of this year's celebration of a programme dubbed: "European Development Days" a forum used for discussing European development policy. The European Development Days programme brings together member states of the European Union as well as participants from the world over. This year's event attracted 15,738 participants, 5,309 civil society organizations, 927 media personnel as well as 44 Ministers, 24 Heads of State, 12 Prime Ministers and other stakeholders. Ms Giovannetti said: "Social protection can also be part of a strategy to empower the most vulnerable groups in society and tackle inequality issues to make growth and development more inclusive." She advised governments to ensure domestic ownership of such programmes and not wholly depend on donors since that was not a sustainable option and urged them to also put in place monitoring and evaluation schemes to measure its success.

Ms Giovannetti who is also with the European University Institute, further stated that evidence from the report showed that social protection programmes could mitigate risks and reduce chronic poverty as well as complement health and education spending, adding "social protection might be investment for boosting growth, reducing poverty and accelerating progress towards the MDGs." 7 Dec. 10