Social protection is recognized as an effective strategy for poverty eradication. It also contributes to promoting good health and well-being, achieving decent employment, fostering economic growth and reducing inequalities – objectives that are reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG targets 1.3, 3.8, 5.4 and 10.4).

When designed to reduce and prevent poverty, food insecurity, and vulnerability across the life cycle – social protection policies and programmes can effectively support vulnerable households to improve their lives. The issue lies in the fact that only 45 per cent of the global population is currently effectively covered by at least one social benefit and the remaining 55 per cent – some 4 billion people – are left unprotected.

"On the path to universal coverage" identifies and analyses existing the barriers of access to social protection for rural populations (legal, institutional, financial) and also explores international experiences to identify potential solutions to overcome these barriers in a systematized manner. This paper aims to shed light on the current gaps in social protection programmes and offers solutions for policy-makers and stakeholders to take into account in the design and implementation stages of their own projects.