Social Protection: Insights from history for contemporary challenges

Venue

This is a hybrid event, taking place at the Sheikh Zayed Centre at FAO Headquarters in Rome.
For online participants, the event will be accessible via Zoom (registration is required here).

Overview

Cash transfers — the direct distribution of money by governments— have been implemented for centuries and recently reached an unprecedented scale, benefiting nearly 1.4 billion people worldwide. Despite substantial evidence of their effectiveness in reducing poverty and enhancing economic resilience, scepticism among policymakers persists.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will host an in-depth discussion on the historical evolution of cash transfers, their policy implications, and the key lessons they offer for ongoing debates on social protection, in the context of climate change and remaining rural poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition.

The event will feature insights from Timely Cash: Lessons from 2,500 Years of Giving People Money, the latest book by Ugo Gentilini, Lead Economist at the World Bank, who will present its key findings. 

Objectives  

• Trace the historical evolution of cash transfers: Explore how cash transfers have developed over centuries and their role in shaping modern social policies. 
• Analyze contemporary policy debates: Discuss the role of cash transfers in addressing poverty, inequality, and crisis response, highlighting both opportunities and challenges. 
• Examine global lessons and future directions: Identify historical patterns that can inform contemporary policymaking and the future of social protection programs.

Agenda 

Welcome and opening remarks

Cash transfers in the context of global policy and rural development. Delivered by Máximo Torero, Chief Economist, FAO

Moderated by Lynnette Neufeld, Director, Food and Nutrition Division, FAO

Technical presentation: Reflections about how history can inform contemporary policymaking for addressing rural poverty and hunger

Ugo Gentilini, Lead Economist, World Bank

A deep dive in cash transfers

Ugo Gentilini, Lead Economist, World Bank, and Benjamin Davis, Director, Rural Transformation and Gender Equality, FAO

Panel and key reflections: The evolution of cash transfers in the context of Egypt

• Nivine El-Kabbag, Former Minister of Social Solidarity, Egypt
• Ugo Gentilini, Lead Economist, World Bank

Moderated by Lynnette Neufeld, Director, Food and Nutrition Division, FAO

Final remarks

Benjamin Davis, Director, Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, FAO

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