Who amplifies the voices of the millions left behind by social protection systems? This special issue of our newsletter brings together research, policy briefs, podcasts and voices to show just how many roles civil society plays — from grassroots mobiliser to policy watchdog to emergency responder.
A good starting point is the overview report Social Protection: What Role for Civil Society? just released by the GCSPF. It maps how NGOs, trade unions, and grassroots associations are working and pushing for social protection as a human right — and discusses what it takes to keep them at the table.
Being at the table, however, is getting harder. The Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation’s report Safeguarding Civil Society Space at the United Nations documents a “death by 1,000 cuts”: how bureaucratic delays, funding cuts, and procedural tweaks quietly lock civil society out of global human rights governance.
On the ground, it looks different. This video from Cambodia — produced by the Cooperation Committee of Cambodia — shows volunteers helping formerly excluded community members access social protection, one person at a time.
Zooming out to Asia as a whole, the Faces of Inequality report by GCAP finds that millions across Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Cambodia, Pakistan, and the Philippines remain without basic protection. The report documents the role of civil society in all moments of the policy cylce.
What makes civil society participation actually work? Three resources provided by INSP!R and WSM dig into governance and systems: a policy brief on civil society’s role in effective, inclusive, and sustainable social protection, a major research report on inclusive governance and societal resilience — with policy briefs — and a study on how the social and solidarity economy can extend the right to social protection, with an accompanying policy brief.
Finally: what happens when the state steps back in a crisis? The podcast episode Beyond “Gap-Filling”: CSOs and the Battle for Accountability in Lebanon tackles exactly this, with ARI’s Farah Al Shami and social policy expert Cynthia Saghir. Read alongside the policy brief on CSOs as local first responders by the Camealeon Consortium and the Asfari Institute — a sharp analysis of what worked, what didn’t, and what needs to change.
To Read News Letter : https://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/2026/05/e-newsletter-gcspf-131-may-2026-edition/