You can register to attend online by following this link. You will receive a Zoom confirmation email should your registration be successful. Alternatively, you can watch the event live here on our Facebook page.

The discussion will be held in both Arabic and English, with simultaneous interpretation of both languages available on Zoom only.

In recent years, a community of researchers and practitioners seeking to advance social protection as a cornerstone for more social justice in the Arab region has been producing knowledge to promote evidence-based policy recommendations via available domestic and international advocacy mechanisms. Faced with closed policy spheres, shrinking spaces for civil society and academia, austerity measures amidst already-contracted fiscal spaces, bad governance, and absence of political will for reform, there is a dire need for a dialogue that allows the multiple stakeholders to identify priority policy areas and converge on actionable solutions to catalyze the necessary policy reforms despite all hurdles.

This regional policy forum is organized by the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) and The Policy Initiative (TPI), within the framework of the Arab Region Hub for Social Protection, a consortium comprising think-tanks and independent media outlets, undertaking research and advocacy efforts to promote universal social protection systems in Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan, among other Arab countries. The objective of this policy forum is to address systemic forms of vulnerability and the ways in which Arab States can exploit their institutional capacities to build integrated social protection tools that can tackle them.

This forum brings together researchers, practitioners, activists, and policy makers to deliberate across the most important dimensions of the issue in question, namely:

• How can we build universal, effective, integrated, and viable social protection systems in the Arab region?
• What areas of intervention should be prioritized, and what short-medium term policy changes are possible amid current challenges until the ultimate goal of building universal social protection systems can be achieved in the longer run?
• What are the needed institutional, legal, policy, and financial reforms to make our objectives feasible?
• How do we rethink our policy making processes so that they become more participatory and legitimate?
• What does an inclusive social and political dialogue look like in our region?

For the full agenda, please click here.

Watch the full conference now!
Opening Remarks + Plenary 1

Plenary 2

Plenary 3

Plenary 4

Plenary 5

Plenary 6

Plenary 7

Plenary 8 + Closing Remarks