Social Protection in the Mekong: policy trends and future directions

The paper analyses the current and possible future development of social protection systems in three Mekong countries: Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam. The three countries are at differing levels of development but face a number of shared challenges including poverty and malnutrition, climate change and food price volatility. Their social protection systems range from an embryonic system in Laos to an ‘emerging’ system in Viet Nam. Following an overview of the three countries and their social protection systems (drawing on the ADB comparative Social Protection Index), we discuss in detail the social protection system in each country, the impact of that system and the role and impact of development partners. This section also looks at key future developments. Part 3 discusses a number of key challenges facing social protection systems and part 4 concludes with a discussion on the possible future directions in social protection in the region.