Metro Manila - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Philippines and with support of the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, conducted its first Social Protection Statistics Conference last October 22-23.

Bannering the theme "Driving SDG Progress through Data," the conference discussed and promoted the crucial role of statistics in achieving inclusive and sustainable development, as well as social protection in the Philippines.

The conference emphasized how social protection is integrated into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highlighted the country's efforts to monitor its progress towards these goals. The conference also identified areas that need accelerated focus to ensure that no one is left behind.

In his message, Undersecretary Atty. Adonis Sulit of the DSWD’s Policy and Planning Group said the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is "a call to leave no one behind and the statistics is the bedrock of [this] commitment."

Undersecretary Sulit said Filipinos are at the core of DSWD's work and that data gives them a voice in policy. "Through statistics, we transform individual stories into evidence and evidence into action," he said.

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) National Statistician and Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa described social protection as a powerful tool for reducing poverty and inequality.

"However, to maximize its impact, we need robust, reliable, and timely data. This is where social protection statistics become essential," the government’s National Statistician said.

The PSA Undersecretary cited statistics from the Philippine SDG Pace of Progress which indicated poverty reduction by over 6 million people between 2015 and 2023, unemployment rate falling from 10.3% in 2020 to 3.8% in 2024, and a growing emphasis on social protection amid rising disaster impacts affecting roughly 16,500 per 100,000 population.

During the conference, the UNDP presented key findings from its Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Report 2025, Overlapping Hardships: Poverty and Climate Hazards.

The UNDP also emphasized the need to strengthen social protection data systems, which include enhancing baseline poverty data with complementary information such as climate-related indicators.

UNDP Philippines Economist Mohamed Shahudh highlighted that the new MPI combines poverty and climate-hazard data for the first time to gauge the impact of climate change on the world's remaining populations, as detailed in UNDP's Global Multidimensional Poverty Index Report, Overlapping Hardships: Poverty and Climate Hazards.

"Nearly eight out of ten people who are multidimensionally poor are also affected by at least one climate hazard, while only about 25 percent of the population is effectively covered by social protection in the world's 50 countries most vulnerable to climate change," Shahudh pointed out.

"This underscores the urgent need to align social protection with climate action and to strengthen the data systems that underpin poverty eradication efforts," he added.

The conference also explored the implementation of innovation and digitalization initiatives to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system for social protection and to link it with employment facilitation services.

Among the topics discussed were Beyond the Numbers: Measuring Multidimensional Poverty to Enhance Social Protection; Localizing the SDGs: Empowering Local Governments with Data for Targeted Social Welfare Programs;  Data for Decent Work: Evidence-informed Social Protection Programs for the Transportation and Construction Sectors;  Leveraging Data for SDGs and Adaptive Social Protection, Harnessing Big Data for M&E; and Targeting and Leveraging Statistics for Policy Reforms Toward Stronger Social Welfare and Development Programs.

The conference also incorporated capacity-building in data storytelling and visualization for impact, as well as simulation models and impact simulations using the SPF tool.

More than 100 representatives from the government, development partners, and civil society organizations attended the conference.

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