Social protection plays a crucial role in accelerating progress in the fight against hunger, malnutrition and rural poverty, with the potential to transform the lives of rural women and men by improving their well-being and livelihoods.

Still, evidence shows that social protection is lacking for the majority of the food insecure and poor living in rural areas.

With this in mind, experts, researchers and practitioners have come together on 24–25 September for a regional meeting in Belgrade to discuss social protection in the Western Balkans. Their focus is on the spread and characteristics of poverty and social exclusion, social insurance and social assistance programmes, including access to pensions and other social benefits.