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The paper highlights the role of social protection in achieving MDGs. The Sri Lankan experience demonstrates that social protection policies and programs carried out by the successive governments over decades have helped make substantial progress on many goals. The importance of social protection goes beyond MDGs. The issues of ageing population, Informalization of work, low female labor force participation and increasing vulnerability to shocks also stress the need for comprehensive social protection systems. Social protection has to be a key element of the post-2015 development agenda – either as a goal or as an instrument to achieve several goals.

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