Cooperation and Development Section ■ Delegation of the European Union to China and Mongolia
Europe Aid
EU – CHINA SOCIAL PROTECTION REFORM
PROGRAMME (SPRP)
Duration
2014-2018
Beneficiary countries
China
EU Grant
Partner Contribution
7,000,000 EURO
1,000,000 EURO in kind
Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza
Sociale (INPS) (IT)
FORMEZ P.A. (IT);
Federal Public Service Social Security
(BE);
Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (PL);
Ministry of Labour, Family, Social
Protection and Elderly (RO);
Ministry of Employment and Social
Security (ES);
FIIAP (ES);
ADECRI (FR)
Implementing
Agencies
Partners
National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC, China);
Ministry of Finance, (China)
Ministry of Civil Affairs, (China)
Location
Throughout China
Project Website
http://spr.formez.eu/
Project contact
EU Delegation
Contact
Mr. Stefano Patriarca, Project Team
Leader (s.patriarca@outlook.it)
Mrs Xiaolin Yi, Project Officer
(xiaolin.yi@eeas.europa.eu)
Background
Social protection reform in China was initiated in 1984 and has made encouraging progress
since. China's new Social Insurance Law promulgated in 2010 made the Government
responsible for basic social protection throughout the country. The status quo of the social
protection system, however, is marred by discrepancies. A major challenge lies in the
provision of an equitable social protection system to the rapidly growing number of urban
residents and ageing population. Excluded groups will remain a major policy concern, to
maintain social stability and further promote social justice throughout the country.
Aiming at continuing the building and further development of an “inclusive” prosperous
society, the Central Government announced late 2012 to "make efforts" to phase a system
for ensuring social equity that will feature "equal rights, equal opportunities and equal rules.
Its 12th Five Year Economic and Development Plan (FYEDP) (2011-2015) prioritises better
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Cooperation and Development Section ■ Delegation of the European Union to China and Mongolia
livelihood and social benefits for the Chinese people and roll-out the social protection
Europe Aidsystem to the whole population.
Social protection systems of EU Member States provide a wide range of organisational
models and structures and have shown flexibility to adapt to new challenges. In addition,
EU Member States offer varied experiences of transforming social security systems of
formerly socialist countries to market economies, which is relevant to transformational
processes taking place in China.
The EU recognises the importance of supporting the development of social protection
systems in its partner countries and prioritises the continued cooperation in the field of
social protection reform with China in its country strategic paper (2007-2013).
Project Objectives
The project's overall objective is to further develop social equity and inclusiveness of
economic development throughout Chinese society.
The project's specific objective is to contribute to the improvement and inclusiveness of
China’s social protection system through strengthening the institutional capability for
developing policies, for implementing legal & regulatory frameworks and for supervising
systems of social insurances, social assistance and financial management in the area of
social security. The project's purpose will be pursued through the following three
components:
Component 1 will support National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in
strengthening institutional capacity for social protection policy development and
reforms.
Component 2 will support Ministry of Finance (MoF) to enhance institutional capacity for
financial management and supervision concerning social security funds.
Component 3 will assist Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA) in improvement of legal
framework and policy enforcement for social assistance.
Estimated Project Results
1. Mechanism for EU-China high level policy dialogue on social protection reform is
established and partnerships with the Specialized Public Bodies of EU Member States
and NDRC, MoF and MoCA on social protection have been set up and they are active.
Component 1
2. Under the leadership of NDRC, coordination of policy making among government
agencies in areas related to social protection reform is strengthened.
3. Capacity of NDRC in policy development and implementation, notably establishing and
enforcing a national policy evaluation approach in the area of social protection, is
enhanced.
4. National policy framework for a full coverage of old-age insurance system throughout
China is consolidated by strengthening the interface of various schemes, pension
funding pooling, old-age insurance scheme for civil servants/the employee of public
agencies and the existing multi-layer pension system.
5. Reform efforts in response to urbanization trends, in particular the harmonization and
integration of the various basic social protection systems for different groups of
beneficiaries, the portability of social insurances and better suited assistance schemes.
Component 2
6. The capacity of MoF financial management and supervision of central and local model
of social security system and the extension of social security system coverage are
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Cooperation and Development Section ■ Delegation of the European Union to China and Mongolia
enhanced, in particular in the fields of division of expenditure responsibilities, mid-terms
Europe Aid budgeting of fund, and performance assessment model.
7. Enhance the top level design ability in the basic pension insurance; establish actuarial
analysis models for basic pension insurance reform.
8. The capacity of the MoF in the management of social insurance funds, focusing on
fiscal support budgeting, account system, investment techniques and adjustment
mechanisms for pension benefits is strengthened.
Component 3
9. Capacity of MoCA for promulgating and enforcing the Social Assistance Law and the
regulations on rural and urban minimum standards of living are strengthened as well as
the skills of local officials in policy transmission and implementation are upgraded.
10. The legal frameworks on a) formulation of unified standards for the estimation and
calculation of social assistance benefits, b) recognition of social assistance target
groups and c) identification of low-income families are consolidated.
11. Efforts of MoCA in improved care for poor rural people and disabled people are
strengthened, and public information and transparency of social assistance policies are
raised at provincial level.
Main Project Activities
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Exchange of best practices and experience in the social protection field through the
identification of possible relevant EU experience
Base-line study/situation analysis of existing progress and practices
Technical studies and research conducted by the EU and Chinese experts on
introducing relevant EU experience/best practices
Well-focused study assignments to Europe for high level policy makers at both central
and provincial levels to exchange and discuss with European policy makers on topics
and themes related to the scope of the project.
Specialized trainings in Europe for government officials responsible for initiating policy
design
Seminars, workshops and conferences to present the outputs/suggestions of
studies/research
Annual high level EU-China Round Tables on social protection
Piloting of project activities related to policy development at provincial level and
stimulating replication of such pilot activities.
Policy trainings on relevant subjects in China to enhance the institutional capacity both
at central and local levels.
State of Play
The first Project Advisory Committee held on 21 May 2015 approved the project activity plan
in 2015. Three components are now implementing the prioritised activities in 2015.
A high quality international workshop on the Reform of Public Pension Systems held in
February 2015 in Brussels and provided a broad European panorama of major reforms in
public pension systems that could be put in a truly Chinese perspective, thanks to a wealth
of national and international reports.
Updated time of the fiche: May 2015
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