Uzbekistan Drafts 2027–2033 Social Protection Strategy with World Bank, UNICEF

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The National Social Protection Agency convened a consultative session on the draft Social Protection Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2027–2033, bringing together representatives from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the World Bank, and UNICEF, the agency announced.

The working session examined the strategy's core pillars: reform of social services delivery, restructuring of social assistance and insurance mechanisms, and a deliberate expansion of the non-governmental sector's role in providing social services to citizens.

Two cross-cutting themes shaped much of the discussion. First, the digitization of the social sector — framing technology not as a peripheral upgrade but as a structural tool for improving system efficiency. Second, inter-agency coordination, identified as a persistent bottleneck that the new strategy must address architecturally rather than procedurally.

The draft strategy also takes on a cluster of deeper institutional challenges: deinstitutionalization of care services, the development of professional case management frameworks, the upskilling of social workers, and the reinforcement of child rights protection mechanisms. Participants emphasized that modern technology integration in social sector governance is central to achieving progress across all of these areas.

The 2027–2033 timeframe signals a long-horizon policy commitment — a notable contrast to shorter-cycle reform decrees that have characterized parts of Uzbekistan's social policy in recent years. The involvement of three major international development partners at the drafting stage suggests the strategy is being designed with both domestic implementation and external benchmarking in mind.

All recommendations and proposals raised during the session will be incorporated into the continued preparation of the strategy document, participants confirmed.