Technical Commissions

Technical Commission on Family Benefits

Technical Commissions

Technical Commission on Family Benefits

The Technical Commission on Family Benefits has as its main interest to understand how the needs of the modern family are changing in light of the profound societal changes taking place; such as the smaller family unit and the changing role of parents in the work place. It places special emphasis on the role of the family unit, in particular for early childhood development, in breaking the cycle of poverty and reducing gender inequalities.

Societal transformations including demographic and technological transitions have direct implications on a fundamental unit of society – the family. Demographic and societal changes have led to a change in family structures, with a trend towards smaller families and households and the increasing prevalence of other family patterns such as stepfamily and single parent families.

The ISSA Technical Commission on Family Benefits champions improved social protection for families and children. This is in response to the challenges associated with widening gender gaps, erosion of traditional family support systems, labour market and societal transformations. It seeks to identify approaches to address the causes and consequences of widespread inequality, poverty and socio-economic vulnerability, especially among women and children.

Working on the premise of promoting social inclusion and based on ISSA’s commitment to universal and comprehensive social protection for all, the technical commission supports policies and programme implementation with a focus on family and child protection. It is responsible for the development of knowledge and content on family, children and gender related social protection, and proposes approaches to foster the protection of children and families. It equally conducts tailored studies to build evidence for social protection policy reforms in today’s rapidly changing world.

The Technical Commission on Family Benefits is a collaborative knowledge-sharing platform for members. It provides a unique opportunity for its members to examine and exchange knowledge on family protection policies, including early childhood development, childcare benefits, maternity and paternity protection as wells as approaches to gender equality and parenthood support.

It liaises with other ISSA technical commissions on crosscutting issues such as governance and administration of social protection schemes and programmes, use of information and communication technology solutions in social security administration, service delivery and combating error, evasion and fraud.