Strategies and Tools against Social Exclusion and Poverty (STEP) Programme

STEP is an operational tool to promote the extension of social protection for men and women workers in the informal economy. This is achieved by bolstering the confidence of the excluded so that they realise that not only do they have the right to seek basic human security and universal and equitable access to social protection services, but that they also have the ability. Making efforts to make women more visible in their social and economic roles. This contributes to the overall preparations for the follow up to the 4th World Conference on Women in Bejing (1995) through the "Bejing plus 5" in 2000. Through a participatory approach, STEP works in the field of microinsurance as a means for the excluded to claim their basic human security, such as equitable access to health care and other social protection services. The STEP strategies include the implementation of development projects, action research, advocacy and policy dialogue. STEP works in partnership with governments, workers' and employers' organisations, international development organisations, research centres, group-based organisations (social economy) and selected NGOs