Strenghtening of Social Protection Systems in the PALOPs and Timor-Leste / Global Component The present document contains a proposal from the Social Protection Department of the ILO (SOCPRO/ILO) and the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO) for implementation of the project entitled “ACTION/Portugal - Strengthening of the Social Protection Systems of the PALOPs and East Timor”, to be implemented within the framework of the general agreement between the Portuguese Republic and the International Labour Organization, signed on September 29, 1982. The project will attach particular importance to the ILO’s international standards on the subject of social security and to the Social Protection Floor, which is a joint initiative of the United Nations system. The international instruments used as the point of reference will be the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102), the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), and the other so-called third generation instruments. The project intervention seeks to contribute to increased coverage of the social protection systems, and is structured around four interrelated lines of intervention: (i) supporting the national institutions in the design, implementation and evaluation of social protection programmes, with a view to implementation of National Social Protection Floors, contributing to the national dialogue processes in relation to extension of coverage; (ii) strengthening the capacities and skills of the national institutions for implementation of comprehensive and integrated social protection systems, by means of training and capacity building activities; (iii) promoting access on the part of the Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOPs) and East Timor to the information, practices and educational resources that are available regionally and internationally in support of the processes of implementation or extension of social protection; and (iv) contributing to the interchange of knowledge in relation to innovations and good practices adopted within the framework of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) regarding implementation and strengthening of social protection floors. The expected duration of the project will be 40 months, beginning in September 2015 and ending in December 2018. This project proposal presents its background and justification, strategy and logical framework, institutional framework and management arrangements, sustainability, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, communication and budget. In addition to the detail of the activities proposed between September 2015 and January 2016, at the beginning of each year of the project’s life a proposal for activities for the following years will be submitted to the Project Steering Committee for approval. The ACTION/Portugal Project will be the responsibility of the Social Protection Department of the ILO and of the Social Protection, Governance and Tripartism Programme of the International Training Centre of the ILO. The subregional offices of the ILO responsible for the countries in which the project has decentralized activities will be responsible on matters that fall within their competence. Within the context of the Project, the SOCPRO/ILO, the ITCILO and the subregional offices involved in the activities will work in close partnership in the fields of strengthening of institutional capacities, technical assistance and knowledge development and sharing. Indeed, this has been one of the keys to success of the previous STEP/Portugal project. This project will draw on the experience, lessons learned and strengths of the previous ILO and ITCILO project financed by the Government of Portugal for extending social protection in the PALOPs – aspects that were highlighted by the independent final evaluation and by the ILO constituents themselves belonging to the CPLP.