The Second World Social Summit (WSSD-2), held in Doha, Qatar, from 4–6 November 2025, was the most ambitious global gathering on social development since the 1995 Copenhagen Summit. It offered both a moment of reflection and a renewed call to action. More than 40 Heads of State and Government, 230 ministers and senior officials, and nearly 14,000 participants convened to review progress on eradicating poverty, strengthening social protection, and promoting inclusion — and to assess how far the world still has to go.
The Summit opened with a pre-summit meeting on the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, a Brazil-led initiative launched at the 2023 G20 Summit. Now functioning as a matchmaking platform linking countries, organizations, and donors, the Alliance reflects a growing recognition that coordinated, cross-border action is indispensable in tackling inequality and hunger.
A Global Gathering in a Fragmented World
A unifying message echoed across the week: the world’s social fabric is under strain. In plenary debates and more than 250 “solution sessions,” governments, civil society actors, and experts shared practical approaches to strengthening social protection, health, education, and decent work. ICSW and its partners hosted three sessions showcasing inclusive, rights-based social policy models.
Yet beneath this constructive spirit, the discussions revealed sobering realities. While global poverty has declined over decades, gains remain uneven and fragile. Mounting debt burdens, climate-driven pressures, conflict, displacement, and widening inequality have reversed progress in many regions.
The contrast with Copenhagen was striking. The 1995 Summit established that people must be placed at the center of development. Thirty years later, that principle remains valid — but the urgency is far greater. WSSD-2 was not only about reaffirming commitments but about translating them into practical implementation in a world more complex, divided, and interdependent than ever.
The adoption of the Doha Political Declaration on the Summit’s first day reflected this determination. The 18-page document, adopted by consensus, recommits nations to social development and to fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet, as participants acknowledged, a persistent gap remains between aspiration and action — between eloquent pledges and measurable results.
Social Development as Shared Interest, Not Charity
One of the Summit’s clearest messages was that social development is not charity but enlightened self-interest. As UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock emphasized in her closing remarks:
“Copenhagen taught us 30 years ago that social development and inclusion are essential for strong societies. We promised to leave no one behind. Social development is not a ‘nice to have’ nor an act of charity. It is in the self-interest of every country.”
Her words captured a vital shift in global thinking: inequality, hunger, and exclusion are not only moral failures but strategic risks. They weaken economies, fuel instability, and threaten peace. Delegates stressed that the roots of poverty and hunger often lie less in scarcity than in conflict, environmental pressure, inequality, and governance failures — challenges requiring fairer fiscal policies, stronger institutions, and better international cooperation.
From Declarations to Deliverables
The central message of WSSD-2 was unmistakable: the world no longer needs more diagnosis — it needs action. Across plenaries and side events, civil society organizations, trade unions, youth leaders, and researchers urged governments to prioritize implementation, accountability, and sustained investment in people.
The Doha Declaration commits states to “place people at the centre of sustainable development,” with implementation focused on accelerating poverty reduction, expanding decent employment, promoting equality of opportunity, and ensuring that no one is left behind.
Despite significant gains since 1995, over one billion people still live in poverty in various forms. Hunger and food insecurity have intensified, and millions remain at constant risk of falling back into deprivation. For ICSW, which has long championed multidimensional approaches to poverty, the Declaration’s call for disaggregated, context-specific measurement is encouraging. The emphasis on child-, gender-, and disability-sensitive policies aligns closely with ICSW’s advocacy.
Inequality — within and among nations — remains a profound concern. Rising wage disparities, gender inequality, and the exclusion of marginalized groups undermine social cohesion and democratic governance. The Declaration’s emphasis on redistributive policies and inclusive social protection systems echoes ICSW’s longstanding priorities.
Social Protection at the Core
Social protection, central to ICSW’s mission, features prominently in the Doha Declaration, referenced 25 times across 18 paragraphs. As a fundamental pillar of the UN’s human rights framework, social protection is highlighted as a cross- cutting instrument essential for addressing a wide spectrum of challenges: child poverty, gender inequality, ageing populations, disability inclusion, disaster response, and the burden of unpaid care work.
While global access has improved, nearly four billion people still lack any form of coverage. The Declaration commits governments to take “effective measures” to expand systems, ensure “sustainable and equitable financing,” and integrate social protection financing into national development strategies. Importantly, it calls for “predictable, adequate and uninterrupted funding” during crises and shocks.
Although the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection is referenced primarily in relation to employment, it remains a promising mechanism for mobilizing technical and financial support. Ensuring that commitments translate into concrete, adequately funded national actions remains the central challenge — and an area where ICSW will continue to advocate vigorously.
The broader discussions reinforced a key insight: social development is inseparable from economic and environmental agendas. As societies confront climate change, demographic transitions, and rapid technological shifts, strong and resilient social systems are not only morally necessary but economically prudent.
Symbolism, Substance, and the Road Ahead
While many welcomed the Doha Declaration as a step forward, some observers expressed disappointment that outcomes were not more transformative. High- income countries, in particular, were viewed as insufficiently responsive to the urgent needs of developing nations.
Nonetheless, the Summit marked a deliberate shift — from identifying problems to proposing solutions. Whether WSSD-2 becomes a true turning point will depend on implementation: how governments integrate social priorities into budgets and national policies, how international institutions support financing for inclusion, and how civil society sustains pressure for accountability.
Doha reaffirmed the enduring lesson of Copenhagen: people must remain at the heart of development. But it also updated that vision for a more complex, unequal, and polarized world. In an era marked by conflict, mistrust, and widening disparities, the Summit offered a rare moment of consensus: social development is essential not only for human dignity but for global stability. The challenge now is to ensure that the promises made in Doha lead to sustained, measurable action — before the social fabric frays beyond repair.
Sergei Zelenev, President of ICSW
