SOCIAL SECURITY AND SAFETYy (original) (raw)

Delivering social protection in the aftermath of a shock

2014

Helping households cope with covariate shocks that affect entire communities, or large parts of a country's population at the same time, is one of the objectives of social protection. In order to provide effective support in such circumstances, policies need to be timely, adaptive and adequate in terms of resources. This paper reviews the policy reforms aimed at scaling-up social protection provision, or protecting the poorest in the context of spending cuts, in the aftermath of shocks in Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan and Viet Nam, four countries which are subject to frequent covariate shocks and that have implemented a host of social protection policy adjustments. It identifies the main challenges encountered in social protection shock response and the trade-offs associated with alternative social protection instruments and policy adjustment options. The paper also discusses recent developments in securing adequate social protection financing and preparedness for shock response. May 2014 iii Abbreviations ASAL Arid and semi-arid lands BDR Bangladesh Rifles BISP Benazir income support programme CaLP Cash learning partnership CLP Chars Livelihoods Programmes (Bangladesh) CT-OVC Cash Transfers for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (Kenya) DFID Department for International Development DRR Disaster Risk Reduction EGHP Employment generation for hardcore poor (Bangladesh) ESFP Expanded school feeding programme (Kenya) EWS Early warning systems FAO FEWSNET 1 Bastagli, F. (2014) "Responding to a crisis: The design and delivery of social protection", ODI Working Paper N. 394.

Social Protection: Responding to a Global Crisis

IDS Bulletin, 2009

The current global financial crisis will have adverse effects on poor people in developing countries in the short-run and across longer time-scales. While the complexity of this crisis makes its path difficult to predict, recent advances in social protection thinking and practice provides an important body of experience for developing countries and development agencies to draw upon in responding to the crisis. Recognising that the crisis will produce pressures on national budgets and could lead to social and political unrest, the paper argues that the ways that policy makers think about and design social protection responses require careful consideration at this time. The paper proposes a framework for prioritising responses and also argues for an approach to designing social protection measures that take account of immediate needs for protection but does not lose sight of the wider developmental role of social protection schemes. Social protection measures have the potential to be an important element in reconstructing a social contract that builds more effective future governance for development.

The European Journal of Development Research Can Social Protection Tackle Chronic Poverty

Recent developments in social protection have shifted its focus on to risk and vulnerability. These contribute to poverty directly, but also indirectly through the response of poor households to risk. The extent to which social protection interventions could address chronic poverty is unclear. A hard and fast distinction between transient and chronic poverty suggests a bifurcation in anti-poverty policy, with social protection addressing the former, and asset transfer policies the latter. To the extent that factors behind chronic poverty extend beyond the direct and indirect impact of risk on households, social protection can at best constitute a partial response. The paper discusses these issues and concludes that 'broad' social protection can have an important role in interrupting risk and vulnerability among the chronic poor.

Chronic Poverty and Social Protection: Introduction

The European Journal of Development Research, 2005

Recent perspectives on social protection focus on risk and vulnerability to poverty and attempt to integrate a wide range of interventions to prevent risk, reduce vulnerability, and ameliorate the impact of risk realisations. Risk and vulnerability contribute to poverty directly, e.g. through the depletion of productive assets from bad weather, but also through the response of poor households to risk: withdrawal of children from school, increased fertility, low productivity specialisation (crops, technology, informality). In addressing risk and vulnerability, social protection interventions have an impact upon poverty reduction. This perspective on social protection and poverty reduction is fast unifying policy among multilateral lending institutions. The extent to which social protection, thus defined, can help reduce chronic poverty has not been adequately investigated. The paper focuses on this issue. To the extent that the factors behind chronic poverty extend beyond the direct and indirect impact of risk on households, social protection can only constitute a partial response , unless it deals with non-risk factors. A hard and fast distinction between transient and chronic poverty, and between the transient and chronic poor, may suggest a bifurcation in antipoverty policy prioritising transient poverty. The paper concludes that new perspectives on social protection can have a role in interrupting risk and vulnerability among the chronic poor.

Adaptive Social Protection: Building Resilience to Shocks

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