Two decades ago, IDS published a working paper called ‘Transformative Social Protection’ that would prove to have enormous influence on social protection thinking and development policy. The fundamental idea was that social protection should extend beyond its narrow initial focus on providing safety nets, towards promoting social justice and equity by addressing the structural drivers of poverty and vulnerability.
The genesis of ‘adaptive social protection’, too, can be traced back to IDS colleagues in the 2000s. That work has become increasingly relevant as global development actors bring together social protection with adaptation and disaster risk reduction, to promote productive and sustainable livelihoods in a time of climate change.
While many celebrate the spread of social protection programmes and policies across the global south over the past two decades, it is a job only partially done. Social protection coverage recently passed 50 percent for the first time, but almost half the world’s population, some 3.8 billion people, still have no access. In many countries, domestic political commitment has been shaky and remains contingent on international organisations underwriting the costs of introducing and expanding social protection programmes.
Following a quarter of a century of remarkable expansion in policies, programmes and research, the social protection sector finds itself at a crossroads. In the face of multiplying crises, will social protection continue to expand its scope and remit, or will it stagnate as global financing levels off and political commitment wavers?
Charting the rise of social protection
Since the late 1990s, international development actors have promoted social protection policies and programmes across the global south, to protect vulnerable and poor people against risks and shocks while also helping them to meet their essential needs. This support was critical in providing technical and financial backing to a raft of pilot projects. These were designed to show how social protection mechanisms could be effective at reducing poverty and risk.
As small-scale projects scaled up to national programmes, the number of beneficiaries has risen dramatically. Programmes like the Child Support Grant in South Africa and the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia reach millions of beneficiaries. Another sign of the traction of social protection is the number of countries that have adopted national strategies or policies. In 2010, only five African countries had social protection policies; by 2019 this number had grown to 35.
Social protection in a time of crisis
With ‘developmental’ social protection gaining traction across the global south, over the past decade attention has swelled around its use as part of broader responses to acute shocks. Social protection responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, and its cascading impacts for economies and societies worldwide, were proof that well-timed interventions could play a major positive role in addressing crises.
Literally thousands of social protection interventions were introduced during Covid-19, including adaptations of current programmes and innovative pilots, even in countries with small existing social protection systems. An important learning was that countries with well-established social protection systems – dedicated agencies and beneficiary management tools, digital payment mechanisms and pre-positioned financing – were better able to mobilise a rapid and effective response.
However, since the pandemic, many governments have retreated rather than consolidating and institutionalising social protection as part of a coordinated approach to address both chronic poverty in the short-term and vulnerability to shocks and crises over the longer-term.
Reimagining social protection
The future of social protection is far from clear. The global context today, with uncertain global financing and under-funded programmes struggling to keep pace with needs in many countries, is very different to that of 10-15 years ago. What will remain behind if financial and technical assistance from development agencies is reduced or withdrawn? The challenge for social protection advocates now is how to reimagine the role and shape of social protection at a time of considerable uncertainty.
This is the focus of a new IDS Bulletin published this week, featuring insights from an international conference on ‘Reimagining social protection in a time of global uncertainty’, held at IDS in September 2023. Covering contexts ranging from Nigeria to the Peruvian Amazon, Zambia, Malawi, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Somalia and Bangladesh, we focused on three broad themes that we considered to shape the trajectories of social protection policy, programming and research.
- Politics: Now that social protection is on the agenda in most low- and middle-income countries, how can international actors best support governments and local civil society to take ownership and move towards nationally chosen and locally appropriate social protection systems, within holistic social policy frameworks?
- Crises: Current approaches seek ways to align state-led social protection responses to chronic poverty, with humanitarian support for populations confronting acute shocks. Yet conflict settings present many impediments. Who delivers social protection, how, on what terms, and in ways that do not worsen existing cleavages driving conflict?
- Inclusion and innovation: Approaches of ‘inclusive’ social protection that seek to recognise and respond to intersecting inequalities have become widespread, yet the extent to which they benefit vulnerable populations remains an open question. Similarly, do innovations such as the use of mobile phones for payments or drones for geographic targeting, match enthusiasm about their potential to enhance the effectiveness, reach and inclusiveness of social protection programmes?
Our hope is that the contributions to this IDS Bulletin will challenge assumptions that lock us into models that are not yet delivering any protection for almost half the world’s population, but will also prompt fresh thinking about ways to reimagine social provisioning that is transformative for the lives and livelihoods of the poorest and most vulnerable, as they face an increasingly uncertain and unpredictable future.
Strengthening social assistance in protracted crises video
Watch the video from the BASIC project: Strengthening social assistance in protracted crises which includes speakers from the conference ‘Reimagining social protection in a time of global uncertainty’.
