FAO Social Protection Framework presents the Organization’s vision and approach to social protection. FAO recognizes the critical role social protection plays in furthering and accelerating progress around food security and nutrition, agriculture development, rural poverty and resilience building.
This publication analyses the interplay between the rights to social protection and adequate food, as well as the importance of a human rights-based approach to social protection. It describes the importance of having legally enforceable rights, clear institutional responsabilities, transparency of eligibility criteria, application and termination procedures.
Structural transformation involves the reallocation of resources from less to more productive uses. It involves growth in agricultural productivity and generation of higher productivity jobs in other sectors. In addition, in the longer-term, it can support poverty reduction. However, the transition process and its outcomes are frequently challenging – especially among the poor and vulnerable people and households, given the economic and social forces that pressure them to adapt to realities faster than they are able to. The objective of the paper is to show how social protection policies and programmes can contribute to structural transformation, smoothen the transition for the poor and vulnerable and facilitate changes in their livelihoods such that they are able to actively participate in the process of structural transformation. Social protection interventions help households to engage in new economic activities generated by structural transformation, allow them to better manage the risks of such transitions and provide a safety net for those who are not adequately equipped to adapt to the changing circumstances rapidly enough. The paper draws from an extended review of the literature to assess how social protection influences human capital, labor mobility, reallocation of resources, productive capital and access to technology. The paper shows that the potential for major benefits from social protection in smoothening transitions and transforming the income generating activities and livelihoods of individuals and households is significant, the actual impact however is smaller than actually desired or expected.
The document follows the agenda of the workshop. It starts with a background description of the situation that has lead to the organization of the technical event. It sets the scene presenting the FAO's strategy on Rural Poverty Reduction and on Social Protection. It starts then with the policy review and the national Priorities presenting the learnings from the Republic of Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The second part treats the expanding of Social Protection to Rural Areas, presenting the experiences from Leabnon and the expansion of universal health to rural areas. The second part also contains the big question of how financing Social Protection. The third part of the document presents Social Protection and its link with resilient Livelihoods and Climate Change while the last part contains evidence-based social protection cases from Latin America and the Arab region.
FAO’s Strategic Framework (2022–2031) envisages the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind. In this scope, FAO promotes inclusive economic growth by reducing inequalities between urban and rural areas, rich and poor countries, men and women to attain a better life for all. This report analyses the specific risks and vulnerabilities faced by rural populations in Europe and Central Asia. It highlights the gaps and barriers concerning social protection in the region, which present challenges for addressing the specific vulnerabilities of rural populations and helping them to better manage risks. The report discusses how social protection programmes should be designed and financed to contribute to more inclusive rural transformation processes, improved nutrition and dietary outcomes, women’s empowerment, and other social issues such as child labour. In this scope, the report specifies key entry points for FAO to improve social protection for rural populations in the region. The report concludes that, especially in the post-pandemic period, expanding the coverage, adequacy and comprehensiveness of social protection for rural populations is key to addressing food security and nutrition, rural poverty, developing agriculture, and building resilient and sustainable food systems in Europe and Central Asia.
The paper discusses the role that social protection can play in saving livelihoods while also enhancing the capacity of households to respond, cope and withstand threats and crises. The paper builds on FAO Social Protection Framework (FAO, 2017) and focuses on the role of social protection systems in humanitarian contexts, with a closer look at protracted crises and a discussion on the importance of shock-sensitive and responsive systems, even in stable contexts.
This report aims to provide an illustrative and insightful overview of FAO’s work in social protection across Africa. [Author] Produced by the FAO Regional Office for Africa, the publication showcases a range of innovative and impactful projects that have contributed to enhancing the livelihoods and resilience of vulnerable populations. [Author] It features examples from Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Somalia, Uganda and Zambia. [Author] The report explores how FAO’s initiatives have effectively integrated social protection with agriculture and rural development, addressing challenges such as food insecurity, poverty and climate change. [Author] Aimed at policymakers and practitioners, the publication’s intent is to foster knowledge-sharing, stimulate dialogue and encourage the replication of successful models in other countries and contexts. [Author]
Social protection is a key strategy in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. By addressing the underlying causes of hunger, social protection programmes can enhance households’ food consumption along with their ability to produce food and augment income. In the absence of social protection, the food-insecure are often forced to cope in ways that further increase their vulnerability and undermine their future income. The extension of social protection to these population groups is critical; however, the depth of its impacts depends on how programmes are designed and implemented. This social protection guidance note supports policy dialogue by considering different programming design options for social protection to better contribute to food security and nutrition outcomes.
Despite the importance of social protection, today more than 70 percent of the world’s population still has no or limited access to comprehensive social protection. Coverage in rural areas, where about 80 percent of the world’s poor live, is even lower. Achieving an effective extension of the coverage of social protection benefits and services to the rural population is a key challenge which must be addressed in order to achieve SDG 1.3. “Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable”. This will require bridging gaps and removing existing barriers that limit the access of rural populations to social protection.Extending social protection for all is core to the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The present paper lays out the specific profiles, risks and vulnerabilities of rural populations and explores options to extend social protection coverage to them.
Global crises are becoming the new normal. From climate change to the contemporary food price crisis, vulnerable populations – and especially rural people – are facing increasingly difficult odds of flourishing. Such challenges are even more pronounced where there is conflict, whose multidimensional nature demands to direct more attention to its drivers and impacts. Over the past decades, social protection has contributed to development outcomes, such as those related to poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, and gender equality. Besides, social protection systems have proven to be effective also in addressing covariate shocks, as exemplified by the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. There has instead been limited operational research regarding social protection’s contributions to peace. In order to start addressing this gap, this paper discusses how social protection can sustain peace efforts by understanding peace not as an outcome but, rather, as an ongoing process. The paper argues that the contributions that social protection can make to peace can be divided between two overlapping scenarios: “working in conflict” and “working on conflict”. While the former refers to efforts aimed at offsetting the impacts of conflict, the latter relates to interventions that intend to deliberately address its underlying drivers. The working paper also recognizes that social protection interventions in a conflict-affected context can potentially be harmful and fuel social tensions in the absence of adequate consideration of local power dynamics. It therefore calls for social protection strategies and programmes to be conflict-sensitive – beyond the “do no harm” – to make explicit contributions to peace.
