Nets, ropes, ladders and trampolines: The place of social protection within current debates on poverty reduction

Abstract

In recent years, development policy-makers have paid increasing attention to social protection issues. Despite growing consensus around key points, there remains considerable diversity on what exactly social protection means. Individuals and institutions differ on the relative importance of managing vulnerability as opposed to assisting the chronically poor; whether social protection should be based in rights; and whether actions to protect basic welfare can or should also aim to promote economic opportunities. While public policy needs to understand and value existing informal practices of risk management and assistance, it must also moderate the costs these impose on households. The focus of work should now be at the country level, where Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers provide a good opportunity to recast social protection in a holistic context.