The Social protection programs can provide enhanced opportunities to strengthen climate and disaster resilience of the poor and the marginalized population in Asia and the Pacific region.
Climate and disaster risk is increasing in the Asia and Pacific region, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and creating new ones. The adverse effects are felt most by the poor and the vulnerable. Social protection programs, when designed with climate and disaster risk considerations in mind, provide enhanced opportunities to strengthen climate and disaster resilience.
This guidance note underscores the importance of strengthening climate change and disaster resilience through social protection programs and proposes a working framework for social protection programs to deliver on resilience outcomes—reduced risk, strengthened capacity to adapt, and enhanced residual risk management strategies to help recover from the adverse impacts of slow-onset and rapid-onset hazards.
Underlying principles
- Risk-informed basis of action
- Suite of strategies to strengthen resilience.
- Coordination and capacity across scales and sectors.
Key considerations
The following four considerations should be factored in the design and implementation of social protection programs to ensure that they deliver on resilience outcomes:
- Improve targeting of beneficiaries by using climate and disaster risk information.
- Adopt integrated solutions to reduce risk and strengthen adaptive capacity.
- Introduce flexible design features to strengthen the program’s shock responsiveness.
- Secure financial resources needed for social protection programs to deliver on resilience