This collection brings together brief overviews of the social assistance landscape in eight fragile and conflict-affected settings in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen. These overviews were prepared as part of Better Assistance in Crises (BASIC) Research, a multi-year programme (2020–24) supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK government. BASIC Research aims to inform policy and programming on effective social assistance in situations of crisis, including for those who are experiencing climate-related shocks and stressors, protracted conflict and forced displacement.
While shock-responsive social protection (SRSP) has become popular in global and national development discourses, its operationalisation in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCAS) remains more limited, yet it is arguably here where it could meaningfully contribute to wider nexus approaches. By exploring experiences in a range of countries, the paper explores what is known about the use of SRSP in FCAS, and identifies further areas of potential research for the BASIC Research programme. It also assesses the state of knowledge regarding a number of key questions being raised among stakeholders, namely: What is known about navigating the ethical and political dilemmas around attempting SRSP in FCAS? What is known about the specific requirements for displaced populations and other excluded or vulnerable groups? What is known about when it might be ill-advised to attempt SRSP in FCAS?
Protracted crises are increasing and becoming compounded, but financing solutions for humanitarian and social assistance in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS) are not keeping up. UN consolidated (humanitarian/emergency) appeals have, over the past decade, been around 60 per cent-funded, despite growing exponentially in size. Social protection coverage globally remains limited, with only an estimated 45 per cent of the world’s population having access to any form of social protection. This figure dips below 10 per cent in many low-income countries (Development Initiatives 2020; ILO 2017). The lack of coverage comes at a time when global extreme poverty increased in 2020 for the first time in decades (World Bank 2020). Indeed, by 2030, 85 per cent of the extreme poor – some 342 million people – will live in FCAS (Samman et al. 2018). Financing assistance in these contexts is complex, often arriving late, and/or is earmarked for certain actors and activities, when what is required is flexible, multipartner programming. This is despite commitments made by the signatories to the Grand Bargain and at the World Humanitarian Summit to improve the timeliness, flexibility, transparency, and efficiency of aid. Solutions to these challenges remain poorly understood or caught in humanitarian or social protection silos.
Evidence on what enables social assistance systems to deliver routinely, effectively and efficiently is limited in crisis situations. Shock-responsive social protection (SRSP) and adaptive social protection (ASP) have become popular in global and national development discourses. Yet, their operationalisation in protracted crises is narrow and less well understood. Regarding SRSP, focus has shifted towards how existing social protection programmes might be scaled and flexed in crisis situations. However, the focus seems fixed entirely on what makes social protection and humanitarian assistance responsive – to the detriment of understanding what makes those systems resilient and able to maintain business continuity in protracted crises. Little attention is paid to how to sustain delivery of existing programmes, on which millions of poor and vulnerable households depend.
No abstract
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.