Social Protection as a Key Tool in Crisis Management: Learnt Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Worldwide, the social protection programs have become a key tool for policymakers. These programs are executed to achieve multiple objectives such as fighting poverty and hunger, and increasing the resilience of the poor and vulnerable groups towards various shocks. Recently, with the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries started to implement social protection programs to eliminate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and enhance community resilience. This study aims to explore the current implementation of social protection programs during the COVID-19 pandemic in the most affected countries as well as to provide learned lessons from countries that had not previously considered implementing social protection programs up until the COVID-19 crisis. This review was carried out by searching through WOS, Google Scholar, ILO, World Bank reports, and Aljazeera Television. The search was conducted over literature and systematic reviews on the implementation of social protection programs during previous pandemic crises and especially in the current COVID-19 pandemic. The findings revealed that social protection programs become a flexible and strategic tool to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the study highlighted a lack of comprehensive strategy amongst the countries in executing the social protection programs to respond to COVID-19. Finally, the study concluded with some learned lessons and implications for the practitioners and policymakers in managing future pandemics.

A Study on the Public’s Crisis Management Efficacy and Anxiety in a Pandemic Situation—Focusing on the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea

“…Finally, public hygiene behaviors to avoid contracting COVID-19 (e.g., social distancing, washing hands) and the public hygiene environment in the country had effects on crisis management efficacy, while public hygiene information, public hygiene facilities, and public hygiene of the population did not have major effects. This may be because case studies of countries implementing hygiene activities, such as social distancing [96][97][98], daily mask use [99][100][101], and a safe public hygiene environment [102][103][104][105] have already been recognized as scientific evidence for the prevention of COVID-19. These public hygiene behaviors and public hygiene environment variables had an effect on efficacy for successful crisis management [17,[96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107].…”

“…This may be because case studies of countries implementing hygiene activities, such as social distancing [96][97][98], daily mask use [99][100][101], and a safe public hygiene environment [102][103][104][105] have already been recognized as scientific evidence for the prevention of COVID-19. These public hygiene behaviors and public hygiene environment variables had an effect on efficacy for successful crisis management [17,[96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107].…”

The potential impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on maternal and child undernutrition in low and middle income countries

“…Moreover, it is likely that they these interventions stretch government budgets, fail to meet the overwhelming need for these interventions given the devastating impact of COVID-19 on poverty levels, and leave many of the most vulnerable behind, including women, migrant or refugee populations, and the ultra-poor, to name a few. 34 Our analyses have some limitations. First, uncertainty is present in all modelling exercises.…”

Building a multisystemic understanding of societal resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic

“…19 20 Given the wider social effects of the crisis, an important source of resilience was the introduction and enhancement of social protection measures by the state. 21 Addressing the long-term social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including worsened mental health, inequalities and poverty, is likely to be the most important issue for social resilience in the recovery phase.…”