Adaptive Social Protection (ASP) refers to efforts to integrate social protection (SP), disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA). The need to integrate these three domains is now increasingly recognized by practitioners and academics. Relying on 124 agricultural programmes implemented in 5 countries in Asia, this paper considers how these elements are being brought together, and explores the potential gains of these linkages.
The analysis shows that full integration of SP, DRR and CCA interventions is still relatively limited but that when it occurs, integration helps to shift the time horizon beyond short-term interventions aimed at supporting peoples’ coping strategies and/or graduation objectives, toward longer-term interventions that can assist in promoting transformation towards climate and disaster resilient livelihood options.
Key Findings:
- Of the 124 projects and programmes examined, 97 (78%) contain a significant SP element, 72 (58%) a DRR component, and 43 (35%) a CCA component. 58% integrate at least two disciplines and 16% integrate all three, while the remaining 42% involve just one discipline.
- SP projects tend to integrate least with the other two disciplines, with almost half of all SP projects having no integration at all. In contrast, DRR or CCA projects are almost always integrated with at least one other discipline. Of these, projects with CCA elements appear to combine all three disciplines the most, with 41% of such projects also containing significant SP and DRR components.
- Findings suggest that ASP projects (full integration of SP, DRR and CCA) are relatively limited in South Asia, although overall there has been significant progress made in combining SP with DRR in recent years. Of the three vulnerability-reducing domains reviewed, the SP component is integrating the least with the other disciplines. Where SP is being integrated, it is mainly associated with DRR
- A number of projects that combine all three domains explicitly utilise rights-based approaches in relation to vulnerability reduction. Such rights-based interventions could have potentially important impacts on the livelihoods of rural households.
Recommendations:
- More empirical research is needed to more rigorously document and assess these impacts and critically evaluate the role that a more general ASP approach would have on the vulnerability of the poor in developing countries. Further research in this area should focus on how much lesson-learning goes on within and between countries on these topics, what donors and national-level institutions can do to facilitate this, how to address existing institutional barriers to integration, and how good practice can be translated into policy change within government.
- The ASP approach needs to build on the strengths and experiences that each country offers, whilst bearing in mind that different countries are indisputably at different stages in terms of abilities to integrate SP, DRR and CCA.
- There is considerable potential to share these experiences across the region, and it is worth investigating further what opportunities exist for investing in regional networks and organisations, as well as for cross-institutional learning.
- Project implementers and policy-makers should consider joining up SP, DRR and CCA approaches into an ASP framework when designing vulnerability-reducing development interventions in the agricultural sector. One way to achieve this is to build on existing projects and programmes. Specific instruments could be added that would complement the already-existing protection- or prevention-oriented SP interventions with promotive or transformative interventions.
- Potential exists for projects that already integrate SP and DRR components to explore ways to build in CCA elements, especially in the light of a likely increase in adaptation funding in the coming years. This would help with extending the time horizon over which interventions are taking place, thus helping to find longer-term solutions for the impacts of disasters, as well as helping people prepare for the impacts of climate change.