Social Protection Begins with Listening

In Pakistan, the Government of Sindh, the European Union, and the German Government are piloting an Adaptive Social Protection approach that listens to women’s voices to build climate resilience, strengthen financial security, and expand inclusive health services — turning local realities into lasting systems change.

Global Forum on Adaptive Social Protection

July 7, 2023

Global Forum on Adaptive Social Protection

Nearly four billion people worldwide still have no access to social protection. At the first major meeting about social protection since the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers and practitioners from 59 countries, along with their international partners, called for accelerated efforts to develop, strengthen and expand adaptive systems to protect people in times of crisis and build resilience against future shocks.

Adaptive Social Protection

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Adaptive Social Protection links Social Protection with Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation to strengthen people’s and societies’ resilience.

When catastrophes strike, the most severely affected are often left without protection: The poorest families have less capacity to prepare for, or cope with, crises related to food, floods, income losses or other. ‘Humanitarian’ and ‘transitional’ assistance is only a temporary solution, especially when interrelated shocks such as climate change, famine and armed conflict lead to a negative spiral fuelling impoverishment and migration.

In this context, the response also needs to be compounded: Associating Social Protection, Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation, Adaptive Social Protection offers a trajectory for tackling such interrelated challenges. Its pragmatic approach, based on four interconnected ‘building blocks’, provides a potent framework for policy dialogue and coordinated action, to provide comprehensive and effective coverage and support to those affected.

German development cooperation is strongly implicated in promoting Adaptive Social Protection, particularly in the fragile Sahel region, through both its bilateral interventions and participation in major multilateral programmes. The articles, events and studies on this page explain how Germany uses different development instruments to support Adaptive Social Protection in contexts where it is urgently needed.