Frameworks of analysis for looking at health and the very poor
Social risk management: a new conceptual framework for social protection and beyond
The role of social protection in helping poor people to manage risks
Authors:
R. Holzmann; S. Jørgensen
Publisher:
World Bank, 2000
This paper, published by the World Bank, examines the concepts of social protection and risk management. It argues that social protection should be redefined as public interventions to assist individuals, households, and communities better manage risk, and to provide support to the critically poor. It outlines a framework in which social protection is presented as a safety net as well as a spring-board for the poor; and as a type of investment rather than a cost. The framework aims to focus less on the symptoms and more on the causes of poverty, and to take account of the reality that less than a quarter of the world’s population has access to social protection programmes.
The paper suggests that the proposed framework of social risk management could be productively applied to rethink the design and implementation of social protection programmes. It argues that the concept offers policy designers an integrated approach and legitimates many interventions as risk management mechanisms, including micro-finance institutions; targeted credit arrangements for the poor, for women, or in remote areas; and social investment funds. The paper concludes with areas for further research including how government interventions can facilitate informal risk management arrangements; and theoretical and empirical guidelines for the balance between risk prevention, mitigation and coping.
