Social protection and climate resilience

Awareness of the experiences of greater integration in social protection (SP), climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) has significantly increased in recent years. This document presents the discussions and recommendations from a global workshop that brought together three fields of expertise that have usually worked separately, but which can be more effective when working together. The convergence of SP, CCA and DDR holds much promise for building the social and climate resilience of the poor. However, these three fields have developed in their own silos within national governments and have been replicated in development agencies, where teams have operated in parallel systems.

The paper highlights the following key messages.

• Integrating SP, CCA and DRR more comprehensively can strengthen people’s resilience to shocks.
• SP, CCA, and DRR have so far evolved in parallel and have therefore missed substantial opportunities to build upon the potential synergy that can be created between them.
• Empirical knowledge already exists among experts, policymakers and practitioners on the ways to integrate SP, CCA and DRR.
• Integrating SP, CCA and DRR is about sharing knowledge and introducing flexibility into the design of existing programs.
• In order to be effective, greater integration must engage more with the perspectives, priorities and capacities of poor people.
  

The document outlines the following series of immediate actions that were proposed at the workshop.

• A virtual network to continue the learning process would permit participants to establish themselves as a core network of practice on integrating SP, CCA and DRR.
• Follow-up events with a specific focus need to be organised with a broader range of actors and sectors, including civil society organisations, governmental and non-governmental organisations and academic institutions.
  
• Further collaboration at the national level centred on identifying on-going cases of integration should focus on developing evidence-based strategies to achieve goals, verification methods and timing for implementation.
• Collaboration on research and collective thinking across SP, CCA and DRR should attempt to move focus away from the current silo-specific approach.