Strengthening Resilience through Social Protection Programs

Social protection programs can provide enhanced opportunities to strengthen climate and disaster resilience of the poor and the marginalized population in Asia and the Pacific region. Climate and disaster risk is increasing in the Asia and Pacific region, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and creating new ones. The adverse effects are felt most by the poor and the vulnerable. Social protection programs, when designed with climate and disaster risk considerations in mind, provide enhanced opportunities to strengthen climate and disaster resilience. This guidance note underscores the importance of strengthening climate change and disaster resilience through social protection programs and proposes a working framework for social protection programs to deliver on resilience outcomes-reduced risk, strengthened capacity to adapt, and enhanced residual risk management strategies to help recover from the adverse impacts of slow-onset and rapid-onset hazards.