Social Protection to Address the Drivers of Vulnerability: A Bridge too Far?

Social protection has moved high up on the development agenda and is increasingly considered to be an inherent part of the response to poverty reduction. At the same time, it has received criticism for its current tools and interventions not appropriately taking account of social differentiation and differential access to services. This overview addresses questions around the potential of social protection to be more ambitious and actually address underlying drivers of vulnerability across demographic and social groups. It does so by discussing the need for social protection to be ‘sensitive’ and concurrent issues around political commitment, practical implementation and understandings of impact of social protection.