Social protection
Worldwide, 80 percent of the extreme poor live in rural areas. Of these, 76 percent work in agriculture, and a great share of them relies on subsistence farming.
Shocks and stresses can affect the stability of agri-food systems and push vulnerable groups reliant on agriculture into destitution and hunger, as too often they lack the means to manage risks. This calls for inclusive risk management approaches
that meet the immediate needs of shock-affected populations, while addressing the root causes of risk and vulnerability to create resilient and peaceful communities.
Social protection comprises a set of policies and programmes addressing economic, environmental and social vulnerabilities to food insecurity and poverty through preventive, protective, promotive and transformative effects for its beneficiaries.
Social protection interventions are channelled through a wide range of instruments commonly categorized under three pillars:
- social assistance
- social insurance
- labour market interventions
Social protection plays a key role in reducing extreme poverty and enhancing food security, while also building household’s resilience in times of shocks, and stimulating rural households to invest in agricultural production.
Social protection: bridging the gap
News
News
Catastrophic hunger levels recorded for the first time in Haiti
14/10/2022
Almost half the population are currently facing acute hunger
News
FAO launches new phase of agriculture policy initiative with $11 million grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
06/04/2022
The programme covers eight African countries, supporting reforms and evidence-based public investment decisions over a five-year period
News
FAO’s farmer field schools improve animal husbandry practices for women
26/11/2021
Livestock keeping has become more challenging for vulnerable farmers in rural areas of Syria
Publications
Publications
Promoting economic inclusion of small-scale farmers through homegrown school feeding in Timor-Leste
10/2024
Timor-Leste is a small country located in Southeast Asia with a population of over 1.3 million people, of whom over 70 percent live in rural areas.
Publications
Myanmar: Improving food security and nutrition with cash assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic
05/2024
Rakhine State in Myanmar has experienced armed conflict, localized violence, political instability and extremely high levels of forced displacement,...
Publications
Enhancing resilience and restoring agricultural productive capacity and food security through social protection in Indonesia
05/2024
Emergency assistance for post-earthquake and tsunami recovery through cash assistance in Central Sulawesi
Multimedia
Video
Leveraging social protection's role in climate adaptation in rural areas
23/02/2023
Small-scale producers contribute the least to climate change, but are the most at risk of welfare losses due to increasing global temperatures and extreme...
Photo collection
Yemen: Land, Sea, Airwaves - livelihood-specific COVID-19 sensitization
21/03/2022
In Yemen, the COVID-19 crisis compounded a number of overlapping challenges
Video
Addressing food crises through social protection
01/02/2023
In increasingly complex development and humanitarian contexts, hunger has reached critical levels.