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www.iied.org @IIED
Social protection, climate
change and gender equality
2 April 2020 | Janna Tenzing, IIED; London School of Economics

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@janna_tenzing
Social protection is essential for managing climate risks
• Short-term  can support coping and recovery from shocks and stresses
• Longer-term  can facilitate livelihood changes to better anticipate and
adapt to climate change
‘Adaptive social protection’: an evolving agenda
• ASP’s rights–based roots (e.g. Davies et al., 2008; 2013)
• Climate-responsive social protection and social risk management
(e.g. Heltberg et al., 2009; Kuriakose et al., 2013)
• Shock-responsive social protection and humanitarian relief (e.g. O’Brien
et al., 2018)
(Tenzing, 2020)
Social protection, climate change and gender equality 2
Social protection and climate change

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@janna_tenzing
‘Adaptive’ social protection + gender lens
Climate-
informed
planning and
implementation
• Up-to-date climate information
• Forecast-based action (early warning)
• Greater integration also minimises disruption
to SP operations
• Sex-disaggregated data, statistics, evidence
• Understand differentiated needs, vulnerabilities, experiences,
coping and response strategies of women and men
• Inclusive planning, decision-making and implementation
processes
• Equitable access to climate information
Scalable
support and
coverage
• ‘Vertical’ expansion
• ‘Horizontal’ expansion
• Ensure equitable access to support (e.g. targeting)
• Sensitisation of communities/HHs if women are targeted
specifically, or if level of transfer is increased
Reserve and
forecast-based
financing
• Enabling rapid scale up of finance
• Ensuring finance is released in a timely
manner through contingency funds and linking
with early warning systems
• Gender-sensitive budgeting, ear-marking
• Gender-sensitive climate risk assessments
Strengthened
institutional
capacity and
coordination
• Building on existing structures and institutions
• Strengthening institutional and technical
capacity to ensure information is regularly
updated
• Training on gender equality for implementing staff
• Sectoral coordination – SP, DRR, humanitarian, CC…
• Partnering with women’s organisations
• Gender-sensitive M&E (data and analysis)
Social protection, climate change and gender equality 3
Features for ‘adapting’ social protection to
climate change

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@janna_tenzingSocial protection, climate change and gender equality 4
e.g: Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net
Programme (PSNP)
Established in 2005 to address chronic and transitory food insecurity in rural
Ethiopia
• Public works: participating households with able-bodied adult labour
receive transfers for six months of the year (~80% of PSNP clients)
• Direct support: for households without labour capacity
• Livelihoods support: agricultural credit to help build productive
household asset portfolios and strengthen livelihoods
+ ‘climate-smart’ public works
+ rapid scale up mechanism
(FDRE, 2014)

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@janna_tenzing
Gender Equity Principle (FDRE, 2014)
• Provisions for pregnant and lactating women
• Gender-sensitive public works
• Aiming for gender balance for livelihoods transfers
• Promoting gender balance in decision-making structures
• Gender-sensitive watershed guidelines
 Unintended consequences of public works for women?
 E.g. Mersha & Van Laerhoven (2018); Jones et al. (2010)
Social protection, climate change and gender equality 5
Gender dimensions of a ‘climate-smart’
PSNP

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@janna_tenzing
• Social protection as a right; and the need to address issues of
inequality and marginalisation (Sabates-Wheeler & Devereux, 2007)
• ASP: ‘no-regrets’ in theory, but in practice, are there
development and climate trade-offs?
• Core objectives of social protection often contribute to
adaptation and building resilience
• Getting the ‘basics’ right includes paying attention to gender
equality
Social protection, climate change and gender equality 6
Using a gender lens to think critically
about the ASP agenda…

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@janna_tenzing
• Béné, C., et al. (2018). Bridging humanitarian responses and long-term development through transformative changes-some initial reflections from the World Bank’s
adaptive social protection program in the Sahel. Sustainability (Switzerland), 10(6). https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061697
• Davies, M., et al. (2008). “Adaptive Social Protection”: Synergies for Poverty Reduction. Ids Bulletin-Institute of Development Studies, 39(4), 105–112.
• Davies, M., et al. (2013). Promoting Resilient Livelihoods through Adaptive Social Protection: Lessons from 124 programmes in South Asia. Development Policy Review,
31(1), 27–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7679.2013.00600.x
• FDRE (2014). Productive Safety Net Programme: Programme Implementation Manual.
• Hallegatte, S. et al. (2017) Unbreakable: Building the resilience of the poor in the face of natural disasters. World Bank.
• Heltberg, R., et al. (2009). Addressing human vulnerability to climate change: Toward a “no-regrets” approach. Global Environmental Change, 19(1), 89–99.
• Jones, N., et al. (2010). Gendered risks, poverty and vulnerability in Ethiopia: To what extent is the PSNP making a difference?. ODI.
• Holmes, R., et al. (2019). The Politics of gender-responsive social protection. ODI working paper.
• Kuriakose, A. T., et al. (2013). Climate-Responsive Social Protection. Development Policy Review, 31(2011), o19–o34. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12037
• Mersha, A. A., & van Laerhoven, F. (2018). The interplay between planned and autonomous adaptation in response to climate change: Insights from rural Ethiopia. World
Development. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.03.001
• O’Brien, C., et al. (2018). Shock-Responsive Social Protection Systems Research: Synthesis Report, Oxford Policy Management, Oxford, UK.
• Sabates-Wheeler, R., & Devereux, S. (2007). Social protection for transformation. IDS Bulletin, 38(3), 23–28. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2007.tb00368.x
• Tenzing, J. D. (2020). Integrating social protection and climate change adaptation: A review. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change.
https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.626
• Ulrichs, M., et al. (2019). Building resilience to climate risks through social protection: from individualised models to systemic transformation. Disasters, 43(S3), S368–S387.
• Weldegebriel, Z. B., & Prowse, M. (2013). Climate change adaptation in Ethiopia: To what extent does social protection influence livelihood diversification? Development
Policy Review, 31(October 2012), 35–56.
Social protection, climate change and gender equality 7
References and further reading