Kalle Hirvonen GLOBAL FOOD POLICY REPORT 2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses Hybrid Global Launch Event APR 13, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT

1. Kalle Hirvonen
PhD, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
13 April 2023
Social Protection
Adaptive Safety Nets for Crisis Recover

2.  Social safety net programs that provide cash or in-kind transfers
have become a mainstream policy tool to address chronic poverty
and food security across the globe.
 When carefully designed and implemented, they improve food
security, reduce chronic poverty, and build household wealth.
 Social protection programs are also increasingly used as a
platform to integrate with nutrition, education, gender, and climate
change adaptation policies.
Social protection programs

3.  An era of increasing turbulence?
 COVID-19; Global food price shocks; Climate change; ...
 During crises, social safety net programs can offer protection
through several channels:
 Improve resilience by building households’ or communities’ capacity to deal with
future shocks.
 Timely and adequate cash or in-kind transfers provide relief in the immediate
aftermath of a shock.
 Growing evidence that social protection programs do protect
against droughts, floods, and other natural disasters – and even
during pandemics.
Social protection can play a critical role
in times of crisis

4.  During global and local crises, pre-existing social protection
delivery systems are often more agile in delivering and targeting
transfers than entirely new programs.
 Increasing interest in establishing shock-responsive social
protection programs that expand during a crisis and contract
afterward.
 Examples: Kenya’s Hunger Safety Net Program (HSNP); Ethiopia’s Productive Safety
Net Program (PSNP).
 Requires major investments: early warning systems; unified
targeting systems; appropriate risk-financing instruments.
Shock-responsive social protection

5.  Improve social protection coverage in the
poorest countries and in urban areas.
 Shift toward a more proactive approach to
disasters by incorporating shock-responsive
designs into existing programs.
 Strengthen domestic revenue collection
systems and explore new ways of financing
social protection.
 Develop graduation programs that are
scalable and can be incorporated into existing
safety net programs.
Policy recommendations