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Resource library: Building robust social protection mechanisms

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Welcome to our comprehensive resource collection dedicated to the fundamental principles of social protection.

Here, you'll find a wealth of resources designed specifically for individuals interested in learning how to develop more inclusive systems, with a particular focus on benefiting women, girls, and people with disabilities. Our goal is to increase the understanding of the role that social protection can play in delivering positive outcomes for different groups.  

Social protection systems are vital in preventing and protecting people from poverty, vulnerability, and social exclusion throughout their lives. This can encompass a range of initiatives such as state-funded pensions, cash transfers, parental leave schemes, and disability benefits. They play a crucial role in reducing income inequality, as well as tackling inequalities between groups - for instance by promoting gender and disability equality. Increasingly, social protection is being used to respond to crises, including those caused by conflict and climate change. A strong social protection system incorporates a range of policies and programmes including cash and in-kind transfers, skills training, parental leave and sickness benefits, social care services, and pensions. Social protection systems are typically nationally owned.  

Displaying 1 - 20 of 25 resources
Published: - Guidance document
This is a set of three resources from the Disability Inclusion Helpdesk on how to make social protection programmes accessible and effective for people with disabilities. These resources explain why it is important that people with disabilities…
Published: - Policy paper
This resource sets out the concept of social protection as a ‘solar’ system – a simple, cohesive, visually clear system. The system is made up of different ‘building blocks’, relating to policy, programme design, implementation and delivery. The…
Published: - Evidence/literature review
This resource discusses the global shift towards digitalisation, and how this is driving technical, social and organisational changes. Having the capacity to leverage digital technology has been identified as essential to ensuring individual…
Published: - Lessons from a programme
This video from the Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development (K4D) programme focuses on mental health. It discusses the latest evidence on community-based mental health work, and explains an approach called BasicNeeds for mental health in…
Published: - Policy paper
This policy brief presents findings from a World Bank’s research programme focused on gendered dimensions of forced displacement and poverty. It looks at how poverty intersects with gender and forced displacement and outlines implications for policy…
Published: - Evidence/literature review
This research focuses on the risks of navigating access to social assistance in crises for marginalised people such as women and girls, children and youth, older people, people with disabilities, ethnic and religious minorities, and sexual and…
Published: - Fact sheet 
This guide helps tax professionals consider key questions on gender while designing tax programmes. The purpose of this guide is to share learnings with donors. It refers to two categories of support that development actors may provide to…
Published: - Evidence/literature review
This evidence review aims to provide an overview of the key international legal frameworks, challenges, and legal, policy, and program responses around refugees from a gender perspective. The focus is on women and girls. It highlights major gaps and…
Published: - Report
This resource summarises learnings in preventing violence against women and girls (VAWG). It outlines the challenges in delivering and scaling up evidence-based VAWG prevention activities. It also presents external challenges, key conclusions and…
Published: - Evidence/literature review
This resource is part of a series of ‘poverty profiles’ by the Disability Inclusion Helpdesk focused on eight of the most marginalised group-based identities. It responds to the fact that global progress has not benefitted everyone equally, with…
Published: - Evidence/literature review
This resource is part of a series of ‘poverty profiles’ by the Disability Inclusion Helpdesk focused on eight of the most marginalised group-based identities. It responds to the fact that global progress has not benefitted everyone equally, with…
Published: - Evidence/literature review
This resource examines multidimensional poverty among displaced populations. It brings together three key issues: multidimensional poverty, forced displacement and gender. The analysis builds on the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) from Ethiopia…
Published: - Evidence/literature review
This resource is part of a series of ‘poverty profiles’ by the Disability Inclusion Helpdesk focused on eight of the most marginalised group-based identities. It responds to the fact that global progress has not benefitted everyone equally, with…
Published: - Guidance document, Policy paper
This document provides an overview of challenges faced by people with disabilities during pandemic responses. It also provides recommendations to policymakers about how to improve disability inclusion in these responses.
Published: - Evidence/literature review
This resource looks at the lessons learned on disability and education with the support of the Impact Initiative. It shares what works in education for people with disabilities, looks at how to make education more accessible, and provides…
Published: - Tools and templates
This resource from the Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development (K4D) programme sets out promising practice for improving health systems and health equity. It is aimed at the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO…
Published: - Evidence/literature review
This resource from the Disability Inclusion Helpdesk on disability and climate resilience examines the links between climate change and disability and the evidence available on interventions that strengthen the climate resilience of people with…
Published: - Evidence/literature review
This resource from the Disability Inclusion Helpdesk explains what works to ensure that people with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities can enjoy their human rights and participate at all levels of decision-making. It summarises…
Published: - Report
This resource explores how women’s economic empowerment can reduce the risk of modern slavery while also creating a positive impact for women. It examines the drivers of modern slavery that are context and identity specific and explains how…
Published: - Case study, Evidence/literature review, Lessons from a programme
This resource examines the intersections of disability, gender and violence. It summarises early evidence on intimate partner violence (IPV) from the global What Works Violence against Women and Girls Programme (the ‘What Works’ programme), which…