Why is social protection important?

Now we will look at the impacts of social protection and how it can help people throughout their life, including in times of disasters.

Social protection helps individuals and families to look after themselves and protect themselves from poverty. We all have times in our lives when it is harder to work and to have enough money.

Lifecycle social protection

Watch the video below to see how social protection supports people at different stages of their lives.

A simple line graph showing how a person’s income and wellbeing change over their lifetime. The vertical axis is "Income and Wellbeing"; the horizontal axis is "Time." A dotted line marks the poverty line. The journey starts at "Born," dips below the poverty line at "Father dies," rises above it at "Finishing school" and "Getting a good job." The line dips slightly at "Having a baby," drops below the poverty line again at "Disaster hitting community," rises at "Starting a new business," and falls through "Getting sick" to "Retiring."
 

Benefits of regular, predictable social protection

Click the images below to learn how regular, predictable social protection helps us throughout our life.

Pay for the things we need such as food and power

Access services like health and education

Save money

Start a business

Contribute to our family and community
 

Social protection can improve social outcomes

Global evidence shows that good social protection programs can help improve social outcomes

Click the boxes below to learn what social protection can impact.

Children's health, nutrition and growth

Children's education (including girls' education)

Gender equality

Social inclusion for other vulnerable populations

Disability inclusion
 

Social protection during shocks

Many countries have used social protection like cash transfers to respond to disasters such as COVID-19, tropical cyclones, and volcanic eruptions.

Giving people money during a disaster means that:

Click the images below to learn how social protection helps people to recover from big shocks and disasters.


People can keep buying food and things they need.


People who work can still go to work.


People are less likely to resort to negative strategies like selling assets to get money.

 

Climate change and social protection

The Pacific faces ongoing shocks and disasters. Climate change is adding to the region’s risk level.

Social protection systems can be used to help people manage climate change and other risks, including helping them to prepare, respond and recover from shocks.

Social protection can also help communities and boost local economies.

Multiplier effect

In some countries, there is evidence that for every dollar invested in social protection, more than a dollar is made from local markets – this is what we call the ‘multiplier effect’.

Watch the video below to learn about how social protection can help communities and make local economies grow.

Video explaining how social protection creates a multiplier effect. A man receives a payment and then with his child, shops at a market stall. The woman stall owner is then shown at her farm with workers. The scene widens to show the broader community benefiting, illustrating how money circulates and creates more work and income for others.
 

Mythbuster

There are lots of myths and perceptions related to social protection that you may have heard before.

You might hear people say that social protection will make people lazy.

Do you think this is true or false?

Select your answer by clicking true or false.
Image showing two icons side by side. On the left is a checkmark labeled "True." On the right is a cross mark labeled "False."