We know that to promote growth in sectors such as agriculture has direct poverty reduction effects. In addition, social protection is now being promoted for the safety net it can provide both to those engaged in productive activity, and to those who (because of sickness, old age and ‘caring’ commitments) cannot easily engage.

This study explores how positive interactions between social protection and growth can be promoted and negative ones minimised. On the positive side, we already know that some interventions, such as low risk agricultural technologies, lend themselves to uptake by the more vulnerable, and, on the negative, that some forms of social protection, such as free or subsidised food distribution, can adversely affect agriculture. Other interactions, whether positive or negative, are less obvious, and may be rooted in the building and protection of assets of various kinds, or even in apparently unconnected spheres such as the regulation of trade and investment.

In a context where social protection and the promotion of growth are often administered by different agencies, and where structural change is putting some production systems and social relations under pressure, this study asks – using agriculture as an example – how positive and negative interactions can best be identified and policy responses designed.

Project resources

The Indian National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: Will it reduce poverty and boost the economy?

Linking social protection and the productive sectors

Social Protection and Pro-Poor Agricultural Growth: What Scope for Synergies?

Working, background and longer papers

Malawi Social Protection Status Report

Social Protection and Economic Growth: The Case of Agriculture (Paper presented at the 1st Annual Conference: Charlotte Manye Maxeke Collaboration In Research And Capacity Building In Economics Of Social Protection, June 2007)

Social Protection and Low Capacity Households in Zambia

Linking Agricultural Growth and Social Protection Inception Report

Social Protection and Agricultural Growth Programme Logical Framework

Linking Agriculture and Social Protection: Conceptual framework

Using economic modelling to understand the linkages between agricultural growth and social protection

Drivers of change analysis: purpose, limits and relevance to the study

The Search for Synergies between Social Protection and Livelihood Promotion: The Agriculture Case

Journal articles

Social Protection and Growth: The Case of Agriculture (Article in IDS Bulletin “Debating Social Protection” Volume 38 Number 3, May 2007)

Presentations

Social Protection and Growth: the agriculture case (Presented at LSE, December 2007)

Social Protection and Economic Growth: The Case of Agriculture (Presented at the 1st Annual Conference: Charlotte Manye Maxeke Collaboration In Research And Capacity Building In Economics Of Social Protection, June 2007)

Linking Agricultural Growth and Social Protection Inception Report Seminar (Presented to DFID, December 2006)

Agricultural growth and social protection: can we have both? (Part of the "Achieving pro-poor growth through agriculture: the challenges" Meeting Series. Organised by ODI and the Future Agricultures research consortium, ODI, 9 December 2005)