Supplementary Volume of Operational Notes (SPaN 2019)

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© European Union/KM Asad

This volume of ten operational notes is a supplement to the Reference Document No 26 on Social Protection across the Humanitarian-Development Nexus. A Game Changer in Supporting People through Crises and provides an overview of the key information, tools and procedures for implementing and operating social protection programmes in situations of shocks and protracted crises and for linking humanitarian aid with social protection systems.

International commitments such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Grand Bargain forge closer links between humanitarian and development programming. Social protection interventions are a promising avenue for common action. 

Social protection instruments can support the most vulnerable people living in fragile and conflict settings in building their resilience before shocks occur, and can stabilise their livelihoods while they fully recover after a shock.  Working with social protection in countries which are in crisis, vulnerable to crises and impacted by crises presents many challenges. Though experiences to date are promising, this topic is relatively new and response options depend on a country’s social protection system having a certain degree of maturity. Much of the evidence to date is from relatively stable countries prone to natural disasters. 

An overarching evidence gap exists around exactly how to work with social protection systems and approaches in crisis contexts. There is a need to generate broader and deeper evidence from which concrete and generalisable lessons may be drawn. As such, there is a need to invest in quality monitoring and evaluation for all interventions. 

This is why the EU has produced this volume of operational notes on providing Social Protection across the humanitarian-development Nexus (SPaN) for dissemination to practitioners working at EU headquarters, EU delegations, DG ECHO field offices and EU Member States’ (MS) agencies. It is a supplementary edition to Reference Document No 26 on Social Protection across the Humanitarian-Development Nexus and provides an overview of the key information, tools and procedures for implementing and operating social protection programmes in situations of shocks and protracted crises and for linking humanitarian aid with social protection systems.

It identifies criteria to inform the most appropriate response option, to be embedded in the specificity of its own context and key enabling features for working together across the nexus. Further progress on developing social protection is expected to be a game changer in supporting people through crises, building on global experience including the EU’s emerging experience in fragile and forced displacement contexts, such as in Lebanon, Somalia, Turkey and many other countries.

Visit the SPaN Guidance Package Resources Page for all documents.