Overview

Created in 1996, Social Protection (SP) is one of the youngest of the 19 sectors in the World Bank.  Together with the Education and Health, Nutrition & Population sectors, SP is part of the Human Development Network.

To support Bank's SP agenda, the structure of the sector consists of an anchor (hub/center) which is in charge of strategy, knowledge management, quality support and training.  At the request of the Bank's Regions, the sector produces main knowledge products and toolkits and is made up of six teams covering the following topics:

• Disability
• Labor Markets
• Pensions
• Safety Nets & Transfers
• Social Funds

Each of the six World Bank Regions have their own SP staff who, along with anchor staff, comprise the SP sector.  The sector is governed by the SP Sector Board is represented by each Region's SP sector director.  Regional SP staff undertake analytical work for our client countries and are responsible for lending operations.

The World Bank’s vision of the role of Social Protection (SP) in the fight against poverty were developed in the 2001 SP Sector Strategy Paper, "From Safety Net to Spring Board."  Social Risk Management (SRM), the conceptual framework which underpins the strategy was incorporated into the 2000/01 World Development Report and makes "security" one of the three pillars of poverty reduction (besides opportunities and empowerment).

The SRM Framework explores how societies manage risks, with the main idea being that all individuals, households and communities are exposed to multiple risks from different sources.  The poor are particularly vulnerable because they are typically more exposed to risk and have access to fewer risk management instruments.  This increased exposure to risk has two important consequences:

1. The poor are severely affected when shocks do occur, accentuating their poverty.
2. The poor become more risk averse and unwilling (or unable) to engage in risky, but higher return activities.

As such, SRM aims to provide instruments that enable the poor (as well as the non-poor) to minimize the impact of exposure to risk and change their behavior in a way that helps them exit poverty and lower their vulnerability.

The SRM Framework continues to form the core of the Bank’s view on social protection, but its objectives have recently been extended to better include job creation/employment in the poverty reduction and growth agenda, and to be more explicit about the equity agenda and the need to better secure equitable outcomes in a globalizing world (as addressed in the recent World Development Report 2006).