Video
The rise of social protection

Recent years have seen somewhat of an explosion in social protection programmes in low- and middle- income countries.

In this interview Professor Armando Barrientos from the University of Manchester explains why the use of social protection is increasing and highlights a number of success stories. But he also explains why foreign aid can play only a limited role in this area.

As many as a billion people in the world are now living in households where at least one member is receiving support from cash transfers or employment guarantee schemes. Foreign aid has played an important role in this expansion by funding the provision of institutional infrastructure and capacity development. Social protection is also an area where south-south cooperation has showed some success with one particularly good example being the sharing of experiences of cash transfers as well as food and nutritional security by Brazil with countries in sub-Saharan Africa (go here for more information).Professor Barrientos is interviewed by Senior Communications Specialist Carl-Gustav Linden from UNU-WIDER. The interview took place during the ReCom results meeting on aid and social sectors at Sida in Stockholm on 13 March, 2013.