The concept of “adaptive social protection” is less than a decade old, but its impact is beginning to be felt across the Sahel. The African region faces frequent disasters, such as droughts and floods, that contribute to mounting insecurity. ASP aims to help communities prepare for and curb the most severe effects of those emergencies and other impacts of climate change.
One major initiative — the World Bank's Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Program — has received $168.8 million in donor funds since 2014, according to the bank, to develop and leverage social protection programs for this purpose. While the concept was already attracting attention and investments, the international organizations behind ASP say the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored its potential.
"COVID was a big wake-up call," said Christian Bodewig, a human development economist at the World Bank who manages SASPP. "Some major thing can happen that can have huge ramifications. We need scalable systems to help address the impacts on the poor."