ABSTRACT
This chapter examines social protection as an approach to inclusive development. Over the past decade, an increasing focus on protective policies for societies’ most marginalized populations has emerged in development communities. Social protection is an umbrella term that allows for policy changes or direct transfers of resources to economically marginalized individuals. Organizations like the World Bank have outlined the economic benefit of such protections of peoples’ education, employment, and access to healthcare. At the same time, some scholars frame social protection as a human right that guarantees a minimum level of wellbeing through social insurance, unemployment insurance, pensions, health provision for all, etc. In this chapter, the strengths and limitations of social protection as an approach to inclusive development are reviewed.
