Impact Trust • Working glossary

Adaptive social protection

Social protection designed to help people cope with big shocks.

Details

Our Take
Strong jargon smell. The underlying idea -- that social protection should scale in response to shocks rather than only cover steady-state poverty -- is important. But the label ensures it stays locked inside specialist circles. You will hear it in World Bank and UN documents where 'we should help people before and during crises, not just after' would do.
Examples of Use
World Bank
Synonyms/Variants
Scalable safety nets
Shock-responsive social protection
Typical everyday wording
Safety nets that flex when crises hit