Reimagining Social Protection

Social protection features in numerous country policies and development agency strategies, as well as in several Sustainable Development Goals. However, following more than two decades of considerable expansion in policies, programmes, and research, the sector finds itself at a crossroads. Social protection is currently positioned in a global setting characterised by a range of emerging and intensifying challenges and uncertainties, including post-Covid-19 pandemic recovery; the cost-of-living crisis; unprecedented climate change; and rising numbers of protracted wars and political instability, leading to mass displacement and migration.

Drawing key insights and lessons from an international conference on ‘Reimagining Social Protection in a Time of Global Uncertainty’, hosted by the Institute of Development Studies in September 2023, the articles in this issue of the IDS Bulletin reflect on the role social protection plays in a shifting, uncertain, and volatile global context.

In particular, the articles focus on three broad themes that are increasingly defining the trajectory of social protection policy, programming, and research: the politics of social protection policy processes; social protection in crisis settings; and inclusive and innovative social protection.

Social protection is firmly on the agenda in most low- and middle-income countries. The articles in this collection argue for the need to reimagine the scope and ambition of social protection in light of multiple threats. The challenge that remains for social protection advocates is to support governments and civil society actors to move towards nationally chosen and locally appropriate holistic social protection systems, via more inclusive and responsive programming.

Understanding Gender Backlash: Southern Perspectives

Far from seeing continued steady progress on gender equality, we are currently witnessing significant backlash against gender and sexual rights. Limited and hard-fought gains for some are being reversed, co-opted, and dismantled – all amplified through new social media and digital technologies.

This issue of the IDS Bulletin addresses the urgent question of how we can better understand the recent swell of anti-gender backlash. Perspectives from Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Uganda, and the UK detail examples of anti-gender backlash in different contexts, and the actors, interests, and tactics involved.

The articles here present critical perspectives for framing and interpreting a global phenomenon not yet well understood. The IDS Bulletin starts by grouping the issues discussed into three themes: voice and tactics; framings and direction; and temporality and structure. The authors explore the features of the recent and current wave of backlash that include increased authoritarianism, religious resurgence, populist hyper-nationalism, and the concurrence of misogyny, racism, homophobia, and transphobia. Along the way the articles also point to connections with parallel debates in development, contributing to nudging this topic out of the ‘gender and development corner’.

The set of complementary viewpoints on the framing and theorising of backlash presented in this issue is also intended to contribute to scholarship by attending to an increasingly recognised gap in research. By presenting new ways of analysing and countering backlash from more diverse settings, this issue of the IDS Bulletin calls for the development of better strategies and tactics for resistance and reclaiming gender justice.

Knowledge in Times of Crisis: Transforming Research-to-Policy Approaches

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented challenges for researchers and policy analysts, and accentuated the need for access to civil society and advocacy movements within politically closed spaces. The impact of locally led Covid-19 response research in the global South has subsequently raised questions about traditional research methods that often prioritise academic rigour over practical relevance and result in research disconnected from the realities of people’s lives. 

This issue of the IDS Bulletin presents learning gathered from rapidly mobilised Southern-led research by institutions who designed and delivered research aimed at influencing the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The articles here are drawn from the Covid-19 Responses for Equity (CORE) programme, a rapid research initiative funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) created to understand the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic in order to generate better policy for recovery.

The IDS Bulletin explores the particular characteristics of Southern research organisations that were able to mobilise quickly. It discusses the types of knowledge that were needed in these unique circumstances, and how organisations mobilised knowledge in an emergency to facilitate engagement and influence response to a global challenge with local implications. 

The examples here demonstrate how researchers have developed new skills to present research findings in accessible ways for different audiences. The explicit use of digital technologies, for instance, has allowed researchers to facilitate collaboration across geographic boundaries and engage diverse stakeholders. 

This all highlights how essential locally led research is for pandemic response and for development more broadly. There is also acknowledgement that how organisations responded to the pandemic may have a longer-term impact on the future of those organisations themselves.