The current global financial crisis will have adverse effects on poor people in developing countries in both the short‐ and long‐term. While the complexity of this crisis makes its path difficult to predict, recent advances in social protection thinking and practice provide a body of experience for developing countries and development agencies to draw upon in responding to the crisis. Recognising that the crisis will produce pressures on national budgets and could lead to social and political unrest, this article argues that the ways that policymakers think about and design social protection responses will require careful consideration. It proposes a framework for prioritising responses and argues for an approach to designing social protection measures that take account of both immediate needs and the wider developmental role of social protection schemes. Social protection measures can be an important element in reconstructing a social contract that builds effective future governance for development.