Barriers to developing social protection programs with adaptation considerations: The case of Jordan

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan faces a plethora of climate challenges, from rising temperatures to drought and desertification. Concurrently, the country is home to an expanse of social protection programs, varying in delivery modality and responsible bodies. The potential and necessity of combining social protection programs with climate adaptation measures is widely recognized within the social protection landscape in Jordan, identified by participants in social protection programs, social protection practitioners, and within the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (NAP). However, gaps and barriers to developing adaptive social protection abound. These include holes in coverage, siloed approaches, and lack of development with the local communities. These barriers, and the subsequent recommendations have been identified and formulated through a literature review, key informant interviews with social protection practitioners, and key informant interviews, workshops and focus group discussions with local communities in Azraq and North Shuna in Jordan. Recommendations include greater involvement of local communities throughout a program’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) framework to promote contextual suitability and the efficacy of programs in providing support against climate impacts. This improved vertical coherence should be accompanied by greater coordination between government ministries and between international organizations to ensure complementary action and programming. Coverage of workers in climate vulnerable sectors, such as agriculture, by the Social Security Corporation (SSC) should be expanded through formalization and contribution support. Additionally, targeting of climate vulnerable communities could be ameliorated through the widespread use of climate vulnerability assessments and GIS mapping.

Meddings, G.; Desai, B.; Jaskolski, M.; Schapendonk, F.; Läderach, P.