Further your knowledge of approaches to social protection and gain the skills to improve policies and programmes for positive social change.

Get up to speed with current knowledge, evidence and practice of social protection. You will broaden your knowledge base of approaches to social protection; develop an understanding of challenges in design and implementation in programming; and build your skills to critically assess the current evidence base. The course will enable you to confidently engage in critical debate about social protection to improve policies and programmes for positive social change.

The course draws of a rich history of social protection work at IDS and is led by Stephen Devereux and Rachel Sabates-Wheeler (Co-Directors of the Centre for Social Protection), who have extensive experience in providing social protection training against the backdrop of their research, evaluation and policy advice work in social protection.

Course aims

This course aims to equip participants with knowledge about current thinking and practice on social protection, with a focus on social assistance – social cash transfers, conditional cash transfers, school feeding and public works programmes. Participants will also build their skills in aspects of social protection analysis, design and implementation, such as targeting mechanisms, payment systems, financing options, and assessing the impacts of social protection programmes.

Who should attend?

The course is suited to a wide audience of policymakers, practitioners, researchers and project managers who are already or will be working in the area of social protection.

How you’ll learn

The course is interactive, inclusive and participatory. It comprises a series of interactive sessions, blending theoretical and conceptual learning with experiential learning and sharing. Teaching methods include plenary presentations, facilitated plenary discussions, hands-on exercises, case studies and group-work. The combination of techniques serves to build on the knowledge already available and to draw on participants’ own experiences of social protection.

The course is organised around three different themes, and tackles distinct topics within those themes.

Theme 1: Building a knowledge base

Models of social protection

Institutional and regional approaches to social protection

Social protection instruments

Theme 2: Designing and implementing social protection programmes

Targeting social assistance

Delivering social assistance

Social protection systems

Theme 3: Evidence of what works

Current evidence on social protection impacts

Monitoring and evaluating social protection programmes

These topics will be complemented with topical issues in social protection, such as social protection and food security, graduation programmes, shock-responsive social protection and gender–sensitive social protection. Case studies and examples will primarily be drawn from experiences in low-income countries, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

Location: Institute of Development Studies, Library Road, Brighton, BN1 9RE, UK

** Please note that the event described in this page is not free. **