Publication: Planting Roots in Shifting Soil: Building Social Protection and Labor Systems in Fragile, Conflict, and Violence-Affected Settings
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2025-11-05
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2025-11-13
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To guide policy and operational engagement in these complex contexts, this Approach Paper provides a structured framework for supporting social protection and labor systems and policies in FCV settings. The framework aims to support Task Teams and social protection practitioners in navigating diverse FCV situations through a practical, context-sensitive approach grounded in a deep understanding of each setting’s specific risks, constraints, and opportunities. The framework articulates three high-level objectives of social protection and labor support in FCV contexts: (i) protect and support the accumulation of human capital; (ii) enable people and institutions to build resilience and cope with FCV-related impacts; and (iii) lay the foundations for recovery and transition out of fragility and conflict. To translate these objectives into practice, the Paper introduces a pathway-based framework that organizes FCV contexts by four parameters: (i) the presence of active conflict, (ii) the feasibility of direct government engagement, (iii) the government’s territorial access, and (iv) the maturity of national Social Protection and Labor systems. These factors shape the engagement model, the actors involved, and how support is sequenced and scaled. Based on this framework, eight resulting pathways are identified, each representing a tailored approach to engagement, and illustrated through real-world case studies to support practical implementation.
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“Al-Ahmadi, Afrah; Fuselli, Silvia; Rigolini, Jamele; Harvey, Paul. 2025. Planting Roots in Shifting Soil: Building Social Protection and Labor Systems in Fragile, Conflict, and Violence-Affected Settings. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43975 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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