Across a range of developing countries, social protection has its roots in many different development objectives. In some places the focus is overwhelmingly on tackling inequality and improving human development outcomes (for example, in Latin America). Elsewhere there is a stronger focus on formal social security systems (such as Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States).

In Africa and South Asia, social protection has emerged largely as a mechanism for tackling food insecurity but in recent years the social protection agenda has been expanded by a range of diverse and sometimes competing objectives: tackling lifecycle vulnerability; addressing geographic and social exclusion; ameliorating the worst impacts of HIV/AIDS; and buffering households against food and fuel price volatility and the effects of global recession.

Amidst these varied objectives, the linkages between food security and social protection have often been lost or become confused. This paper refocuses attention on the linkages between social protection and food and nutrition security and aims to contribute to (more) integrated development policies on food and nutrition (in-)security and social protection, particularly among OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) partner agencies.