Social protection interventions have steadily  increased in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last two decades and become a key element of development policy in many countries. To guide in the design and implementation of effective social protection policies, policy actors require evidence of ‘what works’, for whom and in what circumstances. To promote policy based evidence, NWO-WOTRO and INCLUDE have initiated seven studies in different African countries to establish the effectiveness of social protection interventions.

This analysis ‘The rise of social protection in Sub-Saharan Africa’ explains the context of increasing focus on social protection in SSA and evidence on how social protection programmes and projects contribute to poverty reduction and inclusive development. Further, it describes the social protection research projects initiated by NWO-WOTRO and INCLUDE and the transmission mechanisms through which selected  interventions contribute inclusive development.