Story of Impact: Success of Scalable Safety Nets in Malawi

The World Bank’s Crisis and Disaster Risk Finance team alongside the Social Protection & Jobs Global Practice has been providing technical expertise and assistance to the Government of Malawi (GoM) on how to use Disaster Risk Financing to develop an adaptive social protection mechanism. This is a component of the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods project (SSRLP) and is supported by the Global Shield Financing Facility (formally known as the Global Risk Financing Facility).

The resulting ‘scalability mechanism’ uses the government’s flagship Social Cash Transfer Program (SCTP) to scale up assistance in the event of drought, with pre-arranged rules and financing for scale up. The SCTP targets some of the most vulnerable populations in Malawi.