Social and Human Protection

NRSP aims to reach and serve the poorest and most vulnerable community members and to bring them into the mainstream of its programming. We engage in advocacy and action focused research on the rights of the destitute and vulnerable. Those rights include: the right to have their basic needs met; to be protected from hazardous working conditions; to have a good education; to earn a decent living and have decent shelter and the right to protection from physical and economic neglect, exploitation and violence. Children needing social protection have the right to develop to their fullest potential, in preparation for lifelong well-being. These assumptions are in line with NRSP’s mandate, as articulated in its Articles of Association.

At NRSP social protection consists of policies, programmes and advocacy for the poorest and most vulnerable members of society; those unable to speak or act on their own behalf and those least able to recover from social and economic shocks such as losing a breadwinner or a parent. Many women-headed households also require some form of social protection, as do many slum dwellers, nomads and migrants. People in many circumstances are vulnerable to socio-economic shocks but some people are less able to cope with or recover from those shocks. Social protection needs are also specific to stages in the life cycle. The needs of children are different from those of competent adults, and different again from those of the elderly who have no caregivers. Many people are stigmatized because of their poverty and dependence. Many require systematic and fairly intensive guidance and support, if they are to become independent and to re-enter the socio-economic mainstream. NRSP’s social mobilization principle and practices provide the best possible means of implementing a successful social protection programme. We consider it necessary to ensure that dependence on safety nets is not permanent, for those people able to ‘graduate’ from NRSP’s social protection programmes. We have established benchmarks to determine the various ‘stages’ of participation from full support to economic interventions, training programmes and degrees of independence.