Social protection and food security

Halving global hunger has been one of the preeminent Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) over the last 15 years (United Nations, 2000) and its elimination is a key component of post-MDG objectives (HLPEP, 2013). Raising incomes is essential for this goal to be met. There are many ways in which this can be accomplished - increasing productivity of smallholders, increasing levels of education, reducing barriers to entry to high return activities, to name a few. This paper examines one way of raising incomes of poor households, social protection interventions, and the contribution these make to improving household food security and the reduction of hunger.