For FAO, social protection is a set of interventions whose objective is to reduce social and economic risk and vulnerability, and to alleviate extreme poverty and deprivation.

As stated in SOFA 2015, social protection includes three types of programmes:

1. social assistance: publically provided conditional or unconditional cash or in-kind transfers, or public works programmes;
2. social insurance: contributory programmes that cover designated contingencies affecting the welfare or income of households;
3. labour market protection: provides unemployment benefits, builds skills and trains workers.

 Social protection is a key aspect in a strategy for rural poverty reduction. In 2013, social protection helped lift 150 million people out of extreme poverty.

As evidence shows, social protection can:

• reduce poverty by directly providing income or productive support;

• improve food security by providing direct and immediate access to increased quantity, quality and diversity of food;

• reduce negative coping strategies in times of crisis and enhance the capacity of families and communities to cope with, respond to and withstand natural and man-made disasters, including those related to climate change;

• allow poor small family farmers to actively engage and invest in more productive agricultural activities;

• increase labour productivity, employability and income by increasing access to education and health services and improved nutrition;

• foster sustainable management of natural resources.

Social protection is not only about social development but it is also contributing to economic transformation, increasing the purchasing capacities of the poorest households and boosting economic growth by stimulating and increasing demand for food and other goods and services. Linking those who benefit from social protection with agricultural training, inputs subsidies programmes, and savings programmes, can maximize the impact of social protection interventions and allow poor people to sustainably move out of poverty.