By framing social protection as an investment, FAO advocates for increasing finance to expand the coverage of social protection in rural areas. This includes climate finance.

FAO works to scale up social protection schemes, facilitating integration between social protection, food security and nutrition, disaster risk management, and agricultural policies. The aim is to boost rural households' economic and productive potential and maximize social protection's impact on rural transformation.

FAO develops the capacities of civil society and producer organizations to participate in policy dialogue on social protection and to claim their rights.

FAO generates evidence to influence thinking on the importance of social protection in enabling rural households to take part in economic development and bridge the humanitarian-development divide.

This includes comprehension of the processes of rural and food systems transformations as well as the interaction between these and national social protection. It brings together expertise on social protection, gender, fisheries, forestry, pastoralism, climate action, nutrition, rights-based approaches, and emergency responses in supporting the national social protection systems.

This helps to overcome deeply rooted inequalities that are still hindering sustainable development, poverty reduction and getting the 2030 Agenda back on track.