The social development approach to social protection and social welfare

This chapter formulates the distinctive features of the social development approach to social protection and its linkages to the wider social welfare system in development contexts. It reviews different normative accounts that provide a conceptual basis for the field. It outlines the key features of the social development approach and contrasts them with these accounts, including their limitations. The analysis shows that the social development approach shares features with some of these perspectives, such as the emphasis on social rights and people’s participation. However, its distinctiveness lies in integrating economic development with social welfare, pluralism and the deployment of synergistic multilevel implementation strategies to optimise well-being outcomes. The social development approach offers a useful normative framework for the analysis of social protection in the global South and its connection to formal and informal systems of social provision. It may also be more appropriate for the needs and circumstances of these countries.