The Government of Fiji has introduced various adaptive social protection (ASP) interventions to mitigate the negative impacts of shocks from the past disasters and crises. After Tropical Cyclone (TC) Winston in 2016, the Department of Social Welfare, with financial support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, provided additional cash grants to beneficiaries registered under the three national social protection
programs. The government also extended cash assistance to low-income households with damaged homes to aid in rebuilding. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, diverse social protection supports were provided to formal and informal workers as well as to existing social assistance beneficiaries. The experience of these ad hoc ASP measures underscores the need to formally establish an ASP system in preparation for future disasters in Fiji.
The World Bank, in close consultation with key government counterparts, conducted a social protection stress test to identify areas of focus for the ASP strategy development process. The result of the social protection stress test confirmed that the Fijian ASP system is mostly at an emerging stage, with notable gaps in disaster risk financing (DRF) and data and information. The paper also highlights several policy recommendations and activities within the government’s ASP strategy that could greatly contribute to making Fiji’s social protection system more adaptive to future shocks.
