GRASSP: Delivering Gender-Responsive Social Protection
Key Challenges and Lessons Learned from the GRASSP Research Programme
Highlights
The success of social protection programmes in promoting gender equality depends on their design, delivery, and implementation. With funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), UNICEF Innocenti implemented the multi-year Gender-Responsive Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP) research programme (2018–2024) to build a robust evidence base on what works, how, and why social protection can advance gender equality.
A key area of inquiry within the research programme examined the implementation processes of social protection programmes that influence the achievement of gender equality objectives. This brief synthesizes evidence from six case studies — Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Angola, and Mali — highlighting what worked and the challenges encountered in delivering social protection. The case studies investigated diverse social protection programmes, including cash-plus programmes, using mixed-methods impact and process evaluations to generate evidence.
