Adapting social safety net operations to insecurity in the Sahel

This paper provides a framework, key principles, and a repertoire of options for adapting social safety net projects to unprecedented levels of insecurity. It fills an operational knowledge gap regarding project design, implementation, and supervision under insecurity; as called for by the World Bank Group's Strategy for Fragility, Conflict and Violence: 2020-2025. It maps operational security risks and identifies ingredients for an appropriate response in risk assessment, design, beneficiary targeting, and payment systems.

The study depicts operational adjustments according to the levels of insecurity. These levels range from "green scenarios" where security risks are negligible, and operations can proceed normally with field visits and on the ground supervision to "yellow and red scenarios" where violence escalates and the presence of security actors in the project area becomes more constant. This process culminates in a "black scenario" in which project activities must be cancelled altogether.