Social protection provisions to refugees during the Covid-19 pandemic: Lessons learned from government and humanitarian responses

Hagen-Zanker, Jessica; Nathalie Both

ABSTRACT

Refugees have been supported by innumerable cash or voucher interventions implemented by international humanitarian and development actors during the Covid-19 pandemic, but only a few of these have explicitly aligned or integrated with government social protection responses. Refugees residing in low- and middle-income countries have mostly been excluded from government social protection responses, and where they have been included (largely in Latin America and the Caribbean) this typically represents a continuation of pre-pandemic policy. This paper reviews the evidence on: 1. The inclusion of refugees in government-led social protection responses to Covid-19 in the Republic of Congo and Colombia 2. The alignment or integration of international humanitarian and development actors’ cash assistance to refugees and government social protection responses – focusing on Jordan and Pakistan.