Protecting Capability, Eradicating Extreme Poverty: Chile Solidario and the Future of Social Protection

Social protection has emerged as a strong policy framework addressing poverty and vulnerability in developing countries. The growing literature on social protection largely focuses on the relative effectiveness of different social protection programmes, but seldom makes a link to underlying conceptual frameworks. The paper argues that the capability approach can provide a sound foundation for social protection and discusses in some detail Chile Solidario, an integrated anti-poverty programme that explicitly embraces this approach. The paper demonstrates how an understanding of conceptual frameworks is essential to shaping the future of social protection.