Tahira Mohamed reflects on discussions from the recent BASIC Research International Conference ‘Social and Humanitarian Assistance in Crises: agendas, ambitions and aspirations for more effective intervention’.
Photo by Tahira Mohamed. Group fishbowl on linking formal and informal social protection during Basic Conference, September 2025
Reflecting on discussions on social protection at a recent international conference, Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action regional partnerships lead Tahira Mohamed shared some insights and lessons on the Institute of Development Studies website.
Her key points include:
- First, how can evidence best inform policy?
- Second, we need to rethink, re-imagine and reset social protection policies and practices.
- Third, the importance of national governments taking leadership, strengthening, sustaining, and promoting social protection was echoed throughout the conference.
- Fourth, while crisis narratives drive the systems, we often forget the other side of the coin — hope.
More generally, she observed that the tension between social protection and humanitarian assistance was prominent as evidence showed how both operated in parallel, despite sharing the same goal top protect lives and livelihoods. Despite decades of encouragement and calls for linking these systems, the nexus has not achieved its ambition and significant competition still exists. Competition, insufficient bandwidth, inflexible timelines, and financial limitations present obstacles for organisations to collaborate on complex matters.
She also noted a strong debate during the conference on how to link formal and informal social assistance. Multiple studies highlighted the need to protect these vibrant and autonomous community redistributive and solidarity networks, recognizing the value in their ability to transcend geography, wealth, generation and traditions. But a knowledge gap remains on how to do this practically. Participants highlighted the need to deepen the understanding of these systems, proposed ways in which formal social assistance can reinforce informal assistance and cautioned against formalising these diverse solidarity systems.
More:
Read her full opinion piece: Why we should rethink, reset and re-imagine social and humanitarian assistance in crises.
Download her presentation at the conference: Why social protection programmes should learn from local solidarities and moral economy practices.