Untapped social protection pathways for flood resilience in informal settlements of Dar Es Salaam

Floods are persistent in urban areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. The region has limited resilience capacity to floods, making it more vulnerable to climate change shocks. Social protection programs are climate-resilience development initiatives for low-income and vulnerable households. However, the specific context in Sub-Saharan Africa makes formal social protection programs far from being accessible to all. Moreover, the theoretical frameworks have limitations; they provide insight only into formal social protection programs. Creating a shield to climate change hazards is a necessity highlighted in the Sustainable Development Goals and the “Leaving no one behind” agenda. Therefore, this study examines the climate resilience capacity of households in the urban informal settlements of Dar es Salaam employing the adaptive social protection framework. A concurrent mixed-methods, case study exploratory design was used. Empirical data were collected through a household survey and key informant interviews. The study finds that households have limited resilience to flood shocks despite their access to formal social protection programs. The study provides a conceptual contribution by identifying semi-formal and informal social protection concepts as untapped pathways within the theoretical framework that hinder effective resilience among urban informal dwellers. Enables and limits of integration are specified.